Graeme Barlow Of Iversoft: Here Are The Things That Happened in My Childhood That Impact How I Lead Today
An Interview With Cynthia Corsetti
You don’t always have to be right, but you have to keep moving forward and learning. A recent example is when I ventured into the coaching world. There were countless reasons to hesitate — no plan, website, program, or established brand. But I pushed forward anyway. This decisiveness led to incredible successes for me and my clients, and created valuable opportunities for our other companies through the network and ecosystem we built. None of this would have been possible without taking that first step.
In this introspective and reflective series, we would like to explore the intricate web of experiences that form the leaders of today. Childhood, being the foundational stage of our lives, undeniably has a profound impact on our development and the leadership styles we adopt as adults. Be it a lesson learned from a parent, a childhood hobby that cultivated discipline, an early failure that fostered resilience, or even a book that opened their minds to vast possibilities; leaders often have deep-seated childhood experiences that echo in their leadership narratives today. For this interview series, we are talking to seasoned leaders across various industries who share personal anecdotes and lessons from their childhood that have sculpted their leadership philosophies today. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Graeme Barlow, CEO of Iversoft.
For over 24 years, Graeme has forged a path of innovation, resilience, and achievement. A true serial entrepreneur, Graeme co-founded five companies spanning digital currency to gaming. Graeme’s leadership contributed significantly to the success of RocketOwl Inc. and ultimately, resulted in the acquisition by Keshet Technologies. As CEO of Keshet Technologies, Graeme fostered innovation by establishing an early-stage SaaS investment fund and marketing incubator, nurturing the growth of new ventures that continue to thrive today.
Currently, Graeme spearheads Iversoft, a renowned software development agency. Iversoft boasts a track record of delivering numerous high-performing applications and platforms to organizations on a global scale. Graeme continues to channel his wealth of experience into coaching, guiding aspiring entrepreneurs through the highs and lows of building businesses. Join Graeme on a journey from entrepreneur to mentor, and unlock the doors to your own entrepreneurial triumph.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about leadership, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
Entrepreneurship has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I kind of fell into it at a very young age, largely thanks to my extensive time on the internet. I spent a lot of my childhood deeply involved in online communities, which introduced me to various trading websites and ecosystems around online gaming. This early exposure had me selling digital items on eBay and eventually building a company around that. From the time I was 9 or 10 years old, I was building and selling online.
I tried to go to university but didn’t do well there, only managing to complete a semester and a half. Since then, I’ve built and sold companies in the game development space, created SaaS for the pet industry, ran an early-stage venture investment fund, managed a marketing agency, and more. Today, I am a partner and CEO of a software development agency based in Canada, as well as the founder of an elite founder-focused coaching business.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I think the thing that makes Iversoft stand out is our 15-year history in the mobile development space. Over these years, we’ve maintained a relentless focus on the importance of people, culture, and talent. In a business model where our fundamental value lies in the caliber and quality of the talent we attract and place on teams to work with our clients, this focus has been our single greatest asset.
We’ve had incredible opportunities to work with some major players in the US in some emerging markets. They came to us with challenging problems, seeking the right people and teams to solve them. Thanks to our work environment, systems, and flexibility, we’ve been able to attract some of the best talent in the world to tackle these issues.
I remember when a Fortune 1000 media company in the US approached us with a niche streaming challenge. Within two weeks of our initial conversations, we secured a commitment from a lead developer at their top competitor to join our project. This success was entirely due to the flexible environment we offered, which none of the larger companies could match. This example showcases how our focus on people and culture has driven the value we provide.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Confidence & Optimism
Confidence and optimism have carried me farther than I ever expected in business and leadership. They’re foundational components of success, especially when it comes to leading people. One of the most important things you can do is create a clear vision of the future that others can get excited about and see themselves in. This vision needs to be optimistic, and you need to have the day-to-day confidence that you can deliver on it or help others get there.
