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Derek Pellizzari

Kika Marketing has turned visionary ideas into next-level brands since 2007. We are your marketing partner. We love our clients, they love us, and that’s how we like it.

Tell us about yourself?

Starting my first business at the age of 10 was my initial calling into entrepreneurship. My family history denotes two typical paths: artists or entrepreneurs. I can barely draw a good stick person, and the family sorting hat sent me on my path. After building multiple companies in my teens and early twenties, I was approached by the Aquilini Investment Group to manage several of their companies at the age of 26. I learned as much as I could as I worked my way up to Vice President and eventually with Luigi Aquilini building companies for him. In 2007, I left the company to form Kika with my business partner and never looked back. Since then, we have built 1,000s of companies, incubating some of them and partnering with others. We now act as Fractional CMOs for several companies across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America and across several industries, including real estate, technology, hospitality, manufacturing, renewable energy, and mining.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

We started incubating companies in 2015, and I wish I had started sooner. It’s one of my favourite ways to develop a company, and there were groups that were struggling that could have been great if they had a stronger team and a bit more funding.

What problem does your business solve?

With almost 17 years of being in business and over 30 years of building businesses in almost every industry, there isn’t a marketing problem we can’t solve. We actually love brainstorming ideas, and we have a lot of horsepower on the Kika team, with 25 experts at the helm.

What is the inspiration behind your business?

We are excited to build successful companies and look forward to working with startups to get them to the public bell. Meeting fellow entrepreneurs and getting excited about new endeavours gets me up every day.

What is your magic sauce?

Cut the red tape, avoid the hidden traps, and think outside the box with a kick in the pants from years of experience.

What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?

We are starting to partner with like-minded agencies to form a top-tier team of multidisciplinary experts to expedite the growth of companies about to go public.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

Building and retaining a strong team is hard to maintain, especially when you’re known for the quality of work we produce.

How can people get involved?

If you have a small team, some funding and a great idea, we are looking for companies to partner with to take them to the next level. We specialize in properly positioning companies for funding with institutional and private investors. Book a free consultation with me at www.Kika.ca.