Biographies of successful entrepreneurs share one lesson that you won’t read about in most “how-to” business books: None of the wildly successful and famous people started out that way.
They were just “normal” people who did very abnormal things to achieve their success.
They weren’t superhuman, but they were atypical.
More drive, years of relentless focus, not stopping when others would, and a few big bets that worked.
Dan MacDonald is the founder and CEO of BIS Safety Software, based in Edmonton, Canada.
He didn’t start in safety or software—he came from retail and leadership training before an unexpected pivot led him into online safety systems.
That shift eventually became a long-term bet on an “un-sexy” problem that companies can’t ignore.
Today, BIS Safety serves more than 2.5 million users across high-risk industries like construction, mining, transportation, and energy.
The company generates roughly $25M CAD (~18.5M USD) in annual revenue and employs about 200 people globally.
They also have one of the stickiest SaaS platforms you’ll find—with less than 1% annual logo churn for their core safety software sold direct to customers.
After nearly 20 years of bootstrapped growth, Dan is beginning a staged exit, starting with a minority secondary sale and planning a control transaction in a few years.
Dan describes his startup epiphany:
“When I started the business, there was an awakening kind of moment of realization. It hit me big. I’m reading hundreds of business books and reading about Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard, Sam Walton, and many others.
“I’m listening to the things they’re saying, the ways they’re thinking, and all I’m thinking is, my God, they think like me, they’re just like me, they’re normal people, they’re just like me. And that was kind of the first awakening realization: they’re not superhuman!
“That gave me the confidence to build the business and believe in the future. I never thought there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; it was never about the money. It was just a burning thing inside me that made me need to do this. I was just driven to do this. I felt like it was just this is what I’m meant to do.”
Dan learned that he can create something big and do it in his own way. So he did it.
Check out this episode with Dan MacDonald on the Practical Founders Podcast.
