VELA Podcasts

In this episode of the Polestar Podcast by VELA Wealth, host Jason Boudreau welcomes trailblazing technology entrepreneur, Stewart Irvine. Stewart is the founder and CEO of MerchUX & ESquared Foundation, and his experience spans over thirty years of pioneering visionary business transformations through a myriad of industry sectors with digital media, blockchain and innovative engagement technologies while making a significant impact on society. Stewart’s journey reflects a relentless pursuit of creating positive impacts through inventive solutions, particularly from a consumer-focused perspective.  Listen to learn about his insights into consumerism, revealing much about the shifting landscape of buying behaviours, the role of technology in society, and the increasingly important intersection of business and philanthropy. 

Podcast Highlights: 

• Explore the impact of technology on society and consumer interactions. 

• Discover the growing importance of intersecting business and philanthropy in natural ways for consumers to engage.  

• Learn how business practices are evolving in relation to consumer expectations of sustainability.  

• Gain insight into consumerism, highlighting changes in buying behaviours and trends over the past 30 years. 

    

About the Guest – Stewart Irvine, MerchUX & ESquared Foundation

Stewart is an accomplished technology entrepreneur and CEO with over 30 years of experience in innovating, founding, and leading groundbreaking companies. His expertise lies at the confluence of technology, media, and engagement, where he has consistently pioneered advancements that redefine industry paradigms. With a rich background in developing startups and steering them toward strategic exits, Stewart’s business acumen is matched by his dedication to creating societal value, particularly in enhancing mental health and learning through advanced technologies.

Founding multiple revolutionary ventures, Stewart has demonstrated a unique ability to anticipate market needs and harness technology to deliver compelling solutions. Stewart’s approach is holistic, integrating his technical prowess with a deep commitment to corporate social responsibility. His initiatives have not only set new benchmarks in business but also underscored the potential of technology to foster significant societal change. His vision for the future is not confined to commercial success but extends to leveraging technology for a sustainable and inclusive world. 

In the realm of business development and leadership, Stewart stands out for his strategic foresight and ability to navigate complex market landscapes. His leadership style embodies agility and a capacity to think outside the box, qualities that have propelled his companies to the forefront of their respective industries.
 

About the Host – Jason Boudreau 

Jason has built VELA Wealth into an established life and estate planning firm, guiding families as they make meaningful choices at the intersection of life and wealth. 

More specifically, Jason’s areas of expertise include intergenerational wealth transfer and estate planning with a focus on advanced insurance-based solutions that incorporate philanthropy and legacy planning. Leveraging these specialties, Jason brings a fresh perspective and outside-the-box thinking to the strategic planning process. His satisfaction comes from watching clients fulfill their vision of life and create impact with their wealth, knowing that VELA played a role in bringing that vision to fruition for the benefit of current and future generations. 

Jason is a long-standing, active member of CALU (The Conference for Advanced Life Underwriting), the leading advocacy group promoting the financial health of Canadians and influencing sound public policy. He is a sought-after speaker and contributor to a number of regular publications. 

A proud family man, outside of the office Jason enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife Carissa, their three wonderful children, Benjamin, Noah and Eleana and their Bernese Mountain dog Lucy. Jason is the Immediate Past President of the Rotary Club of Vancouver and an active member of the Thunderbird Football Alumni. He has a passion for leading an active lifestyle and as an avid golfer, can be found regularly pursuing mastery of the game that always seems to have mastered him. 

The episode is also available on:

  

  

  

  

The Podcast Transcript: 

Jason Boudreau: 

Welcome back everybody to the Polestar Podcast. I’m Jason Boudreau, founder of VELA Wealth and your host for this episode. Today I’m delighted to have CEO and founder of Merch UX, Stewart Irvine joining us for the conversation. Hi Stewart, how are you?  

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Great, Jason, it’s a pleasure to be here with you. I really appreciate this opportunity. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

I’m looking forward to diving in. I was just thinking back to when you and I were originally introduced. We had coffee just down the road and I remember being quite enthralled with the conversation and listening to the history of what you’ve created as an entrepreneur, particularly in technology, which I know we’re going to expand on today. So, what I thought I would do is just open up the floor to you to allow you to share the story of your journey, because I know it’s quite a unique one with lots of twists and turns in it. So, as far back as you’d like to start, please tell us your story. 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Well, thank you and it’s a pleasure. I mean for 3 decades, I’ve been transforming industries, digital media, innovative technologies, developing and creating solution-based companies that really deal with innovative solutions in real world impact. And what I mean by that is, you know, one of the companies I developed 15 years ago is called Somag, it was when digital cameras came out and I combined that with a Photoshop-type application so you could create photo to art and just drop and drag and click but the business models that I’ve developed have always been trailblazing in such a way that you’re rethinking and putting yourself in the consumer’s perspective. And it’s been interesting to see how things have changed, how things are evolving. It wasn’t that long ago that everyone was scared to buy online, and look at where we are today. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

I don’t know any other way to buy online now, just put in the credit card. 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

 Yeah, you don’t even need a credit card anymore in some cases so it’s evolving, and consumerism has evolved as well. 

