BCBusiness

april 2016 BCBusiness 49 BcBUsiness.ca THE STORY: Born in the small Okanagan town of Keremeos, Billie Jo Aasen grew up listening to country. Her father, a trucker, had a taste for "all the cool stuŸ"—AC/DC, Pink Floyd and Creedence Clearwater Revival— while her mother was more of a purist, favouring Tim McGraw and Dolly Parton. Although Aasen herself had a voice, a musical career seemed unimagi- nable. "When you grow up in a small town, it's not always easy to believe that someone will build a career out of something like that." Eventually her ambitions migrated backstage. And it was at the now-defunct Merritt Mountain Music Festival that her business instincts kicked in. After ve years of volunteering, in 2012 Aasen was oŸered the chance to take up a manage- ment role at the Merritt; when the festival shuttered, she took the lessons learned there and applied them to a small festival called 542, which she founded, just outside of Bellingham, Wa. That festival (named after the highway running east out of Bellingham) turned out to be a smashing success—so much so that 542 Entertainment is now the name of her business, which has expanded to included buying and managing talent for country music festivals across North America, including the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rascal Flatts and Lee Brice. While based in Vancouver, Aasen has done work for festivals such as Eastdown Hoedown in New- foundland, the Extreme Mudfest in Bonnyville, Alta., and the Dawson Creek Stampede. "Instead of just buying an artist, marking a contract and sending an invoice, we'll do all that and advance your entire show, ¤y in and run the back of house so that the producer can focus on the event itself, not what's going on behind the stage." It's a model, she says, that is unique in Canada. MARKERS OF SUCCESS: Aasen spends three to four months a year in Nashville researching and buying acts for 542 Entertainment—which, with two full-time employees and a dozen contract employees, made $200,000 in 2015. Aasen's bookings sold 75,000 event tickets last year. —J.P. danny halarewich Founder and ceo, lemonstand e-commerce inc. age: 28 THE STORY: Raised in a single- parent household in Mission, Danny Halarewich always had an interest in web design–building basic Geocities- style websites off his Sega Dreamcast gaming console for fun. Then, at age 14, he began building websites for small businesses in the Fraser Valley. "My mom needed help, and me bring- ing in the income was big," he says. Over time, more and more clients began asking for online stores instead of brochure-like websites–and so, in 2013, he launched LemonStand, a one-stop shop for retailers look- ing for ready-to-use e-commerce platforms. Halarewich specialized in the front end of the website–the design, the bells and whistles–while his co-founder, Aleksey Bobkov (who has since left the company), built the architecture. In the past two years, LemonStand has recruited local software heavyweights such as CTO Bruce Alderson, from Discovery Software, and VP growth Ross Paul, from ACL Software. MARKERS OF SUCCESS: LemonStand has clients across North America, including Bose, Zendesk and TellTale games. The company, which is privately held but venture-backed, counts BDC, Paul Rochester, ex- CEO of Layer 7, and Kalle Radage, president of Payfirma, as investors. Estimated revenues are well into eight figures. –J.P. What's your favourite TV show right now? "X-Files. it's the nostalgia of watching it with my dad" Biggest regret? "Not booking Florida Georgia Line—at a very low fee—when I had the chance to get in at the ground level. No one really knew who they were yet, and that was the year they blew up and started selling out arenas" 30 under 30 Billie Jo aasen owner and president, 542 entertainment inc. age: 29

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