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CanBiocin takes gamification seriously. The B2B company makes patented functional ingredients, such as probiotics, to support animal health and wellness. The leadership team brings the company’s quarterly plans to life with customized game boards, designed to look like classics such as Monopoly, Scrabble and Clue—as well as arcade favorites like Space Invaders and game shows such as “The Price Is Right”. It displays the game boards prominently in its main office in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Applying Scaling Up as a serial entrepreneur
CanBiocin began using what is now called the Scaling Up platform three and a half years ago. CEO Jake Burlet first became familiar with it when we met at a YPO Global conference in Barcelona about 15 years ago and applied it successfully in several other startups.
About two years ago, Burlet brought in Scaling Up Certified Coach Roberto Erario to help CanBiocin’s team apply the platform. It paid off: Now entering its third straight year with 50% average annual revenue growth and 30% EBITDA or greater, CanBiocin projects $6 million in annual revenue for 2025, with 18 employees, up from $1.5 million with nine employees. “With the guidance and support of Roberto, the process and tools are allowing us to achieve the results we are looking for,” says Burlet. “It is allowing us to scale up.”
Prioritizing fun
Founded in 1998 at University of Alberta, CanBiocin started out by commercializing Micocin, a probiotic metabolite that inhibits the growth of Listeria in processed meat when applied to livestock feed.
Underlying CanBiocin’s successful scale-up is a culture that makes it fun for the team to track the company’s growth. Bernadette Beadle, business development lead, designs the company’s game boards so employees can track their collective progress toward revenue milestones and quarterly goals, such as optimizing the production process. With each benchmark achieved, the team moves a Velcro marker to the next square on the game board.
Embracing Quarterly Themes
The game design reflects CanBiocin’s quarterly themes and annual goals. For instance, one Monopoly-inspired game has the theme “Operation Who Let the Dogs Out.” On the left-hand side of the game board is a list of five rocks for the quarter, such as optimizing a production process and complying with a new regulatory initiative. These tie into CanBiocin’s big annual, which is delivering 350 million servings of annual wellness in 2025, a surrogate measure that reflects success in achieving its financial goals. “We got the idea from Red Balloon in Australia,” says Burlet. “They track the number of experiences they sell and market.
The Game Boards are part of a broader plan to democratize information in the company through open book sharing. CanBiocin holds quarterly Town Hall meetings that tie the information on the game boards to the company’s goals, detailed in its One-Page Strategic Plan. “Everybody joins,” says Burlet. “They get a State of the Union address, and that consistently ties back to the game board.”
To make sure the team achieves its goal, there are weekly tactical meetings with callouts to recognize the company living the company’s core values, a custom Excel workbook integrating Scaling Up tools and checklists, with unique elements such as an Enterprise Risk Register, to help the management team and board with compliance and governance. “These are the things that might take our business sideways, and what we are going to do about them,” explains Burlet.
As a result of these efforts, the team has reported better comprehension and retention of company goals. Anonymized feedback in surveys indicates that a disciplined approach has been the key to the company’s success.
Growing through acquisition
With the systems in place to scale, the company is well-positioned to continue its growth trajectory. It acquired Pure Cultures, a Denver, Colo.-based provider of species-appropriate probiotics for animals in May 2020. Meanwhile, Burlet intends to continue building the company’s culture of gamification. “We’re only as good as our organization is, and how each team member contributes,” says Burlet.