I think this is one of the most interesting aspects of technology is how consumerism works. I still remember when Bezos came out with Amazon and everyone’s going, who’s going to buy a book online? That’s crazy. And it’s an adoption. You know, similarly, where did social media come from? Nobody can remember yet you can’t live without it. So, I think we’re on the precipice right now, and what we’re going to talk about in a little bit is like a perfect storm, and it’s time for evolution.  

When you look at all the factors that are going into our day-to-day consumerism, we were just talking about what’s going on every day. The rhetoric for climate change, for example because of COVID, people became climate fatigued and suddenly Earth Day was cancelled two years in a row. And whatever happened to Greta, that 16-year-old from Sweden, who motivated millions of youths and people around the world for climate change. Everything’s coming in waves and slides and now we’re into this because of what’s going on in the US. We’re entering into a whole new uncharted land. So, these are very, very interesting times. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

They really are. If you can humor us and take us back to maybe less interesting times, it’d be neat to understand how you got started on this journey. 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

I got started on the journey when I developed my first technology company and that really does go back probably at least 25 years ago, when I was involved in digital media. Well, it wasn’t called digital media at the time, but that expanded. We had to learn about user interfaces and so every piece along the way, learning about how to handle high resolution files. How to be able to interface with laptops and then of course, all of a sudden came handheld units. And so, you’re constantly upping in the game. So as the companies that I developed and saw the need and research, my background is looking for business development and business administration, so you always are seeing where the opportunities are, where the market is going and developing.  

I think of technology as Lego building blocks. I add one piece, and I put another piece together, I create a solution, and you test it. But there has to be a marketplace for it, and then you expand it, build it out and that’s really been the nuts and bolts of my career. And I’ve done some things that are very interesting. One of my passions is mental health issues and developing solutions for this. I was a director of a school with learning disabilities for years and so, using technology, I developed basically it’s a handheld personal coach for anxiety. It’s surprising the number of students, especially university students, that have a lot of anxiety. So, I experimented 4 years ago with voice sentiment, so it could read and analyze your voice. And so, I created a company Life Well 360 and then we integrated, not just voice, but also being able to see what’s all the other aspects of your life. Because if you’re drinking 4 cans of Red Bull and you’re having anxiety, well, guess what? You’ll have anxiety. So, we look at complete solutions. And then I bring in experts and so I create a team, I understand the business model, but you’ve got to have teams and experts, and you’ve got to see those opportunities. And that’s exactly what we did. And when I developed Xbetter, we were developing biometric handheld authentication. And that just led us to think can we make an application by shaking your phone and placing a bet? And we did that. And that’s the type of progression and the way that I’ve been thinking about it. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

If we think back 20-25 years, of course technology has evolved exponentially and we all know about Moore’s law, so I’m curious for you being a technology entrepreneur and to your point, kind of taking the Wayne Gretzky approach of skating where the puck is going. What have you seen in terms of some trends that have emerged in the last couple of decades that you think when you saw it back then, you saw an opportunity, whether it was 10 or 20 years in the future and you see how it’s actually playing out today, and you’ve been able to see that whole lifecycle, which trends stick out to you? 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

I think the biggest area has been in voice and voice capture. We now have Siri, Alexa, everything is turning to voice. And I’m thinking it must have been about maybe 7 or 8 years ago when we were experimenting with IBM and Watson. And getting voice commands and working with this crazy thing called a chat bot and figuring out how to instruct it to have structured conversations. And so, now it’s so seamless and fully integrated into every aspect of our life. So, we’re now getting very granular. You know, looking at aura rings, looking at the fact that everyone counts their steps on their Watch. We’re actually starting to become more wellness oriented, because we have the tools that are in our hand always. So, I think where the trend is going is more into smart devices and you know, when you’re dealing with applications that are health oriented and can save lives, that inspires me. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

Yeah, very cool. I’d like to talk a bit about if we could bridge the gap between, let’s say, the last decade and the next decade. When you and I last met for coffee, you were sharing a little more about UON, which is a fascinating endeavor that I’d love for you to share more about and talk about how you see that playing out over the next decade, because we can imagine that if the last decade has accelerated as fast as it has, it’s only going to accelerate faster in the next 10 years. 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Thank you for asking about that because we’re at a critical inflection point. Think about this; every day, 7.7 billion counterfeit goods flood into the marketplace every hour. This one really gets me, every hour. 2.5 million shoes are produced every day. 13 million phones are discarded.  