For me, one of my core traits has been an almost blind optimism. I’ve faced and overcome so many challenges that I believe I can figure out almost anything. As long as I have a thread of belief that I can get there, I project significant confidence to those around me, convincing them that this is the right path. This confidence can rally teams to overcome challenges they might not have otherwise conquered, but it’s important to recognize that you could also lead people down the wrong path. It’s also SO important to recognize when this optimism might overshadow smarter voices in the room. As I’ve matured as a leader, I’ve learned to balance my confidence with giving space for others to contribute.
A great example of how confidence and optimism have carried me is every time we’ve gone into fundraising. Often, we’ve done it under less-than-ideal circumstances, with only 30 to 90 days of cash left. Failure was not an option. Despite these pressures, we’ve always figured it out, closed deals, and made things happen. This success wouldn’t have been possible without confidence and a shit ton of optimism.
Tactical Amnesia / Compartmentalization
The ability to compartmentalize stress is a fundamental trait of strong leadership in high-growth companies, in my opinion. You might be dealing with immense stress from clients, cash flow, employee turnover, or founder conflict. Regardless, you need to show up 100% in all other areas of the business to keep things moving forward and inspire those around you. As soon as your stress starts to show to the team around you, they will begin to lose confidence in you.
For me, this means neatly compartmentalizing stress: cash flow in one box, HR issues in another, client stress in a different box, and home stress in yet another. I deal with each piece as needed, showing up fully in other parts of the business without any bleed-over.
I sometimes call this ability “tactical amnesia” — a fun way to describe something less than fun to deal with. When facing criticism or challenges, or even after a string of bad days, you need to learn from those experiences but not carry that negative baggage forward. Every day is a new opportunity, a fresh start, and a chance to win again.
I recently had a conversation with a founder about this concept. They had been through an incredible journey building their product and finding product-market fit in the challenging AI and B2B world. From the outside, they had reached a stage where they were seeing a ton of traction. I told them to view this not as the third major iteration but as the first launch with the right product and customers. It’s about embracing the excitement and optimism of a new beginning, not being weighed down by past struggles.
Network — Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know
As someone constantly chasing bigger rooms, stages, and opportunities, I know I can’t learn everything I need to know to accomplish my goals alone. Early on, I realized the power of networking and community. During my brief stint at university, I read books like “The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield, “The Power of Focus,” and “Never Eat Alone.” These books emphasized the importance of building a network.
Since then, I’ve dedicated most of my professional career to meeting incredible people and becoming a collector and connector of amazing people worldwide. I spend a lot of time introducing people within my network who I think would be a good fit, sharing my knowledge, and learning from others.
Ultimately, the greatest hack for speed and growth is who you know. Outside of maybe SpaceX heading to Mars, most problems we face have already been solved by someone else. As a leader, you need to invest in your network and be interesting enough that when you need help solving a problem, you can quickly and effectively find the right person to sit at the table with.
Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader? I’m curious to understand how these challenges have shaped your leadership.
This is a great question! I love how leadership is often framed as choosing between two tough, but good decisions. But in reality, great leadership and scaling companies usually come down to choosing between two good options or more. One of the biggest challenges for early founders and leaders is the “squirrel syndrome” — the temptation to chase multiple good opportunities at once.
If you try to pursue five different opportunities simultaneously, you won’t make significant progress in any of them. Effective leadership requires the discipline to choose one path and stay relentlessly focused on executing and delivering in that area. Alex Hormozi has a great quote he uses in his presentations where he talks about a roofing company that expanded into electrical work, general contracting, and maintenance. They did this because they didn’t want to leave money on the table, but the feedback was clear: by not staying focused on roofing, they became a $3 million company doing a few things poorly instead of a $200 million company excelling in roofing.
