An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
We would focus on creating a sustainable global organization mandate that has shared values. If every organization focused on people, had shared values, and were sustainable, this would lead to a trickle down and there would be a lot of good in the world.
As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jayesh Parmar and Nicole Parmar.
Jayesh Parmar, born in Saskatoon, Canada — San Francisco incubated, alumni of Toronto’s Extreme Startups, New York’s Canadian Technology Accelerator and Vancouver’s Hyper Growth Program; Jayesh now calls Vancouver, British Columbia home. He was the former CEO/Co-Founder of Picatic.com which was acquired by Eventbrite in 2018. Jayesh is an active investor, a lifelong student, and has jumped back into being a co-CEO and co-founder of Gunkii, the world’s sexiest tongue scraper. Giving back to the community and those in need has always been at the heart of what drives Jayesh’s passion, alongside his mission is to build profit and purpose-driven companies with team cultures that are immersed in giving, cheekiness, fun, and adventure.
Gunkii incorporates his Indian roots and the Ayurveda system of medicine while embracing his teaching background and love of helping children. More importantly, Jayesh believes that profit is not a stand-alone benefit but rather a shared responsibility to serve those with fewer means. Jayesh is married to an amazing partner, Nicole. Together they are the proud parents to an incredible tiny human, Jai. When not spending time on building businesses, Jayesh loves spending his “off-time” coaching and hanging with his family.
Nicole Parmar is a systems thinker that takes a macro approach to marketing. She is a veteran consultant covering social media, PPC, branding, content marketing, SEO/SEM, automation, hyper personalization, and leading growth marketing practices. She was named Top Forty Under 40 by Business In Vancouver. Clients include TEDx, BE Power, RE/MAX, Picatic (acquired by Eventbrite), Trainerize (Acquired by ABC Financial), and many more. She has taught growth marketing at BrainStation and was a lead growth mentor for Hyper Growth and Hyper Growth Life at BC Tech where she also served as an Embedded Executive.
While helping many companies grow, she has also started, executed, and grown 3 companies of her own: a growth marketing consultant company, children’s books based on her son’s adventures, and last but not least, Gunkii: an oral hygiene product.
Nicole holds degrees in Education, Deaf Education, Psychology as well as a Master’s in Evaluation and Measurement. She has lived and worked in San Francisco, Toronto, New York and currently resides in Vancouver. In her spare time, Nicole loves hanging with her crazy 7-year-old and husband (who often acts like a 7 year old). She enjoys traveling the world, co-chairing the school PAC, and chauffeuring her son to all of his extracurricular activities!
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you two to your respective career paths?
We both started our careers as teachers: Jayesh taught Phys. Ed and Nicole taught Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. Jayesh then transitioned and was the CEO of Picatic (acquired by Eventbrite) and Nicole moved into growth marketing (supporting 2 company acquisitions). After Picatic was acquired, the two decided to move into consumer-packaged goods (CPG) and focus on direct to consumer (DTC).
Can you share the most interesting story that has happened to you since you two got married?
There are a few! I think the most interesting one (and most appropriate for the magazine) is that 4 days after we wed, we moved to San Francisco. After that, we moved to Toronto. Right after that, we moved to New York and then Vancouver. It is safe to say we lived out of a suitcase for the first two years of our marriage. We are happy to report that we have been in Vancouver for 8 years!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When we first started Gunkii, there were a lot of things we did not know! Starting a business is like drinking from a fire hose, there is a lot of information to take in at one time! Back when we launched, we had no idea we needed a Medical License. Who knew a tongue scraper would be considered a medical device!? This is why you have great investors and great advisors: they fill in the gaps for you!
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Our company stands out because of our brand, execution, and quality. We are also big on being tongue and cheek while being a shared value company.
We are an accessible luxury item. Most tongue scrapers sell on reseller sites and are made of plastic. Gunkii is made from a single piece of premium block food-safe aluminum. We make our products to last a lifetime!
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are working on several exciting new projects. Right now, we are working on a kid’s version of Gunkii. We’re also working on color variations and artist collaborations.
Our product pipeline also has some fun things in store, but we are not ready to spill the gunk on that, just yet! Color variations have been asked for several times by families, so it is easy to locate who’s Gunkii is who’s.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
First and foremost, there has to be a positive work environment that is based on trust. Our employees thrive when they feel their ideas, creativity, and values are shared and heard. Hire people who are better than you in their respective areas and then get out of their way. Keep open communications and make sure everyone knows the true north of the company.
How do you define “leadership?”
Leadership to us is being able to direct our resources and team to achieve the organizational goals. Effective leaders provide clarity of purpose, motivate, and guide the team to realize and execute its mission.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
We have a lot of people we are grateful for. First and foremost, we are fortunate to have a great investor base. We can lean on any one of them at any time for anything. We also need to send a shout out to our early adopters who supported us when we launched on Kickstarter. We launched and sold to 50+ countries. Without the support of those early adopters, we wouldn’t have had the jump start we had. Last, but not least, thank you to our new customers and those following our journey!
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
We are creating an opportunity and an enterprise to help people. As previously mentioned, we are working on shared values. When you purchase a Gunkii, a portion of that sale goes to support a child born with a cleft lip or a cleft palate via Project Smile.
What are the “5 Things You Need To Thrive As A Couple?” Please share a story or example for each.
Oh man, this made us laugh…Only 5?
- Trello — our household and our business would not run without Trello. The saying goes, “If it’s not in Trello, it didn’t happen.” We keep house items, to do lists, gift lists, you name it, on a board.
- Google Calendar — how do people operate without shared calendars? And without alerts?
- Patience — Jayesh will tell you that Nic has the patience of a saint. Nic cannot state the same for Jayesh.
- Off time — Everyone needs downtime! Time to recharge. Time away from kids, duties, and responsibilities. We both try to afford that to one another.
- Humor — You need to be able to laugh at yourself. Laugh at the mistakes. Laugh in general! After all, laughter is the best medicine.
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
We would focus on creating a sustainable global organization mandate that has shared values. If every organization focused on people, had shared values, and were sustainable, this would lead to a trickle down and there would be a lot of good in the world.
Can you please give us your favorite “life lesson quote?” Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Jayesh’s favorite: failure is just a data point. Anytime you are going to do something new you will continuously be faced by hurdles and nos. When this happens, you need perseverance.
Nic’s favorite: you never really lose unless you stop trying. If you want something bad enough you will find a way to get it. I have been called “persistent” once or twice in life!
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why?
We would enjoy breakfast with Bill and Melinda Gates. Conversing with them about business and their personal lives would be dynamic. They utilize their privilege and appear to be responsible with the foundation they have created and grown.
How can our readers follow your work online?
Thanks for asking. Follow us here:
https://www.instagram.com/gunkii_tonguescraper/?hl=en
https://www.facebook.com/Gunkiitonguescraper
https://www.linkedin.com/company/42713386/
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Lessons from a Thriving Power Couple, With Jayesh Parmar and Nicole Parmar of Gunkii was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.