So, when you talk about a decade, in the last two or three decades, only 10% of our planet has been protected. The amount of deforestation alone, remember we used to see news about the Amazon and all the deforestation that was going on? Well, it’s still going on. It’s still happening out there.  

So, you’ve got this wave on one hand – Consumerism. We love to buy, but that also creates a lot more garbage, a lot more counterfeits, a lot more products. People love to collect points; they want to keep going out and get rewarded for it. Here’s the other fascinating fact, 20% of all online products and higher-end products are counterfeit. I saw on a Reddit about a guy that bought an Arc’teryx jacket, the tag, everything looks real. Except he figured out it was fake. And so you’re buying products because you’re buying online, as we talked about. Yeah, it’s really fast and easy. But I think one of the tipping points for me was getting an e-mail from Starbucks and saying your points are going to be discarded if you don’t use it. I thought, I don’t even use the points and I’m thinking wait a second, all these elements are going on. I have a solution for this. So I go back to my analogy of the Lego building blocks. We work with a company out of Switzerland that has what we call unforgeable QR codes, so it authenticates products, and we’ve worked with them in in our other businesses. And then I met with the whole team from Earth Today in Amsterdam a couple of years ago on what they’re doing and their unit of nature, and I thought that was brilliant, but it really is a digital product. So, I figured out a way how I could combine all the elements and create a win-win-win for everyone so that we can reward consumers for buying authenticated products, the brand wins because they now have a loyal customer and the planet wins because you’re now protecting it with the unit of nature, which is what we call the UON. So, to take a step further, we’re integrating UONs (unit of nature) into reward points rather than just having them being discarded. Instead, we can convert the points. So every consumer product should be tied back to being able to do something for the planet.  

And I just want to touch on something really quickly–greenwashing. Many companies are coming out and talking about their sustainability. And they talk about it, but they’re really not doing it. They could be buying carbon offsets, but how many people know what a carbon footprint is, let alone a carbon offset. So, all these things add up and they all come into this perfect storm for us to create a solution. If a brand works with us, you will be able to reward your consumers with a unit of nature which is one square meter of land that is protected under a customer name. We work with dozens of nature protection organizations around the world, these are registered. So, we’re building that out and my vision for this is that every product you make you should be protecting nature with it. Because if we’re not protecting nature, it’s not going out there. This solution is seamless, and everyone gets a chance by doing what they’re doing anyhow, buying. Now that can help the planet while doing so. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

And so, it’s at the end of the day, the target customer for you are the businesses, right? And just so I understand correctly, the rewards points are replaced by UONs or they’re converted? 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

It’s always mathematical. Take a cup of coffee for example. They know exactly what their cost of goods are on the coffee, so their reward is, if you buy X amount, you get a free one. 

Well, for the UON, we have a finite amount for that. So it just becomes mathematical. So if you buy ten coffees, you get a unit of nature or you can take 100 points and buy one. That’s an example.  So, if you buy your Tide, you’re going to get 5 UONs and you can collect them and build that out. 

Jason Boudreau: 

And then that’s something that can be tracked in real time through the app? 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Correct. And it’s registered to your name. That registration is logged on to the blockchain, so it’s forever registered in your name. Now you can give it to your brother, you can give it to your kids, you can transfer it. But remember, it forever remains registered in your name. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

So, let’s say I have a UON and I transfer it to my brother, it’s still registered in my name, but now he’s looking after it? 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

That’s right. Now on that point, one of the things that I have plans to build out next year is going to be for greeting cards. We can make a digital greeting card that is tied back to a unit of nature. So you can also send somebody one square meter, 10 square meters, whatever it is, to be able to protect the planet as a gift.  And what I’m trying to get across on this is that it’s painless, seamless, you’re buying products anyhow, only difference is now the brand is rewarding you. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

Got it.  

So when you and I met and talked about doing this podcast together, I shared with you that at VELA, as advisors to business owners across Canada, we’ve got a really strong focus on philanthropy and community impact. And one of the neat things that I discovered in talking to you is you found a way to interweave that impact piece into business. I know that a lot of the organizations that support the UON platform are nonprofits and foundations and such, but what is your mindset when it comes to philanthropy and community impact? How do you approach that? 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Personally, with philanthropy, I feel that most people stand on the sidelines and throw a ton of money at, and it’s a one-time event. So, I’ve had several different foundations where I apply the technology and build it out and we do it for the greater good. But it’s not about giving. It’s about integrating what we do in our technology into the fabric of business.  

