Most entrepreneurs believe their biggest challenge is creating a great product. Jason Wingate knows better. After moving from IT management to national sales and successfully launching products with retailers like Walmart, he saw a pattern that would define his career: brilliant products were dying on shelves because their creators had no idea how to bring them to market. The gap wasn’t in innovation—it was in execution.
That realization led Wingate to found Emerald Ocean in 2015, an Ottawa-based firm that becomes the operational backbone for its clients. Unlike traditional consultants who deliver recommendations and walk away, Emerald Ocean embeds itself as the North American arm of international companies, handling everything from sales strategy to logistics to IT infrastructure. The model is built on long-term partnerships and eventual investments rather than short-term consulting fees, which means Emerald Ocean only succeeds when its clients succeed. The results speak for themselves: products landing in major retailers, 350 million Instagram views for client brands, and multiple Amazon bestsellers.
For Wingate, the lesson is simple, if often ignored: the market rewards finished products and tangible results. As brands increasingly need to master omnichannel distribution from day one, selling through online channels, social media, and physical stores simultaneously, the execution gap only widens. Companies that rush to secure in-store placement without building their brand first are setting themselves up to fail. In the following interview, Wingate shares that he built Emerald Ocean to ensure that doesn’t happen.
Tell us about your career journey and what led you to Emerald Ocean.
I started as a programmer for accounting software back in the mid-2000s right out of college. That path quickly led to IT management and overseeing major warehouse system implementations. But the real pivot came when I moved from managing tech to becoming a national sales manager at the company where I was working, successfully launching products with major retailers like Walmart.
A few years later, I left the company and founded Emerald Ocean Ltd, based on a realization that brilliant products were dying on the shelf because their creators had no clue how to bring them to market. Having a great product or service wasn’t enough. You need an operational backbone and proven strategy to succeed, and I built the company to bridge that gap.
How has the company grown over the years?
We started in 2015 as an evolution of my earlier IT consulting work. In our first years, we actually provided both IT consulting and sales consulting—it was quite the mix! However, we quickly realized that international brands didn’t just need the advice we were giving them; they needed an embedded, operational partner that could help execute that advice.
With that in mind, we moved away from traditional consulting and developed a model where we become the brands’ North American arm, handling everything from sales and logistics to IT. Our growth is built on long-term agreements and eventual investments—not short-term fees.
This approach turns client relationships into true partnerships. Over the years, we’ve helped grow numerous international companies, from Dragon’s Den Award-winning ShakeSphere and Oatein to developing the Amazon-bestselling ZumberLock.
What is the key to assembling a high-performing dream team?
While there are certainly a few other key factors in assembling a top-notch team, if I had to choose one to focus on, it would be someone who can take a vision and execute it.
Great ideas are common—but they’re also cheap. The market doesn’t reward ideas; it rewards finished products and tangible results. The real value in any team member is their ability to take a concept and drive it all the way across the finish line to turn that vision into reality.
When you assemble your team, look for those with a proven track record of executing great ideas. You need people who have navigated the complex, often messy process of getting a product to market.
Because at the end of the day, your performance isn’t going to be measured by the quality of your ideas, but by your ability to deliver results. Build your team around that principle, and you won’t just build a successful business, you’re going to build a market leader.
What’s next for Emerald Ocean?
We’ve already proven our strategy is highly effective—landing our products in most major retailers, getting a product over 350 million views on Instagram, and reaching No. 1 on Amazon. So the next part for us is to refine and replicate: taking that successful playbook and making it even more efficient.
We’re automating key processes in our project management software, using AI to help summarize and organize our data and make our team more efficient, alongside the continual refinement of our business processes—identifying gaps, issues and seeing where can improve.
We’re also expanding by investing in technology that will allow 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 that are built from day one with omnichannel distribution and brand name development in mind, as opposed to “quick-to-market” wholesale sales with minimal brand development.
These next-generation brands are focusing on selling through online and social media channels—in addition to in-store sales—creating multiple touchpoints with consumers from the start. It’s surprising how many companies are focused on rushing to get in-store placement without a solid plan to build their brand first to help ensure it succeeds.
Regardless, no matter how well we’ve done, there’s always room for growth and improvement. That’s why we are focused on taking our winning strategies and using them to dominate not just traditional retail—but the entire modern marketplace.
