Brendan Herjavec, MBA — CEO

I build and scale systems where product, partnerships, and go-to-market meet, increasingly with AI at the center. As Chief Innovation Officer at PlaySpace Health, I'm building at the intersection of AI, play, and pediatric mental health, designing AI-enabled products, structuring multi-sided marketplaces, and creating licensing and co-creation partnerships that expand access to therapy for neurodivergent and underserved kids. A big part of my role is figuring out where AI and automation can transform clinical workflows, personalize care, and make digital health platforms smarter without losing the human element. Before PlaySpace, I helped scale Inkblot Therapy from $2M to $40M+ ARR, building the GTM engine, revenue systems, and partnership structures that drove that growth across B2C, B2B2C, and enterprise channels. I also run a 52-week AI build challenge, one new AI-powered tool or workflow shipped every week, documented on YouTube and LinkedIn. It keeps me close to the edge of what's actually possible with AI right now, not just what's theoretical. I host "Going to the Market," a podcast about GTM strategy for people who'd rather talk systems than buzzwords. The thread across all of it: I take complex problems, where product, partnerships, clinical needs, AI, and commercial reality all collide, and turn them into something that actually works. Always up for conversations about AI in healthcare, marketplaces, automation, or whatever you're building next.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Healthcare innovator specializing in AI-driven solutions and marketplace strategies.

Location: Greater Toronto Area, Canada

Experience: 10 yrs 4 mos

Skills

Ai Strategy
Product Strategy
Marketplace Strategy
Strategic Partnerships
Go-to-market Strategy
Product Operations
Problem Solving
Project Management

Career Highlights

Led AI-driven innovation in pediatric mental health.
Scaled Inkblot Therapy from $2M to $40M+ ARR.
Designed multi-sided marketplace for therapy tools.

Work Experience

PlaySpace

Chief Innovation Officer (4 mos)

Head of Partnerships & Marketplace (7 mos)

Vice President, Product Operations Strategy & GTM (10 mos)

FundThrough

Director of Revenue Operations (2 mos)

Inkblot Therapy by GreenShield Health

Sr. Manager of Revenue Operations (2 yrs 10 mos)

Manager, Revenue Operations & Strategy (1 yr)

Building Blocks

Host (3 yrs)

StartUp Lab Laurier

StartUp Lab Mentor (5 yrs 4 mos)

Diaryz

Advisor (3 yrs 11 mos)

WorkSafeBC

Business Analyst - MBA Intern (5 mos)

Tech Data Canada Corporation

Senior Account Sales Representative (8 mos)

Account Representative (1 yr)

Bonfire Interactive

Sales Development Representative (9 mos)

MetricWire

Strategic Partnerships (1 yr 2 mos)

The Herjavec Group

Inside Sales intern (3 mos)

Education

Master of Business Administration - MBA at The University of British Columbia

Behavioural Science of Management at Yale School of Management

Student at Creative Destruction Lab

Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) at Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University

Brendan Herjavec, MBA

CEO

Greater Toronto Area, Canada10 yrs 4 mos experience

Most Likely To SwitchAI ML Practitioner

Key Highlights

Led AI-driven innovation in pediatric mental health.
Scaled Inkblot Therapy from $2M to $40M+ ARR.
Designed multi-sided marketplace for therapy tools.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Healthcare innovator specializing in AI-driven solutions and marketplace strategies.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Ai StrategyProduct StrategyMarketplace StrategyStrategic PartnershipsGo-to-market StrategyProduct OperationsProblem SolvingProject Management

Other Skills

Operational ExcellenceSales PlanningData-Driven InsightsSales ManagementCreative Problem SolvingNegotiationData AnalysisExecutive SupportBusiness DevelopmentRevenue ManagementLead GenerationLean StartupRevenue AnalysisCustomer Relationship Management (CRM)Crisis Management

About

Experience

10 yrs 4 mos

Total Experience

1 yr 11 mos

Average Tenure

5 yrs 4 mos

Current Experience

Playspace

3 roles

Chief Innovation Officer

Promoted

Jan 2026 – Present · 4 mos

Driving PlaySpace’s next phase of growth by turning emerging technology, partnerships, and IP into scalable therapy products.
Leading Innovation Space, a cross-functional R&D function focused on AI-enabled therapy tools, in-person + digital hybrids, and new revenue lines
Translating clinical needs into market-ready platforms across digital, physical, and enterprise therapy use cases
Exploring licensed IP, hardware-assisted play, and AI-driven personalization to expand how therapy is delivered beyond screens
Partnering with clinical leadership, product, and GTM to move ideas from prototype → pilot → marketplace
Acting as connective tissue between research, product, partnerships, and commercialization
Focus areas: AI in therapy, neurodivergent care, play-based interventions, marketplaces, productized services

AI StrategyProduct StrategyStrategic PartnershipsMarketplace StrategyGo-to-Market StrategyProblem Solving+1

Head of Partnerships & Marketplace

Jun 2025 – Jan 2026 · 7 mos

Built PlaySpace’s marketplace and partner ecosystem from the ground up—connecting therapists, patients, brands, and enterprise buyers into a single platform.
Designed and launched a multi-sided marketplace for therapy tools, assessments, games, and digital products
Structured and negotiated licensing, co-creation, and reseller partnerships with health tech companies, children’s brands, and therapy platforms
Created partner models spanning B2C, B2B2C, and enterprise white-label use cases
Led partner onboarding, integrations, and co-development to ensure products fit real clinical workflows
Drove early marketplace revenue through strategic distribution, co-marketing, and bundled offerings
Represented PlaySpace with partners, investors, conferences, and industry groups
This role sat at the intersection of product, GTM, partnerships, and clinical outcomes.