My take on it is, if you have the ability to create change, you have the responsibility to do it. Which is why I created the Esquared foundation to be able to take what we’re doing with all the different nature protection organizations and apply it, let’s say to the BC forests being protected, helping landowners that have massive amounts of land, come under protection. And also, I’ve had discussions now going on with Revenue Canada to be able to see if the UON can qualify as a charitable donation for work. And this is so foreign to them, they’re obviously having a hard time getting their head around it. 

 So, what most people think of with philanthropy is giving for example $50K to a hospital or donating massive amounts of money. The common person can never wrap their head around it being measurable. But the way we work, we’re now bringing people in through osmosis into philanthropy. You’re doing something for the greater good, so it’s reimagining philanthropy in a whole new way. And we’re taking it to new generations. We’re taking it down to the street level. Down to whatever you buy in the store. Now, everyone, even the general consumer, can become philanthropic. So, it’s doing a complete paradigm shift on philanthropy and that really excites me. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

Yeah, me too. I remember when you shared about this integrated model of if we’re going to buy, it’s going to happen anyway, so why don’t we find a way to pair this up with philanthropy versus have it be an afterthought. 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Yes, it feels good to help, it feels good to be doing those things. You’re going to feel good when you’re buying something. So, we want to launch this in Vancouver and work with the big brands, the Arc’teryx’s, the Herschel’s, the Vessie’s, you know, all these because they’re making amazing products. But now this is something revolutionary that the world has never seen before. And we want to launch it here with Vancouver companies. That’s, that’s my whole idea there. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

And just to sort of round out the conversation, because I know when you and I were having coffee last, you were talking about your kids and I know they’re not kids anymore, they’re adults. But I’m just curious if you were talking to them about the future, whether it’s giving or philanthropy or things around that. I always like to end the conversation with thoughts from our guests about how they would communicate those types of values or lessons to that rising generation. 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Well first, they are very concerned. They are really, really concerned about what’s going on. Deforestation, the environment, microplastics and all the things that’s happening all around us. From consumerism, they’re changing their consumer patterns slightly.  

Here’s the biggest thing, their generation will support a brand that is actually supporting with tangible, immediate impact evidence. So, they change their brands to go and support a brand that is actually supporting something that they can believe in. Because that generation are the biggest ones calling the BS on greenwashing. They’re the ones saying don’t get this because of them, know their business practices. So, they’re the ones that are the real big consumers, I mean you and I are pretty good consumers, but these guys are really coming up. They’re thrifting, and then when they’re learning about where their T-shirts go and where all these things start happening, that inspires them.  

And so, I asked my children if they would give UONs out as gifts and they said absolutely. Because it feels good, they can register in their name, and they get to zoom in and see their piece of land that’s protected – that’s really cool. They get excited about this. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

Wow. So, it’s communicating to them in a way where they can bring forth this integrated model into their lives through what they’re already doing, really, which is supporting brands that really resonate with them and make them believers. 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Well, yes. But I want to just digress for one quick second. There’s new technology that you can scan a QR code or with Google Lens and find out about that product because there’s so much information out there. So you can quickly tell if a brand has a good sustainability report, what ingredients they use in their products, etc. It’s getting more granular now. That is what the younger generations are doing. They’re scanning, they’re looking in depth at products. I mean, they’re much more of an engaged consumer than we ever were because we’re still influenced by advertising. They’re fact-checking, they don’t believe anything. They will believe what they read on Reddit and in different sources, but they do not believe advertising. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

Fascinating. Well, this has been an incredibly compelling conversation, Stewart. Thank you for taking the time to be here. 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Oh, my pleasure. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

Look forward to continuing our dialogues together. Before we sign off, any other closing thoughts you’d like to share with our listeners? 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Right now, we’re building our whole platform and engaging with this, we’re looking for business leaders like yourself to work together. We’re building a team, it’s ongoing, it’s a big project – sometimes it feels like a moon shot. But we’re inviting people that have a passion to join and to work with us and to be able to see the bigger picture and do something that’s never been done before that will help the planet. So, I appreciate this as a platform. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

We’re happy to have you on and thanks for sharing your story. Where can people go to learn more about UON and what you guys are up to? 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Earthtoday.com. And they can contact me at stewart@earthtoday.com. 

  

Jason Boudreau: 

Well, thanks again Stewart. We appreciate you being here and look forward to talking again soon. 

  

Stewart Irvine: 

Look forward to it. Thanks a lot. Take care.