There have been many lessons along the way, but for Mann, none was more vital than understanding what he calls the three most important drivers of an organization: people, process and systems. Mann and Procurify’s two other founders, Eugene Dong and Kenneth Loi, CTO and COO, respectively, began working on the idea for the company in Dong’s parents’ basement in Burnaby after meeting in BCIT ’s business management program in 2011.

He thinks his team can get there by selling procurement software.

That’s why craft beer on tap and weekly yoga sessions are usually more punchlines than actual perks.īut underneath the fur is a man who wants his company to be one of the first names that comes to mind when you think of Vancouver (and Canadian) tech businesses. Sure, many tech companies talk of promoting fun and culture in the workplace. It would all be quite weird if it weren’t in line with what Procurify is about: doing things differently. The 34-year-old greets people with a fist bump and leaves them with a hug, which, when you’re wearing a sloth suit, is somewhat fitting. He’ll also (seemingly genuinely) invite our photographer to Burning Man. On the roof, he’ll talk about-among many other things-the snares of startup culture, getting seed money from Mark Cuban, why he refuses to go to Silicon Valley and Thomas Edison. Mann rambles up two floors to the top of the building, sloth suit in one hand, a Hey Y’all in the other. To complete the metaphor, he’s depicted in a rocket ship to signify Procurify shaking up the system.) (The company’s mascot is a sloth named Dash that represents the old ways of doing things. The co-founder and CEO of Procurify, a Vancouver startup that develops purchasing software for companies, says he isn’t comfortable getting his photo taken in his regular clothes, so he insists on wearing the getup. Eventually he pulls out a full-body costume, complete with sloth head. “Just looking for a sloth suit,” Mann says as he continues to rummage. On a Friday afternoon in March, Aman Mann is frantically searching through cabinets in one of the conference rooms at his downtown Vancouver office. Credit: Adam Blasberg Co-founder and CEO Aman Mann does things a little differently

Procurify office