Marketplace StrategyStrategic PartnershipsProblem SolvingSales Planning

Vice President, Product Operations Strategy & GTM

Aug 2024 – Jun 2025 · 10 mos

Owned the systems that turned PlaySpace from product vision into a scalable, revenue-ready platform.
Built and executed go-to-market strategy across therapists, patients, and enterprise buyers
Designed product operations frameworks to streamline launches, feedback loops, and cross-team execution
Integrated AI-powered tools to improve assessments, automate workflows, and personalize therapy experiences
Implemented a modern GTM tech stack including HubSpot, Clay, Waalaxy, and Reply.io
Established data-driven decision-making across product, sales, and partnerships
This role laid the foundation for PlaySpace’s marketplace and innovation strategy.

Go-to-Market StrategyProduct OperationsData-Driven InsightsSales Management

Fundthrough

Director of Revenue Operations

Mar 2024 – May 2024 · 2 mos · Toronto, Ontario, Canada · Hybrid

Developed a comprehensive data dictionary, establishing a single source of truth across multiple teams, enhancing data consistency and accuracy, and reducing reporting efforts by 30%.
Pioneered and executed innovative forecasting methodologies, boosting the accuracy of business predictions from 40% to within 5% of actuals.
Managed and developed dashboards for partnerships, marketing, and sales using Periscope and SQL, providing key insights and performance metrics.
Oversaw the development and updates of Salesforce, optimizing data collection processes for improved accuracy and efficiency.
Developed self-serve reporting dashboards, decreasing ad hoc sales and marketing data requests by 65%.

Problem SolvingCreative Problem SolvingNegotiation

Inkblot therapy by greenshield health

2 roles

Sr. Manager of Revenue Operations

Promoted

May 2021 – Mar 2024 · 2 yrs 10 mos

Developed go-to-market strategy for InkBlot’s entry into new revenue verticals resulting in revenue
growth from 7-figure ARR to 8-figure ARR
Developed current pricing models and implemented pricing strategies for new products to ensure
competitive advantage
Liaise with legal, and business partners. Successfully executed contracts and partnerships
Design compensation plans and territory plans for entry into new locations
Grew the business team from 2 to 12 employees.
Managed the development and implementation of CRM tool to foster process improvement and team
collaboration
Improved business reporting across the company by adoption of this CRM: 80% decrease in inaccurate
reporting, 40% improvement in reporting lead times
Managed and primary point of contact for the tech stack in use within the Company (Loopio, Sales
Navigator, Hubspot, Hunter.io, Tableau)

Problem SolvingExecutive SupportOperational ExcellenceProject Management

Manager, Revenue Operations & Strategy

May 2020 – May 2021 · 1 yr

Problem SolvingExecutive SupportOperational Excellence

Building blocks

Host

Mar 2021 – Mar 2024 · 3 yrs

Problem SolvingExecutive SupportOperational Excellence

Startup lab laurier

StartUp Lab Mentor

Jan 2021 – Present · 5 yrs 4 mos

Problem SolvingSales PlanningGo-to-Market Strategy

Diaryz

Advisor

Apr 2020 – Mar 2024 · 3 yrs 11 mos

The First Vertical Social Network for Unpaid Family Caregivers

Worksafebc

Business Analyst - MBA Intern

May 2019 – Oct 2019 · 5 mos · Greater Vancouver Metropolitan Area

Spearheaded the development of an organization-wide brainstorming process. Provided a roadmap for process adoption and evaluation.
Managed the requirement gathering and product review for a mailroom provider system.
Responsible for evaluating the organization’s business processes and identifying opportunities. Provided recommendations for business transformation for over 10 projects.
Managed ad-hoc projects from inception to deployment in an agile environment: identified critical paths and key milestones.

Problem SolvingExecutive SupportOperational Excellence

Tech data canada corporation

2 roles

Senior Account Sales Representative

Sep 2017 – May 2018 · 8 mos

Achieved 140% revenue and 145% margin on yearly target. With these results my team was the second highest performing within the organization.
Managed over a million dollars in yearly sales through key accounts across Canada.
Was the sales lead a key contact for a set of high revenue generating clients. Each account had individual targets which were met.
Maintained and exceeded both individual and group sales targets and margin quotas.
Worked with clients to create competitive positions in RFP’s and large-scale transactions. Deal sizes ranged from $10,000 to $1,000,000.

Sales PlanningRevenue ManagementLead Generation

Account Representative

Sep 2016 – Sep 2017 · 1 yr

Tech Data Corporation (Nasdaq:TECD) is one of the world's largest wholesale distributors of technology products, services and solutions.

Sales PlanningRevenue ManagementLead Generation

Bonfire interactive

Sales Development Representative

Jul 2015 – Apr 2016 · 9 mos · Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Built and developed territories across North American both in the private and public sector.
Structured and negotiated business opportunities with new customers and products.
Booked and held demonstration for qualified leads through cold calling and demos.
Met weekly and monthly sales quotas which ranged from call targets and qualified leads generated.

Sales PlanningLead Generation

Metricwire

Strategic Partnerships

May 2014 – Jul 2015 · 1 yr 2 mos · Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Drove internal discussions on potential alliances while reviewing and qualifying potential industry partnerships.
Contributed to the development of a strategy for Business Development and recommended target markets for product launches.
Led the discovery and development of joint solution and service offerings to drive incremental growth.

Sales PlanningLead Generation

The herjavec group

Inside Sales intern

May 2013 – Aug 2013 · 3 mos

Responsible for contacting suppliers for pricing and developing quotes to present to clients. Brining results to weekly meetings and discussion future strategies to bettering the internal sales funnel. The experience allowed me to hone my skills in sales and marketing through followup meetings and sales calls.

Revenue ManagementLead Generation