An Interview with Aquaman

Coming to us this month is an environmental entrepreneur from the water industry. With over 70% of the world's surface covered by water and recognition growing of the role that it can play in addressing many of the issues facing modern society, water treatment, preservation and management, is an area that is getting a lot of attention these days. And Edward Quilty is on the leading edge with his company, Aquatic Informatics.

Aquatic Informatics develops and markets software for the water and climate information industry, an industry that may seem rather daunting at first glance. Their customers include, municipalities, engineering firms, universities and state and provincial government who use their easy to run software for a variety of tasks related to maximizing use of this natural resource in safe and conservation friendly ways.

A trained biologist, just shy of his Ph.D. and BC native, Ed started working in the environmental data monitoring industry straight out of university. He has seen massive changes in the industry as weather and climate changes have impacted a variety of aspects of daily life around the globe. The thriving clean tech industry in our part of Canada keeps Ed busy, but he took some time out to talk to us a bit about running a small company, his inspirations and guiding principles.

I found Ed's comments on hiring and managing people to be particularly inspiring. He is not a fan of micromanagement and believes in hiring the right people. All of us who manage people aspire to the same thing, but often are able to achieve it. Ed believes it comes down to hiring people who can believe in the company's core values. A great comment really resonated with me was, "It's amazing how much time and energy can be wasted wrestling the wrong people in the right direction."

I'd never really thought of it that way, but it strikes me as true. As increasingly we look for people both with expertise in a narrow body of knowledge and with the right personality and work style to fit into the corporate culture, it comes down to espousing the same core values. While it seems the pool of talent is great, finding the right fit for any organization takes time and effort.

One of the benefits of conducting these interviews each month comes from learning more and more about running my own small business. My interview with Ed turned out to be a treasure trove. He digs deep down to his philosophical core when discussing core values and how to imbibe that in a corporate culture. He believes in taking opportunities, even if they don't always seem to have a specific goal in mind - the mark of a true entrepreneur.



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

Nearly straight out of University I worked as a contractor for BC Environment. My boss during those few years had an amazing ability to motivate our team, somewhat passively. While other units were micromanaged and stereotypically disengaged, our unit had a real collegial spirit - we were very tight, worked exceptionally hard, and had tons of fun. It was us against the world. My boss's strategy was to hire great people and remove roadblocks for them. I've adopted this approach in my own companies and I think it's been a cornerstone for the success we are now seeing at Aquatic Informatics.

In your opinion what are the key trends affecting your industry?

The environmental data monitoring industry is undergoing radical change. The combination of climate change, growing water scarcity and rapid technological advances is prompting governments and private entities to rapidly modernize and enhance the collection, processing and timely publication of environmental data. Extended droughts in California, Australia, and China, and recent floods in Europe are all good examples of how big the problems can be and the scale and timeliness of the response needed. The industry used to move at a glacial pace whereas now it requires real-time collection of data, and fast interpretation and decision-making.


What is the greatest business advice you've ever received?

Ralph Turfus, a well known local tech entrepreneur, told me to take the time to really understand my own core values and then build a company around them. As a small company, you need to be really efficient and responsive, and therefore you need great team alignment. It's amazing how much time and energy can be wasted wrestling the wrong people in the right direction - I like to save my battles for the competition. So we have made a real push to ensure our core values are living and breathing within the company - they aren't just lip service. They are part of our hiring process and drive our team's 360 degree performance reviews within the company.


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

Two things. First, in university I had an opportunity to take an international co-op work term. Instead I chose to stay in BC and continue to build my local contacts and experience - it seemed more practical whereas the alternative would be more fun. In hindsight I should have gone for more fun. Also, I now look at the globe as one market and I think I would have gotten to this mindset more quickly if I had worked abroad earlier. Second, I wish I had finished my PhD before throwing myself completely into building Aquatic Informatics. I thought I could do both but really I needed every second and more for Aquatics. I do intend to complete my PhD down the road, but likely with a new focus.


What is an example of an innovative company that people have never heard of?

There is a really inventive Austrian company called S::CAN (www.s-can.at) that are making waves in sensing technology in the water industry. They have built spectrometer technology into portable and robust devices that can be deployed in situ to measure a large and growing list of water quality parameters, such as dissolved organics, nutrients, and contaminants. In the same way that we are transforming the way our industry can handle massive amounts of environmental data in real-time, S::CAN is transforming what our industry can actually measure in real-time - they are opening big doors and it's really exciting for us.


List a few of your favourite business sites.

www.bctia.org
www.acetech.org
www.gazelles.com

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Edward Quilty - Founder, President & CEO

Edward Quilty is the founder of Aquatic Informatics. Ed has worked in the water industry since 1992 and has specialized in automated monitoring, data management and assessment, and environmental impact assessments. Prior to founding Aquatics in 2003, Ed was principal of QA Environmental Consulting, a regional firm focused on designing and managing hydrometric networks. Mr. Quilty is a registered professional biologist with the British Columbia College of Applied Biology, is a Director of the Canadian Water Resource Association, is a member of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and the American Water and Wastewater Association. Ed is also an active member of ACETECH and BCTIA, technology associations focused on rapidly growing British Columbia companies.