Swell Advantage brings big returns for marinas

Iaian Archibald has been committed to shoring up efficiency in marinas since the beginning of his startup, Swell Advantage.

The CEO — and business partner Craig Sheppard — recently transitioned from a focus on boaters to helping marinas through their app analytics and data.

“We combined our love of emerging technology and boating, and we wanted to help people to safely enjoy the ocean environment,” said Archibald.

“We have family in the fishery, and I grew up a naked kid on the Eastern Shore from May until November, splashing in the water. The ocean is where my heart is.”

Swell Advantage began as an application that told boaters about their environment, as well as being a communication tool.

Now, Sheppard and Archibald have moved to organizations themselves, and now help marinas organize bookings, increase revenues and curtail any lags in operations.

“That switch just seemed natural, because in a lot of ways the nature of what we were doing was as an entity in search of a business model. We needed to provide value in a way that fit the market, and we’re closer now,” he said.

“We can provide the same value through helping marinas, so that’s what we began doing instead.”

Archibald said the quickest way to kill your startup is to not be open to change.

“The idea of strong beliefs loosely held is one of my most important philosophies. You need to go in with conviction, and constantly test your hypothesis against the market and your customers,” he said.

“Nothing breaks you down to the bare bones like undermining your own biases constantly to create a better product."

The relationship between Sheppard and Archibald, like a marriage, brings out the best in them both.

“It feels weird to say, but I feel like working with Craig makes me a better person and manager,” he said.

“That feeling comes from a strong position of respect, and us having complementary skill sets. I couldn’t imagine going to war with anyone else on this.”

Though the waters can be treacherous for a startup, Archibald is always pushing for safe harbour.

“If you take the Atlantic Canadian entrepreneur and put them in the wild, they will thrive. It’s hard to get customers locally, and to get investment and funding,” he said.

“But we’re so good at communicating, and we’re comfortable in our skin. This is about building relationships and a network.”

Though the Swell Advantage app isn’t perfect, Archibald is loving the forward propulsion.

“Nothing feels better than doing a demo for your customer and knowing your product will change their lives,” he said.

“We’re kind of sharpening the blade right now. We have a solid value proposition and people will pay for our product. We’re hoping to have a big impact.”