I recently sat down with my friend Stewart Story of Story Construction for an episode of the 5% Podcast. Story Construction has been a fixture in the Victoria industry since 1983, and Stew has spent over 25 years on the front lines of the business.
While Stew is building everything from specialized surgical centers to complex residential projects, I’ve been navigating the world of innovation tax credits. We meet with people like Stew all the time, leaders facing unique challenges across different industries, but the core of the struggle is almost always the same: The Gap between the Vision and the Reality.
In business, we all lead with a vision. We strive for things like a perfect schedule, a total solution, or even a fixed price, not because those things are easy to guarantee, but because they represent our commitment to accountability in an uncertain world. These are the goals we set and the standards we promise. But as Stew put it, the most satisfying moments happen when you get past that initial target and realize: “We’re all just here to help each other out.”
I went into this podcast expecting a relaxing conversation. My co-host Tom had other plans, mostly involving a well-timed dunk on me about the value of “shutting up and listening.”
It was a lighthearted moment, but it mirrors the reality for the founders we work with. You have the best-laid plans for a technical build or a software rollout, and then reality disrupts those expectations.
The site conditions for a specialized clinic aren’t what the survey predicted.
An API doesn’t talk to the legacy system like the documentation promised.
In those moments, the vision is tested. You aren’t just “working,” you’re innovating. When you get true buy-in from a client or vendor to navigate those hurdles together, that’s when the project actually survives. You are forced to test hypotheses, fail, and iterate under pressure just to find a path forward.
This is the part that isn’t often discussed in marketing brochures: innovation is hard. It’s expensive, and even with the SR&ED program, it isn’t “free” by a long shot. There is no guarantee that your specific efforts will result in products or services that make up for those expenditures, let alone turn a profit.
But there is a guarantee for the alternative: if Canada does not adopt a culture of innovation, the messy, gritty, “tinker in your garage” kind of innovation, then we will not succeed as leaders of industry. We won’t have the strong economy we need to stand on our own two feet.
As SR&ED consultants, we play a small but important role in this ecosystem. I believe that role starts with transparency and integrity regarding the fees we charge and the service we provide. But let’s be clear: the true heavy lifting is being done by the current and next generation of companies who we will all depend on to move us forward. I feel privileged, in my own small way, to be a part of what’s next.
Whether you are building in downtown Victoria or developing a new software architecture, we are all facing the same difficult challenges that never make it into the highlight reel. If you’re currently stuck in the “Trial and Error” phase of a project, don’t see it as a failure of the plan.
See it as the exact moment where the future is actually being built.
Jude Brown, CEO of SRED.ca
Check out the full conversation between Tom Morin, Jude Brown and Stewart Story on Spotify.
Do you have a SRED question? Planning for the future or perhaps you want to know how much your claim might be? Don’t worry, our CPA is always ready to answer any question. Get a SRED expert in your corner.
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