Lethbridge software company, MPP, launches new product

M-P-P comes from some of the previous companies Moreland started, so MPP is Moreland Professional Projects, which is the name of the consulting firm, and then there is MPP Photography, where they do sports photography in town and MPP Software is now the third iteration of the businesses with that moniker.

MPP is not Moreland’s ‘first rodeo’. He’s a software industry veteran, having lead global software rollout programs for some of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, for nine years. He also spent the last three years as VP Canadian Operations for Intelligenz, where he grew the region from the ground up and established it as the highest revenue business unit of the company. He also worked with a Calgary startup that recently sold for $750 million.

Moreland’s latest endeavor, MPP, officially launches a new product in Lethbridge, on Monday, Nov 16, and he sat down with LNN to talk about setting up his business in Lethbridge. He found committing to this city was actually an easy decision.

“Lethbridge has a lot of regional advantages – a well educated workforce with the university – and if you can get the young folks before they take jobs out of the region, you get the benefit of them coming out of shool quite well educated. Trina Wallace, on our staff here, is a graduate of the University of Lethbridge New Media program, so she’s come in with a lot of the skill sets that we need to take and market ourselves online.”

Moreland says there are other individuals they’re trying to bring in and acquire from that younger work force, who have received training through the different educational institutions in the city. He spoke about the other financial benefits of setting up in Lethbridge.

“The cost of the workforce here versus Calgary or Edmonton is certainly advantageous to a new business and even just cost of living. In what I would have to spend to have an equivalent residence or lifestyle in Calgary, Edmonton, or Toronto really frees up the capital that I needed to have available to start a venture like this. So, all of those things are rather unique to the Lethbridge region, especially in Alberta, and that combination of cost-of-living, cost of labour and the benefit of the educated workforce really are market modifiers that make this an attractive place to do business.”

The CEO still has contacts in Calgary and Edmonton, as the nature of software development embraces individuals from not only a variety of backgrounds and talents but, also locations. While a business may be headquartered in one city, employees and those involved are not limited by geography. Clients, developers and employees are only a few key strokes away, in the high tech world.

“Our development team is actually based out of Edmonton. We have two individuals who are our ‘dev shop’ (software developers or programers) set up in an office up there. So we are managing the operational side of the business here at our headquarters and then we have the folks writing the code located up north. We definitely have contacts in Calgary, as one of our board members is Calgary based, who I worked with previously, and we also have board members based out of Victoria and Vernon, B.C. We’re lucky to have that very disparate group of supporters who are helping us be successful.”

At the current time, Moreland has a six member staff in Lethbridge, including himself.

When it comes to the development of new software programs, companies tend to hold the cards close to their chest, with employees signing NDA’ (non disclosure agreements). It can mean the difference between launching an entirely new program that you’ve developed….or having another company find out your plans and getting the jump on a product you’ve designed.

When we spoke to Moreland in mid October, MPP was about four weeks out from launching their flagship solution, known as “Eligere” (Pron: Ell ee zjhair). Eligere, and particularly Eligere-estate is a for-rent by owner platform, similar to Airbnb or Vrbo. But, they marry that up with social media-style security, so you get to invite friends and family to your property and control who has the ability to rent into your place.

“We still handle all the payments, all the bookings, all the tools that a homeowner would have if they were using a public listing site, while keeping their home private, which we know is something very important to people, especially right now, when there is concern about who’s coming into your place, if their following regional guidelines that are needed to protect you, your home and your other guests.”

Moreland does have other projects on the back burner. While he can’t ‘name-names’, they are looking at taking and marketing solutions to a couple of real estate firms as well.

“We’ve found a very interesting marriage here, where you’ve got home owners looking to sell properties, often that they have moved out due to the need to relocate. So you’ve got that inventory that the real estate companies own, you’ve got individuals coming to town that the realtors know will be looking for property or maybe interested in some sort of a rental arrangement and nobody is making those connections today.”

Whenever a new business is set up, there are always hurdles and pitfalls. One of the most significant for software firms is financing. They tend to be heavy ‘front-loaders’ requiring up-front financing to employ multiple mind power or developers and marketers to get the company off the ground.

Moreland finds the initial funding journey is always ‘very exciting’.

“We`ve been very lucky that we`ve got a strong group of individual investors backing us, but additional programing that the government could have put forward, particularly with some of the programs that they`re trying to facilitate, in terms of diversification and bringing more technology jobs to the province, they either weren`t established yet or we didn`t qualify because we did not have a sufficient ownership group in, shall we say, the segment of the population that they are very much focused on those dollars going towards.”

“So, that was a bit of a challenge but, thankfully, we were successful in the end, in that realm. However, having more support from either the provincial or federal government, in a funding capacity for new ventures, would remove a lot of barriers for entry, for sure.“

As for his financial supporters, Moreland says it’s a combination.

“We have a strong base actually, in Lethbridge, Calgary, Edmonton, and across Canada, so it`s a regionally dispersed group of individuals, but we do have some Lethbridge `angel investors` who`ve stepped forward and put some money behind what we`re doing.”

The MPP CEO is quick to point out that his company is not the only one working on software ventures in the city – there are others. They also work quietly behind the scenes, working on their products and preparing for future launch dates.

According to Moreland, “We’re a long way from becoming Silicon Valley North. But, it’s a good start!”

MPP Lethbridge staff – Top left: Colin Moreland, CEO; Center: Sharon Moreland, Sales Agent; Right: Vincent Sundar, CPO Bottom Left: Trina Wallace, VP Marketing; Center: Paige Sarrasin, Customer Experience Manager, Right: Scott Campbell, Eligere Development Manager.

Photo credits to Jennifer George Photography

by Dori Modney

Lethbridge software company, MPP, launches new product

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