LincEdge makes it easy to hire and share skilled labour so companies can reduce overhead costs during slow periods, meet commitments during peak times and gain a new capacity to grow their revenue. LincEdge has created a mobile application that gives construction companies access to a trusted network. Firms post on the LincEdge network and interested firms can offer to share their skilled labour at a rate that makes sense for their situation. LincEdge gives construction firms access to skilled labour with all kinds of core specialties – all in one place.
Interview with Marilyn Sanford, CEO and Co-founder
What we do
There are two pain points in the construction industry we are working to solve:
- A decreasing supply of competent skilled tradesmen due to changing demographics in BC and throughout North America
- The high cost of skilled trade labour because of lack of control over site access
We’ve created a platform that allows construction firms to connect with one another and share their skilled trade labour for different projects. Our network makes it safe to connect, hire and share labour as needed. Construction Trade firms create a post, select the skills they are looking for and define the scope of work. They can then send their posting to specified trades or into the qualified broader network. Firms are then able to bid and offer skilled tradesmen who are typically underutilized.
Key accomplishments
We were so excited to complete and launch both our Android and iOS mobile apps to make it easier for construction firms to source and offer skilled trades labour. We’ve also secured some amazing partner relationships with trusted firms around BC.
Five years from now…
In five years, we hope to launch both our mobile application and desktop application all across Canada and the United States. We want to grow our paid users to have 100,000 members on board, becoming the most credible resource to find skilled labour. We are also looking to make improvements to our software so we hope to launch a more sophisticated rating system for our users, by 2024.
Why the New Ventures BC Competition
The New Ventures BC Competition offers lots of opportunities we wouldn’t normally receive. We wanted to gain more experience pitching to investors and hopefully, secure some capital and strategic partnerships. Our team also wanted feedback on our concept of trade sharing from accomplished business mentors and to learn from their expertise.
Your first influential job
In 1991, I built and operated a custom electronics installation firm catered to the construction industry. I grew this business over the years and eventually sold it in 2013. During that time, I experienced first hand the problem that LincEdge is working to solve. I knew I had to find a solution to the declining trade labour supply.
About the Founder
Marilyn Sanford
| CEO and Co-founder
Marilyn is a Professional Accountant. She spent 23 years running trade based businesses, offering Low Voltage Custom Integration solutions to demanding and discriminating customers for high end residences and businesses. She has served on boards, taught in her Industry and is a Fellow of the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA).
Marilyn co—founded Smart fx in 1992, merged with La Scala in 2000 and later acquired LaScaIa in 2007. Over the years running a custom installation business, she learned what it takes to run a profitable business dependent on construction timelines. These insights and lessons learned, delivering ‘skilled labour’ as a primary service offering, were the seeds that grew the LincEdge concept.
George Doukas | Co-founder and Board of Directors Member
With over 22 years’ experience with Online/Internet/Cloud Services Engineering Management, and Technology Consulting, George helped Co-Found LincEdge and is a currently a Director of the Company.
He spent 18 years as a Microsoft Engineering & Program Manager, where he managed & supported various Online & Cloud Services in, XBOX, Office, Dynamics, Zune Music/Video, Windows Phone, Windows Store. His experience at Microsoft spans services with multi-million user subscriptions, across worldwide deployments and data centers, including technical assessment & integration of mergers & acquisitions, in addition to partner & vendor management and negotiations. Prior to that he worked as a Consultant, and with various start-ups in Vancouver Canada, during the early growth of the internet. He holds a Bachelors of Science degree from Simon Fraser University, double major in Computer Science and Business (Management Information Systems).
LincEdge is located at VentureLabs in Vancouver, BC.
Website: lincedge.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Lincedge
Twitter: twitter.com/LincEdge
Instagram: instagram.com/lincedge.app
Linkedin: LincEdge Inc.