As a leader, knowing how to say no to good opportunities is crucial. I’ve encountered this so many times in my career. One pivotal moment was about nine years ago when I was running an early-stage venture fund. We had invested in several SaaS companies and were looking to scale. I was given the opportunity to join one of these companies as CEO to help raise capital and scale the organization. Both staying with the fund and joining the new company had phenomenal upsides, people, and opportunities. Ultimately, I chose to join the new company in a more significant role as a partner. My driving motivation was to immerse myself in an environment where I could build hands-on, doing it surrounded by people at a similar stage to myself. The opportunities and experiences from this shift, along with the incredible team we built, have been life-changing — no regrets.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s start with a simple definition. How do you personally define “leadership?”
I see leadership as the ability to clearly define and articulate a vision for the future that others can invest in, believe in, and channel their energy and time into achieving. Leadership is about empowering and coaching your team, and how you handle extreme stress and the unknown defines who you are as a leader. It’s about how you show up and continue to show up for the people around you.
Good leadership requires transparency and openness with your team. However, leadership and entrepreneurship aren’t for everyone. There are aspects of leadership, such as risk-taking and the stress that comes with it, that you shouldn’t necessarily share with everyone. Not everyone has opted into dealing with day-to-day cash flow challenges or strategic team restructuring. Balancing transparency with the responsibility of shielding your team from unnecessary stress is key.
Can you recall an experience from your childhood where you felt truly empowered? How does that moment inform your leadership style today?
One of my earliest memories of stepping into a leadership role happened when I was really young. I grew up in a small city called Pickering, just outside of Toronto. At that time, I felt like there wasn’t much to do in our city. My parents told me about an opportunity the city was offering: they were putting together a Youth Activity Council. I was probably around 10 years old, and although they were mostly looking for high school students, my *confidence and optimism* led to me deciding to apply.
In our house, we had a philosophy that you couldn’t complain about something unless you were willing to do something about it. So, instead of just complaining about the lack of activities, I put in my application. Surprisingly, I got accepted. At the first meeting, everyone seemed timid and unsure, but because I was the only one who stood up and spoke out, I ended up becoming the president of the Youth Council. This council reported to the mayor and city council, informing them about the views and opinions of students from all the schools in the area and helping to shape youth programming. This was the first time I felt a real sense of ownership and responsibility for anything. I quickly realized that opportunities come when you step up in those moments when you can choose to do nothing. You need to take a chance.
This experience has stuck with me and has played a significant role in my leadership style. For instance, when we co-founded the game development company RocketOwl, I remember sitting around the dining room table at Saul’s house, one of my co-founders. We were discussing roles, and I was the youngest founder by 20 or 25 years. One of the other founders had even taken a company public. When it came to deciding who should be CEO, I pushed my name forward, despite being only 21 and arguably the least qualified on paper. I knew the industry, I had a vision for where we were going, and I believed in my ability to lead us there. I could have taken a supporting role, but again, I chose to step up…
These experiences have shaped how I view leadership today. I look for people who, when faced with an opportunity, are eager to step up and differentiate themselves. These are the people who can fundamentally change the direction of what we’re building if you can create a vision that resonates with them. I strive to create environments that empower and support people in seizing these opportunities, just like I have done.
Were there any role models in your early years who left a lasting impression on you? How has their influence manifested in your approach to leadership?
None that I can really point to at this stage.
Many of us had a favorite book or story as a child. Is there a narrative that you were drawn to, and do you see its themes reflecting in your leadership journey?
Like many of us, I had a pretty wide and varied interest in books and stories as a kid. But two that really stand out are the original Star Wars trilogy and Disney’s Robin Hood. I had an over-the-top obsession with Star Wars growing up, and Robin Hood was another favourite. Both stories have themes of overcoming adversity and incredible odds to do the right thing, standing up against oppressive systems, and not being afraid to stand out and be different.
These themes resonate deeply with me, especially in my entrepreneurial journey. Often, entrepreneurship involves taking a path that’s not clearly defined or mainstream. As a leader, I often reflect on my own choices and reactions, especially when my team suggests something that doesn’t immediately feel natural or obvious to me. I try to self-reflect and ask myself if my hesitation is based on valid experience or if I just haven’t opened my mind to different possibilities.
