John Wilson 0:00

Matt, I can't thank you enough for being with us today. Thank you so much for taking the time. It's just great to have you with us. Yeah, I appreciate uh this opportunity, John. It's uh great to have a chat with you. I'm really looking forward to your answers to some of these questions that I've got for you. Let me just mention to everybody that our guest today is Matt Krimy. Matt is the president, CEO, and co-founder of Canada Welding Supply. And it's Canada's source for professional welding year. I recommend you go to his website. He's got all kinds of products that are very interesting to take a look at, do a tour around the website. And Matt founded this company about 10 years ago, isn't it, Matt? Now yeah, that's correct. With my wife Ellie. Time flies when you're having fun, right? Yeah. Exactly. So let's get right into the questions, okay? And the first one that I have for you is you know, before you started Can of Welling Supply, you were a gas fitter, a journeyman, refrigerator, mechanic. How has that hands-on background shaped the way that you lead your company today, Matt?

Matthew Crimi 0:57

I think uh what I would really take from that experience is adaptability. I worked in a number of different environments under different levels of pressure and uh with a lot of different um you know personalities as well. So you'd have everything from uh dealing with the guys on the shop floor to the management to, you know, you sometimes you'd be sitting in a room with the CEOs of some large companies having an answer to why their $100,000 production line is not running and what you're gonna do to solve that problem, right? So it allows you to grow quite quickly and uh be able to deal with a lot of different situations under pressure.

John Wilson 1:32

I'll bet you'd have to be awfully good under pressure, man. Now, you build a business in an industry where execution matters every day, right? I mean, execution is critical here. And uh what leadership habits have been most important in helping Canada welding supply grow? Definitely learning to empower our people.

Matthew Crimi 1:50

As a founder, it's extremely difficult to do because handing over the reins to someone, you know, your baby or something that you've developed can be a challenge. But I think to allow the business to grow, you have to learn how to get out of the way and uh you know put the proper structure and framework in place for your team members to be successful, but uh, you know, trust them to go do the job. And in many cases, they end up doing it far better than uh you can do it anyway. And that's the goal, right? The goal is to find people that are are better at that than yourself and and and give them what they need to be successful.

John Wilson 2:21

Yeah, no, that's great advice. And and it's not that easy to do, is it, man? I mean it's it is a secret to growing. It's very rewarding too when you when you when you do get it right. Oh, 100%. Now, many CEOs talk about culture, but in a trades-driven business, it can look a little different, I would imagine. How do you build a high performance team that stays motivated and is accountable? How do you do that?

Matthew Crimi 2:43

Yeah, I think for us, it's quite simple, really. Um, you know, our our mission is important, and I think for us, you know, we're fortunate that we work in an industry where uh many of our customers are quite passionate about what they do. And so it's easy to feed off the customer's passion and understand that you know you're bringing value to them and making them more successful. And, you know, as a company, when you share that message and you make sure it's understood, everyone comes to work understanding that they are doing something that's uh you know productive for others, productive for the Canadian economy. And um, you know, that sense of value helps. And, you know, also making sure we we stick to our core values and making sure that's understood through the company. So, you know, it's not a whole lot different than it really in any other business, but I think for us, you know, it's very easy to see what that benefit is because our customers are are so great and so passionate about what they do.

John Wilson 3:35

Well, that's that's uh that's a great comment. Now, you recently mentioned that exploring AI tools to improve your operations uh was very important. As a CEO, are you thinking about technology while keeping service and relationships at the center of what you do?

Matthew Crimi 3:51

Yeah, it's interesting because we're in a relatively traditional business and but we're an e-commerce focused company. And I mean, things things have changed tremendously over the last five or six years since we started. But in the early days, you know, we'd get a lot of pushback from potential vendors saying, Oh, you guys are online, and uh, you know, we want a we want a distributor that is in touch with the customer. And what they've learned over the last few years of working with us is that we're very in touch with the customer. The technology is just a piece of what makes us work efficiently, but at the end of the day, it's it's our people on the phones, on the live chat, and then you know, in person that make the difference, and and the technology just helps us facilitate that. It doesn't, it's not uh something that stands in between us and the customer, it's it's conduit for us.

John Wilson 4:35

Yeah, no, it would be. On the next question, you kind of touched on this a little earlier, but you serve customers that are ranging from small shops to larger operations where you're dealing with the CEOs of these companies. What have you learned about leading a company that needs to deliver consistently at every level?

Matthew Crimi 4:53

Yeah, I think something we've learned over the last few years is understanding we can serve any size of customer or any type of customer, but at the same time, there's times where you maybe need to walk away from a customer as well, too, because you know, you need customers that are looking for the things that you provide are valuable to them. So I mean, the simplest example is, you know, we we don't do a whole lot of work with um, you know, large automotive, right? They're not really looking for the relationship normally. They're looking for the the lowest price possible. And us being the size we are, you know, we're not gonna come in and at a 3% margin and be able to make that work. We're gonna come in at a higher margin with the products we sell, but we're also gonna have service behind that, solutions behind that. And so our customer, big or small, is one that's gonna be looking for, you know, a partner that is gonna bring solutions rather than just uh, you know, transactional place to get something for the cheapest price.

John Wilson 5:46

Yeah, I know that's that's a good way to look at it. I got one last question for you, Matt. Okay. And so looking ahead, it's kind of a two-part question, by the way, but looking ahead, what's your vision for Canada welding supply? And what kind of leader do you need to become to achieve your vision, to really take it where you want to take it?

Matthew Crimi 6:07

Yeah, so we're already serving Canada on a national level through our e-commerce operations. You know, we can get products to the West Coast, I mean, overnight if necessary, but you know, traditionally three to five business days. But we want to expand our kind of retail, boots on the ground, brick and border offering across the country. And uh that's gonna take uh kind of a long-term build out to build that uh infrastructure to do that properly. But uh as a leader to reach that goal, it really comes back to the first thing I said of getting out of the way, letting our people do their thing, making sure they have the resources, the tools they need to be successful, and allow myself to work on the business, not in the business.

John Wilson 6:45

Yeah, no. Well, that's uh that's a key lesson. That's a great takeaway. Matt, I can't thank you enough for being on this podcast with us today and sharing your thoughts on leadership, some of the things that you've learned along the way. And it's good to learn more about your business and your industry, too. So thank you so much, Matt. We really appreciate it.

Matthew Crimi 7:01

Yeah, the pleasure is mine. Thanks for having me on, John.