JOSHUA KRENUS

Co-founder and insurance specialist ALTERI INSURANCE AGE: 29

LIFE STORY: Joshua Krenus took a winding path to becoming an insurance entrepreneur. The Surrey native has been a Junior A hockey goalie, a construction worker for his family's company and an actor at New York's Circle in the Square Theatre School. In 2010 he started an auto-detailing business, running it for six years before becoming a licensed insurance specialist with Vancouver's Telford Financial Group. Last July, Krenus founded Alteri Insurance with Telford colleague and longtime friend Matt Strauts. Alteri provides life, critical illness and disability insurance to professionals and entrepreneurs, and group benefit plans for businesses. “I always wanted to own a servicebased business but not work in one that was laborious,” Krenus says of his decision to put down the car wax and sponges. “I wanted to be a suit.”

Vancouver-based Alteri takes an old-school, personal approach to service, with an emphasis on face-to-face meetings. But the firm also embraces technology: this spring it will launch a platform on its website that lets clients control their coverage options.

THE BOTTOM LINE: By the end of 2016, Alteri's monthly revenue had climbed to $15,000. Krenus got there by making a minimum of 1,000 cold calls and handwriting 500 letters a month. He and Strauts, who have hired a business development manager and an insurance adviser, plan to open a Calgary office next year.