It’s a loose connection to those childhood stories, but I think it’s important to stay grounded and open-minded. It’s easy to get caught up in doing things a certain way because that’s how they’ve always been done. The idea of challenging norms and being open to new paths, is a theme that continues to influence how I approach leadership and decision-making today.
Many leaders find that their greatest strengths arise from overcoming adversity. Can you share an experience from your early life that was difficult at the time, but you find still lingers in your thoughts and informs your actions today?
*The following content contains discussions of abuse, including sexual abuse. This may be distressing or triggering for some readers. Please proceed with caution, and prioritize your well-being. If you need support, consider reaching out to a trusted friend, family member, or mental health professional.*
This is a great question. Adversity fundamentally shapes leaders and founders, building resilience, empathy, and compassion, ultimately making them better versions of themselves. While adversity isn’t pleasant to endure, it often becomes a foundational part of who you are. Not many people know this about me, but I believe sharing my story can help others see what can be overcome and how negative experiences can be transformed into positives…
In my early life, I faced significant challenges. From early grade school until nearly my teenage years, I endured years of sexual abuse at home. This profoundly impacted me, instilling a burning desire for independence and freedom. It forged an unshakable mindset regarding stress and what I allow to affect me. It also drove me to immerse myself in the online world, finding escape and connection in online games and communities. I started meeting other incredible people that allowed me to escape the other realities of my life. Finding this other community saved my life.
I’ve undergone years of therapy, from cognitive-behavioral to conversational, coaching, and advising. Today, I’m comfortable with my journey and progress. While I wouldn’t say I’m grateful for those experiences, I do appreciate how they shaped me. That anger and fight, that fierce independence, have been my superpowers throughout my career.
These experiences have deeply informed my decision-making. They’ve given me immense empathy for mental health, patience, and resilience.
Looking back at your childhood, are there particular ‘first-time’ experiences — like your first triumph, your initial setback, or your inaugural leadership responsibility — that you believe were pivotal in molding your leadership ethos?”
Looking back, I can pinpoint several first-time experiences that have fundamentally shaped my leadership philosophy. I’d love to share two of them that particularly stand out. These experiences frame my approach to negotiation, deal-making, and sales, and have influenced how I work with teams and organizations.
One core theme for me, interestingly enough, has been present since I was very young. I was extremely passionate about two things: Star Wars cards and Pokémon cards, with a bit of Magic: The Gathering thrown in. I have vivid memories of trading with other kids, older students, and even adults at recess, conventions, and local hobby shops. I memorized pricing, rarity, and sets from the magazines available at the time (since looking this stuff up on the internet wasn’t an option back then). I wheeled and dealed based on what I knew was in demand or looked cool to other kids. This early obsession with collectible cards taught me a lot about negotiation and salesmanship.
However, it also introduced me to the darker side of business. In first grade, Pokémon was all the rage, and the first edition base set Charizard was highly coveted. Our house was one of the first in the neighborhood to have a color laser printer. One day, unbeknownst to my family, I printed a bunch of first edition Charizard pictures. Recognizing that plain paper wouldn’t do, I glued them onto energy cards and took them to school. I traded these fake Charizards for other kids’ best cards. My little scheme was soon discovered by the teacher, leading to one of the most stern and unpleasant conversations I’ve ever had with my parents. This was when I learned the word “fraud.”
This incident cemented a lot for me about moral compass and integrity. It taught me that even if you can take advantage of people, you shouldn’t. Interestingly, in our house, there was an undercurrent that getting ahead by different means was okay as long as others weren’t informed or educated enough to catch on. But this experience helped me realize that approach wasn’t right and that I needed to operate differently.
These early experiences in trading and negotiation, coupled with the moral lessons I learned, have had a lasting impact on how I lead and conduct business today. They taught me the importance of transparency, integrity, and treating others fairly, principles I strive to uphold in every aspect of my life.
From your personal experiences and reflections, what are the ‘5 Pillars of Effective Leadership’ you believe in?
