Matt Rasmussen
Who he is. Matt is the founder of Rolling Tides Construction, a founding partner of Rolling Tides Developments, and the founder of Ruth's Icebucket. He's in growth mode: building Rolling Tides into one of Vancouver Island's most trusted construction firms across public and private sector work, while expanding into development and new partnerships.
What he's working on. A company that can keep growing without needing more of him every year. That means stronger leaders, better systems, bigger opportunities, and discipline about where the company puts its time and energy. At the same time, staying present for his family and building a life where ambition and home can grow together instead of competing.
What he brings to the room. Matt has spent years investing in his own development through Synergy Mastermind, Breakthrough Academy, Highspire Coaching, Build Pro and other rooms built around growth, leadership and business performance. Now he wants to take what he's learned, combine it with the lessons from building his own companies, and share it with the next generation of entrepreneurs.
He's big on leadership and culture, but he also believes growth needs structure. He brings an operator's mindset to turning big ambitions into clear goals, measurable priorities and ninety-day actions that actually move the business forward. He'll push on the plan, challenge the assumptions underneath it, and make sure the goals on the page turn into progress in the real world.
Mike Shaw
Who he is. In 2013, while coaching Canada's National Development Halfpipe Ski Team, Mike sustained a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. His recovery became his life's work. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from UBC Okanagan and a Master of Counselling Psychology with honours from Yorkville University. From 2016 to 2025 he founded and ran two education and performance-training businesses, SafeStart Education and Athletics and Headstartpro Performance Training. Vancouver Island's Cassie Sharpe, Olympic halfpipe gold and silver medallist, credits tools she learned firsthand from Mike.
Today he's a Registered Clinical Counsellor and founder of Gratus Health in Victoria, the author of Never Part of the Plan, and a keynote speaker who has shared his story and strategies from the stage to more than 50,000 people on three continents. His TEDx talk is called "Grief Happens," Red Bull TV documented his recovery in The Healing Agent, and his story has been featured on CBC, CTV, NBC, and in USA Today.
What he's working on. Building Gratus Health into a multi-location practice that brings mental and physical recovery together, so it can help far more people than he could alone. He continues to speak professionally on the mindset behind business, performance, and mental health. And he's doing both without letting the work crowd out the life it's meant to serve.
What he brings to the room. The Life Built on Purpose plan, and the perspective to work it honestly. Mike leads the life half of FOUND: your health and self-care, your relationships, the thinking and emotions that get in the way, what's already working that you take for granted, and the life you want to be living ten years from now. He's the one who zooms the room out when it's gotten too close to the problem. It's not positive thinking. It's accurate accounting, and it changes what people decide to do next.
Shane Cyr
Who he is. Shane is a realtor on the South Island, running his own practice with eXp Realty, and a partner in Rolling Tides Developments. With Mike, he runs the Victoria Founders hikes, where a lot of the people in this room first met. He's the one who kept asking the question that turned into FOUND: what's the point of building the business if the rest of your life is running on default?
What he's working on. Whole-life intentionality and personal growth, and in particular the connection between performance and being regulated and present: how you actually show up when the pressure's on. Fitness is where he's proven it to himself: years of showing up, on the trails and in the gym, whether or not he felt like it. That kind of consistency is what he wants to bring to every other part of life. He'd be the first to say he's learning this alongside everyone else, which is the point.
What he brings to the room. The part you can't get from a framework: someone who has lived it. Shane built a business the hard way, from the tools to his own practice, and knows firsthand what it costs when the business gets everything and the rest of life gets what's left. He's rebuilt his own life on purpose since, and he's still doing the work: his plan, his numbers and his commitments go on the table with everyone else's.
In the room, that shows up as straight talk and real support. He'll share what a hard stretch actually looked like from the inside, not the cleaned-up version. He'll ask the question nobody else is asking. And he's the one who follows up: every other week, did you do what you said. He brings the discipline he's built through years of training and showing up, the regulation to stay steady when the conversation gets uncomfortable, and the community he's spent years building on the Island, where a lot of this room first met. Matt brings the plan. Mike brings the framework. Shane makes sure both of them get lived.