The Billion Dollar Question: An Interview with Jim Estill

We found a secret weapon in marketing - an engineer that can sell! Jim Estill was a University of Waterloo engineering techie who got into selling computers and became really good at it. The business he started from the trunk of his car became a substantial acquisition for one of Canada's leading computer distributors, Synnex Corporation. Jim is currently CEO of Synnex Canada which sells about a billion dollars of computer products a year.

Jim also became a highly involved shareholder at an early stage with Research in Motion (RIM), makers of the popular Blackberry device, where he remains on the Board of Directors.

On top of this, he is as curious and interested in new ideas as ever and has become an expert blogger. His CEO-Time Leadership blog at www.jimestill.com is a great place to learn about leadership and making the best possible use of your time.

We interviewed him to bring some of his insights into marketing and leadership to you.

Q: How has your engineering background helped you in your business?

Jim: When I started my business, it gave me credibility (I was young and looked younger). And simply spending the time in school helped my maturity level and gave me confidence.

Q: What made you go into selling from the trunk of your car, rather than staying in the engineering world?

Jim: I was designing a circuit board and needed a computer. I got a better deal if I bought 2 so I did and sold one then someone else wanted one etc.

Q: Who were your early role models and what were the main things you learned from them?

Jim: My father taught me self discipline. I have always loved business biographies so was inspired by many of them like Edison, Ford, Weston etc.

Q: What was the most important thing you had to learn to become able to take your EMJ business from zero to $330 million in 25 years - with 99 consecutive quarters of profitability?

Jim: I had to learn to give things up - to trust that other people were capable of doing parts of the job. This can be a very limiting challenge for an entrepreneur.

Q: What were the keys to R.I.M. Blackberry success?

Jim: Success is usually never just one thing. I think their focus has been good. RIM has always hired good people. RIM thinks big. RIM has good technology backed with great marketing and market understanding.

Q: What have you mainly been bringing to the R.I.M. organization (in the early stages and now)?

Jim: In the early stages, I was the big company, the public company, the company who had grown etc. So I could help with growth issues/rolodex etc. I have always been a techie so I always float my ideas on product (most of which were not done and I do not want you to think I was the brains behind product because I was not).

Right now, continuity helps. I am also a working CEO running a $1B+ tech company so certainly have relevant experience.

Q: If you could redo something in your past, what would it be?

Jim: We are the product of all of our past - including our mistakes. One of the things I often say is "Fail Often, Fail Fast and Fail Cheap" and "Having a failure does not make you a failure" so there is nothing I would want to redo.


Thank you Jim for sharing these insights with us. This should serve as an inspiration to any engineers or techies among us to explore developing our leadership abilities and learn how to become really great at selling. Visit Jim’s blog and connect with him at www.jimestill.com