Ilan Jacobson is passionate about Canadian business, whether as an entrepreneur, an investor, a lender or an adviser. He founded and built FirePower Capital, transforming the firm from a small family office into an investment banking and private capital powerhouse. In addition to helping business owners grow and sell their companies, Ilan is an entrepreneur in his own right, with ownership stakes in two software companies, a healthcare company, and BATL, the world’s largest urban axe-throwing organization.Ilan’s business success is rooted in his long-term outlook. In any situation, whether building a company or leading an M&A team, he seeks out solutions that yield the most long-term value. Ilan sees this, along with his relentless work ethic and the value he places on trust and authenticity, as driving his business success. He analogizes his outlook this way:“I want to build the best castle, and to build the best castle, there can’t be a shaky foundation, or a poorly built wall, or anything else that could crumble along the way.” Ilan thrives in his leadership role. He is skilled at bringing together and leading talented people with different strengths. He believes that leadership is bestowed by others – “it’s not uni-directional” – and he has earned the respect and trust of his team by leading them to numerous wins over the years. No business is built without losses interspersing the wins. Ilan regards those as learning opportunities for the team, and along with the wins, they are integrated into his evidence-based approach to decision making. With his broad scope of experience, Ilan is a sought-after speaker on a range of topics To find out about his availability as a speaker for your event, please email ijacobson@firepowercapital.com.If you’d like to connect with Ilan about growing or selling your business, you can reach out to him at ijacobson@firepowercapital.com.