Most entrepreneurs believe their biggest challenge is to create a great product. Jason Wingate knows a lot. After moving from IT management to national sales and successfully launching products at retailers like Walmart, he saw a pattern that would define his career. It was about great products disappearing on store shelves because their creators didn't know how to bring them to market. The gap was not in innovation, but in execution.
This recognition led Wingate to form Emerald Ocean, an Ottawa-based company, in 2015 to become the backbone of its customers' operations. Unlike traditional consultants who make recommendations and walk away, Emerald Ocean positions itself as the North American division of international companies, handling everything from sales strategy to logistics to IT infrastructure. This model is built on long-term partnerships and ultimate investment rather than short-term consulting fees. This means that Emerald Ocean is only successful if our clients are successful. The results speak for themselves. Products landed in major retailers, 350 million Instagram views for customer brands, and multiple bestsellers on Amazon.
For Wingate, the lesson is simple, although often ignored. The market rewards finished products and tangible results. The execution gap is only widening as brands increasingly need to master omnichannel distribution from day one, selling simultaneously through online channels, social media, and physical stores. Companies that rush to secure in-store placement without first building a brand are doomed to fail. In the following interview, Wingate says he built Emerald Ocean to prevent that from happening.
Please tell us about your career so far and what led you to Emerald Ocean.
I started working as an accounting software programmer right out of college in the mid-2000s. This path quickly led to IT management and overseeing the implementation of major warehouse systems. But the real turning point came when I moved from being a technology manager to becoming a national sales manager for the company I worked for and successfully launching products with major retailers like Walmart.
A few years later I left the company and founded Emerald Ocean Ltd. This was based on the realization that great products were disappearing on store shelves because their creators had no idea how to market them. Providing great products and services was not enough. Success requires an operational backbone and a proven strategy. I founded the company to fill that gap.
How has the company grown over the years?
We started in 2015, building on our previous IT consulting work. For the first few years, we actually provided both IT consulting and sales consulting. It was quite a mixed bag. But we quickly realized that international brands didn't just need the advice we were offering. They needed a built-in operational partner who could help them implement that advice.
With this in mind, we developed a model that moves away from traditional consulting and becomes the North American arm of the brand, handling everything from sales to logistics to IT. Our growth is built on long-term contracts and ultimate investments, not short-term fees.
This approach transforms your relationship with your customers into a true partnership. Over the years, we've helped numerous international companies grow, from Dragon's Den Award winners ShakeSphere and Oatein to the development of Amazon best-selling ZumberLock.
What is the key to building a high-performing dream team?
There are several other important factors in building a top-notch team, but if you had to focus on one, it would be the people who have the vision and can execute it.
Great ideas are often great, but they also don't come at a cost. The market doesn't reward ideas. Reward finished products and tangible results. The real value of a team member is their ability to take a concept and drive it through to turn that vision into reality.
When building your team, look for teams that have a track record of implementing great ideas. We need people who have overcome the complex and tedious process of bringing a product to market.
Because at the end of the day, your performance is measured not by the quality of your ideas, but by your ability to produce results. If you build your team on this principle, you'll not only be building a successful business, you'll be building a market leader.
What's next for Emerald Ocean?
Our strategy has already proven to be highly effective, with our products featured in most major retailers, over 350 million product views on Instagram, and reaching #1 on Amazon. So our next part is to refine and replicate our successful handbook by taking it and making it even more efficient.
We automate key processes in our project management software and use AI to summarize and organize data to increase team efficiency, while continuously improving business processes, identifying gaps and issues, and seeing where improvements can be made.
We're also expanding our business by investing in technology that allows us to manage more brands simultaneously without losing the personalized touch each client deserves. As the old saying goes: “Work smarter, not harder.”
This approach allows us to launch the next generation of market-dominating brands, companies built from day one with omnichannel distribution and brand name development in mind, as opposed to “fast-to-market” wholesale distribution with minimal brand development.
In addition to selling in-store, these next-generation brands are focusing on selling online and through social media channels, creating multiple touchpoints with consumers from the get-go. It's amazing how many companies focus on rushing to in-store placement without having a solid plan in place to ensure their brand's success.
In any case, no matter how well we have done, there is always room for growth and improvement. That's why we focus on adopting winning strategies and using them to dominate not just traditional retail, but the entire modern market.
