Most people I interview have been at life, work and business much longer. I believe he fits the definition of Millennial – but beyond that I’m not sure he fits anyone’s definition. I expected the interview to be short (I mean, seriously, how long should it take to interview someone his age?). He’s 27. It turned out to be longer than most, laughter filled and far more enlightening than I expected …
He describes himself as self-diagnosed A.D.D – “It isn’t like a job. It’s like a big game.” A game he's playing pretty well. I get the sense it is the first of many creative endeavours to come. I found him affable, fun, funny, a bit of a name-dropper – and he laughed a lot. So did I.
Like many Calgarians, I’ve become a fan of the BOE report – invented in Calgary, a free daily publication that informs anyone interested in the oil patch, and especially everyone working in the oil & gas industry – what’s going on. It’s not the Daily Oil Bulletin. Many I’ve talked to would argue it’s better, simpler and easier to navigate. BOE tells its own story pretty well – aggregating newswire feeds, supplemental data, advertising, government data, well licensing; news and well activity – free to anyone who wants to get it by email daily.
I’ve been getting it daily for more than a year now – see it improving, and I became curious about its creator, its publisher – Josh Groberman. Many Calgarians will remember him as a helicopter-traffic reporter with a sense of humour. One fan in particular sent him a Facebook message while he was in the air. They met, and married … more about that later.
Josh is a fifth generation Calgarian (first Grobermans arrived here in 1904). “I grew up normal rather than privileged in a normal family. Grobermans have always been in businesses, but nobody in our family has ‘really made it big.” … though he admits to being born in Vancouver, but his parents returned to Calgary before he’d been through his second case of diapers – he’s been here all his life. Youngest of three boys, mom is an aerobics instructor, dad an entrepreneur and commodities broker. Josh admits to being a good athlete and a low-average student at The Calgary Edge School until grade 12 “I made it through”, then off to Mount Royal University for a half-semester studying communications – got a job and left school. Jobs reporting sports (began part-time when he was 16, traffic reporting, Global TV, QR77, Corus … some work with a newswire service ).
Josh describes his youth/school days, “I was loud and annoying. Obnoxious and annoying.” But life got serious in a hurry. Her name is April, she saw him on TV, sent the Facebook message – and they have two boys, 3 and 1½. Josh took pains to explain the transformation from video-game aficionado/helicopter reporting guy to founding his business as, “girlfriend, house, marriage, baby” – but within a tight time frame. “It was the only kind of business I could easily get into”. His brother Alex is a programmer who works as an analyst at Long Run Exploration where he worked on an in-house newsletter. Fast forward, brainstorming brothers, advice and support from Bill Andrew and BOE was born in September 2012. Today, three full-time, three part-time, five contractors. All millennials, all video-gamers. Not bad for a half-semester of communications training at Mount Royal.
“We’re making people’s lives easier.” … His goals? “First, to be the #1 oil & gas news service in Canada. We’ve achieved that. Next, to be #1 on the planet. Right now we are #7 or #8 … but we’re working on that.” He goes on to express surprise that the Daily Oil Bulletin recently started a free daily newsletter – “I’m surprised they didn’t just buy us!”. Given his amenable-to-sell mindset, I wanted to know ‘what’s next?’ and found him less forthcoming … but he did say, “I’d like to start an oil company.” … seems to me he has plenty of time, he’s in the right place and doing lots of right-headed things.
Why are you successful? “I trust life like a game – and I love playing games. I don’t see myself as ‘successful’. It’s not a word I use. I don’t enjoy sitting in an office – I love business meetings, enjoy interaction with people. I’m not worried about what people think of me. I’m always trying things – I’m not afraid of anything not working.”
What has held you back? “nothing yet. I haven’t yet learned what I need to avoid.”
Last words: “I think my generation is not easy – we don’t like working and we are very entitled.”