Marie Chevrier is the founder and CEO of Sampler
Tell us about Sampler and the journey to where you are now.
We help consumer packaged good brands like L’oreal and Kimberly Clark distribute product samples online in more targeted ways.
Five years ago, brands were handing out free product samples on street corners, grocery stores, and pharmacies, without really thinking about who exactly was receiving the sample and how that would convert to a purchase. We are the first technology on the market helping brands target the right consumers, and measure the impact of that sample to purchase.
One of the big values of leveraging digital sampling is that it is very clear. You understand that that sample went to that person, and that converted to this result. In all of our messaging, in all of our branding, we try to be that plain obvious.
How does company culture contribute to your success?
Scaling a culture around different offices, around different age groups, around different backgrounds can be a challenging thing. What it comes down to is just stopping and thinking about “Who are we?”. We asked ourselves what makes working at Sampler so special.
Once you have highlighted that as a team, you can actually start building all of your different policies and reporting guidelines, even extra benefits and incentives around those values.
What are the opportunities for the future of Canadian tech?
The most exciting the way we’ve developed as a tech ecosystem is a fact that we as entrepreneurs are thinking bigger than ever. We are seeing entrepreneurs are going for the big IPOs. We are seeing that they are building international companies. They might be starting here in Toronto or in Canada, but they are thinking about the world. And that’s the most exciting thing to see happening in our tech community.
What’s next for Sampler?
The next year, Sampler is really focused on scaling on our commercialization. We want to make sure we are top of mind for all of the top one hundred brands in the consumer packaged goods space, as well as all of the emerging brands that are popping up.
Our teams have been working with 30 of the largest brands in the world. And it’s about making sure that we can have a massive impact on them in the upcoming year.