“We are experts in Commerce.”

Let me paint you a picture: Imagine that you’ve put yourself out there and have been networking like crazy. Suddenly, you come across a commerce company that you want to get involved with. Then it hits you, they should have a Canadian presence, and you want to be the one to lead it. So, what are you going to do to make it happen? I’ll tell you what Corey Messom did, he pitched it to the founders of the commerce company Astound Commerce, and now he’s their Managing Director for Canada.That’s some initiative right there. Let’s all take notes shall we?

What is Astound Commerce? Coming straight from their website, “Astound propels revenue and relationships by developing innovative commerce experiences.” They’re a global commerce system incubator. They focus on implementing commerce solutions for global brands that you may have heard of: Crocs? Under Armour? Perhaps, maybe Jimmy Choo?

What makes Astound Commerce so unique is their focus on commerce.. They have over 700 full time developers, they have their own Astound University which provides developers several months of schooling and orientation before they’re allowed to work on projects. These guys are the best of the best, and have the commitment to back it. They put all of their effort into commerce, instead of stretching themselves too thin by trying to do any and everything their clients want. This provides Astound clients with the best commerce expertise possible.

Though the Astound Commerce roots are in Ukraine, they founded Astound in California before Corey pitched to tackle the Canadian market. Luckily for him, being the Managing Director of Canada allows for plenty of travel, from the “magical streets of New York”, to the “microclimates of San Francisco”.

“We treat the Canadian entity very much as a start-up but at the time have the backing of the global teams. We wanted to be central, wanted to be accessible, and wanted our local team to connect and be around other people doing business.”

Corey wanted the Canadian branch of Astound Commerce to join a community, especially since he’s incredibly involved with the startup community in Toronto himself. In his spare time, Corey mentors startups looking to crack the Enterprise market. He advises on retail, commerce and customer experience and helps those trying to discover if they’re startup is ready to take off. This is what made Workhaus so appealing to him. We’re a community full of entrepreneurs and startups looking to make connections. After all, if anyone can understand the importance of making connections, it’s Corey.

After leaving his previous role as CIO with Sears Canada, Corey brought his team with him to Astound Commerce. They’re a very collaborative group made up of five commerce and marketing experts in primarily customer facing roles such as business development and Solution Architects.

What’s most interesting about Astound Commerce is Corey himself. For someone that’s dedicated most of his corporate life to tech, his personal life seemingly has no place for it. Corey has, ironically enough, detached himself from technology when he’s not at work. He prefers to spend most of his time outdoors in rural Ontario and travelling across Canada. He considers himself an amateur lumberjack/woodsman and takes every chance he gets to escape the city. And this isn’t just a summer thing, you’ll find Corey out in the woods in the deep winter as well. He’s created a forest oasis north east of the city where he plans to one day soon build a log cabin.

Work life balance is crucial, and it seems that Corey has cracked the code. Astound Commerce isn’t a reactive company, the well established business processes coupled with their consummate expertise means they do the work properly so there’s no reason to panic when they go home, or in Corey’s case, when they go off-roading.

“I spent my whole life in this country and every day I’m falling in love with it all over again.”

Visit Astound Commerce for more.