We’re so excited to share our conversation with Lane Merrifield with you! Kristi & I both met Lane at Baldface Lodge separately, four years apart. But it was the same qualities in Lane that struck us both. He’s one of the most down-to-earth, welcoming, engaging, and interested people we’ve ever met. Yes, interest-ED (also interest-ing, but we’re sticking with ED for now). He truly wants to connect and learn from everyone he encounters now matter how different their respective walks-of-life may be.
Lane has achieved a level of business and financial success that many of us could only dream of, but it’s not his success itself that we admire, but how grounded, unchanged, and unattached to it he is. Lane has maintained a level perspective and always remains focused on how he can contribute to the world around him.
In this episode we discuss:
The three skills/subjects that are the most important for students to learn, but are often overlooked
How being aligned in the ‘why’ is crucial to business success
How Lane went from running remote controlled alligators at Disney Land to being an executive vice president at Disney
The benefit of not identifying what you do with who you are
Lane’s foray into reality television as a dragon on Dragon’s Den (what Shark Tank is to the rest of the world)
Tweetables:
“One of the upsides of my school experience as a kid, was that I had to make sure I wasn’t defined by what I did in school… as I got older I learned to not overly associate who I am with what I do.”
“If you don’t let it define you when you have it, then you’re not going to let it define you when you don’t.”
“There’s a thrill in overcoming the fear, there’s a thrill in moving past the fear.”
“You have to take risk in order to get better at anything in life.”
“That’s what it’s about, like ‘how am I getting better?’ Not this idea that if I can’t be the best, then I’m just not going to do it all.”
“I love life. I’ve always loved taking risks and doing crazy things.”
“Just leave it better than when you came. Leave this world a little better environmentally, in business, friendships, relationships, even if you part ways. Just be good to people and everything tends to work out.”
About Lane:
The newest “dragon” to join CBC’s hit show Dragon’s Den, Lane Merrifield is one of Canada’s leading tech entrepreneurs. He is the founder of Club Penguin, the largest children’s online social network. At age 28, he sold it to Disney for $350 million, and, as their youngest executive vice president, turned it into a billion-dollar brand.
In 2012, Lane returned to his entrepreneurial roots and launched FreshGrade, a learning assessment tool that connects teachers, parents, and students to help personalize and improve learning. It’s now used in 80% of districts across Canada. Lane is also the founder of Wheelhouse, an organization that invests in and supports early-stage tech companies and entrepreneurs through mentorship, access to capital, and connections to global business networks.
Under his leadership, Lane’s teams have won dozens of awards including a prestigious BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television) award for Club Penguin. Lane is also the recipient of an Honorary Fellows Award and a Business Leader of the Year award from the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce, and has been named as one of the “Top 35 Executives Under 35” by The Hollywood Reporter.
Lane currently sits on the board of Spin Master and the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation.
Resources:
Lane on Instagram
Learn more about Club Penguin
Explore what Lane’s up to with Freshgrade
Checkout Dragon’s Den
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