Strategic Management Caoch LinkedIn 800-915-3050 strategy @ mojo.ca

At Mojo Ventures we understand strategic management to be about strategic thinking which is different from strategic planning. Strategic thinking is done by a small number of senior people in the organization and sets a vision and direction for the organization. Strategic planning on the other hand is about execution. It requires everyone in the organization to understand their role and to enthusiastically engage in what they are asked to do.

Strategic thinking is generally about innovation or marketing choices at a high level. Peter Drucker once put it this way: “Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two—and only these two—basic functions: marketing and innovation, all the rest are costs.” Strategic thinking engagements at mojo ventures are innovation and marketing focused, and generally aim at four big questions.

• where do we play? 
• how do we compete?
• how do we best leverage our resources?
• how do we challenge existing constraints?

Meet Sean

Sean Irvine is the managing director at Mojo Ventures where he leads our consulting practice and a small investment fund. He leads due diligence for an investment portfolio that is technology-focused and distributed across North America.  Affiliations include VanTec and Keiretsu North West.  He is an Executive in Residence at the Foresight Cleantech Accelerator in Vancouver supporting “green tech” entrepreneurship across Canada.  His corporate governance experience includes small technology companies, venture capital firms, and several not-for-profit organizations.  His personal consulting practice helps executives to move from start-up to growth, and from growth to exit with lean and effective management teams.  Day to day, he coaches CEOs CTOs and CMOs using an array of simple working tools that help to create productive rhythm and good decision-making.  The coaching team at Mojo Ventures is a hand-picked network of independent contractors who have demonstrated professional excellence and qualify under our best value for money criteria.    

As an academic for 18 years, Sean taught at the University of British Columbia to MBA students (Intellectual property & Business Strategy) and to the Master of Engineering Management Program (Intellectual Property & Technology Commercialization).

As a public servant, Sean held various federal government management roles ranging from industry development work to policy analysis such as Ministerial briefings on cross-border tax policy.  He issued over a thousand patents while at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.  As an industry development leader, he spent a decade at Industry Canada investing in western Canada's life sciences industries, and half a decade at Fisheries and Oceans Canada investing in sustainable aquaculture.  From political briefing books to management accountability frameworks and province-wide stakeholder communications, he has been there.

As a technical innovator, he managed complex construction projects in the field such as the installation of the first underground municipal services in Iqaluit under permafrost conditions.  He coordinated a bioproduct and a medical device technology roadmap.   He has broad project and change management experience derived from managing people and running teams (software, business development, engineering) for over 30 years.

As a skilled negotiator, he’s led labor negotiations, real estate transactions, technology transfer transactions, and more. He is a skilled communicator having edited hundreds of investment pitch decks and led many community engagement efforts. Sean has crafted and delivered many sales and marketing messages over four decades. Storytelling and win-win negotiations are in his DNA.

He lives in North Vancouver with his wife, two daughters, and his guitar.