1 . Be Decisive
You don’t always have to be right, but you have to keep moving forward and learning. A recent example is when I ventured into the coaching world. There were countless reasons to hesitate — no plan, website, program, or established brand. But I pushed forward anyway. This decisiveness led to incredible successes for me and my clients, and created valuable opportunities for our other companies through the network and ecosystem we built. None of this would have been possible without taking that first step.
2. Actions Speak Louder Than Words
The culture, behavior, or energy you want to see must be modeled by you daily. In our company, we’ve always emphasized integrity, tough conversations, and standing up for the right decisions. This isn’t just lip service; it’s something we’ve demonstrated repeatedly. We’ve walked away from deals or contracts that didn’t align with our values or said no to projects we didn’t believe in. These actions have established a foundation that our team can build on, reinforcing the importance of our core values.
3. Communication
Effective leadership hinges on clear communication of vision, roles, compensation, problems, and solutions. During the onset of the pandemic in 2020, uncertainty was at an all-time high. We didn’t have all the answers, but we committed to transparent communication. We held weekly all-hands meetings, openly shared our plans, the rationale behind them, and how they were evolving. Whether transitioning to remote work, spinning out our marketing division, or piloting a compressed four-day workweek, we communicated openly and frequently, earning trust and buy-in from our team.
4. Self-Awareness
You don’t need to be an expert in everything. I firmly believe that great leaders attract and retain talented people, provide a clear vision, and then step back. Trying to micromanage or be involved in every detail limits the organization’s growth to the leader’s own limitations. By acknowledging what I don’t need to control and empowering my team, we’ve been able to foster innovation and efficiency far beyond what I could have achieved alone.
5. Create Clarity
It’s easy for leaders to inadvertently create chaos by communicating too many priorities at once. I’ve learned that to foster a productive environment, it’s so important to distill the focus into clear, actionable priorities. This approach helps the team know what to prioritize and reduces stress and confusion.
In your role as a leader, what thoughts or concerns keep you awake at night? How do these reflections guide your decisions and leadership?
As a leader and CEO, I fundamentally believe that the number one priority in any organization is to ensure you never run out of money. Anytime cash flow is uncertain or the bank balance is in jeopardy, that’s what keeps me up at night. Following that, the next priority is maintaining a clear, compelling vision that everyone on the team understands. The vision needs to be big and exciting enough for everyone to see their future within it. When that clarity and confidence in the vision wavers, that’s another thing that keeps me up at night.
Additionally, the decisions about people and processes that I know will be difficult or significantly impact those involved can also weigh heavily on me. However, I navigate this by recognizing that, as a leader, it’s my responsibility to make the hard choices to protect the future of the company and those who believe in me as CEO. If everyone on your team is happy with every decision you make, you’re probably not making the right decisions. You’re making the easy, popular choices, but rarely the ones that are best for the organization in the long run.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If I could start a movement to bring the most good to the most people, I’d revolutionize the way we perceive education. Instead of pushing everyone into expensive, lengthy academic programs to learn the theory behind doing something, I’d encourage people to just get the f*ck out there and do it. Learn by trying, learn by failing, and build confidence through real-world experiences.
I’m a firm believer that action and experience trump almost everything else.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can find me at @GraemeBarlow on LinkedIn and Instagram, as well as www.graemebarlow.com or iversoft.ca.
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. It’s been an honor to delve into the roots of your leadership journey, and we are grateful for the wisdom you’ve shared.
About the Interviewer: Cynthia Corsetti is an esteemed executive coach with over two decades in corporate leadership and 11 years in executive coaching. Author of the upcoming book, “Dark Drivers,” she guides high-performing professionals and Fortune 500 firms to recognize and manage underlying influences affecting their leadership. Beyond individual coaching, Cynthia offers a 6-month executive transition program and partners with organizations to nurture the next wave of leadership excellence.
Graeme Barlow Of Iversoft: Here Are The Things That Happened in My Childhood That Impact How I Lead… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.