S02|08: Rebuilding from the Brink: Turning Crisis into Opportunity with David Lod

Taking the reins of a struggling tech company might seem daunting, but for David Lod, it was an opportunity to build something extraordinary from the ground up. As CEO of VEERUM, David inherited a company facing significant challenges—from financial instability to a fractured internal culture. Rather than backing down, he leaned into the adversity, focusing on refining the company’s core software and transforming its workplace culture into one built on trust and collaboration.

In this episode, David shares how he navigated VEERUM through the early days of the pandemic, doubling the company’s size and client base at a time when most businesses were shrinking. He opens up about the tough decisions, including downsizing the team and shifting the company’s focus, while building a supportive environment that empowered his employees to thrive. From securing critical capital to overcoming personal and professional hurdles, David's journey is a powerful lesson in leadership, resilience, and creating lasting impact.

Tune in to hear how David turned a near-failure into a fast-growing tech leader and how his approach to crisis and opportunity helped shape the future of VEERUM.

About David Lod

David is the CEO of VEERUM. Under his leadership, VEERUM has experienced tremendous growth, becoming a recognized powerhouse in the world of heavy-industry asset management and visualization.

Prior to joining VEERUM David was responsible for building and managing critical data centres facilities for Shaw Communications Inc as VP and GM overseeing the P&L, operations, key client relationships and product development.

Previously, he was Vice President of Enterprise Sales for Rogers Communications Inc. and Executive Vice President & Co-Owner for Pivot Data Centres (a high-growth firm that was acquired by Rogers Communications Inc. in 2013). David has supported clients across the world in his career.

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Contact Thin Air Labs:

• Website: ThinAirLabs.ca
• LinkedIn: Thin Air Labs
• X: Thin Air Labs
• YouTube: Thin Air Labs

Contact David Lod:

• Website: VEERUM.com
• Linkedin: David Lod
• Email: [email protected]

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Transcript

David 00:01

My best friend from junior kindergarten, he went the software route, and has been a CTO in a bunch of construction tech, Big Pharma software companies, and had an incredible background doing that. And him and I have been best friends forever, and we always wanted to work together. So when I got on the bench here as CEO, I said, Rob, I think I found the one.

Leah 00:24

Hi, thanks for being here and welcome to Season Two of The Founder Mindset, brought to you by ATB. I'm Leah Sarich, your host, and I'm super excited to talk to more founders about the human experience of being an entrepreneur. In this podcast, we're digging into what it really feels like to build a company from nothing. I was a broadcaster for over 20 years. So, I've interviewed thousands of people, but entrepreneurs, not that many. And yet they have the best stories. They're solving big problems. And they're creating incredible impact. But it is hard work. So why would they do this? Let's find out.

Leah 01:08

Joining me in studio today is David Lod, CEO of VEERUM, a platform that empowers teams with their visual operations capabilities, allowing companies around the world to manage their industrial assets in 3D. David, welcome. Thank you so much for being here.

David 01:24

Thank you, Leah, thrilled to be here today. So.

Leah 01:26

Thank you. Well, let's start right at the beginning and talk a little bit about like VEERUM. Let's start there with what VEERUM is today, and then we'll go back a little bit in time. So let's start with what VEERUM Is today.

David 01:37

You described it spot on. This is about changing industrial operations for large facilities and assets. So these are traditionally oil and gas facilities. They could be utility, large manufacturing facilities as well, as you know, utility and mines as well. So what we saw was a very antiquated approach to working, providing operations and maintenance, project controls construction with all these large facilities. So what VEERUM has been able to do is create what I call a single pane of glass. So you just log into your one laptop and you can see your engineering models, your geospatial data, your document management, everything together, including your real-time, whether it's Io...