Tenato Marks 30 Wonderful Years of Market Research, Business Strategy and Marketing Fun

We made it – 2026 marks Tenato’s 30^th year in business! As the founder, I wonder how I made it here, and then I think, well, what else was this crazy gal going to do? I’d tried working as an employee in both small and large businesses, and I was too much of a sh*t disturber. I suppose I could never keep my ideas to myself, let alone take orders.

I started the business after I had my first child (my son, who now runs his own business) so that I could have the flexibility to be a great mom and run the business around my life. But it became much more than that.

Over the past three decades, our company, which primarily offers market research, strategy and marketing support for private businesses, has miraculously survived the following epic changes:

• The advent of the internet, requiring us to learn to build websites.
• The advent of social media and online reviews, requiring us to brand, create and guide clients through reputation issues and building positive followings.
• The dot-bomb and economic collapse of 2008-9, which prompted us to rebrand so we could appeal to clients beyond start-ups, reaching larger, established businesses.
• Rebranding and renaming the company, which lost all of our online traffic and required a major upgrade of our SEO skills.
• The devastation of local advertising in general, with nearly all ad money going to Google.
• Adding satellite offices in Vancouver and Toronto to reach and serve national clients; this was costly but helped us in spades.
• A pandemic that nearly ground all business to a halt, during which we staged free outdoor events which made no money, but gave us hundreds of new friends.
• A  trade-war with the United States, which delayed and cancelled numerous projects, and sucked the wind from Canada’s economy throughout 2025.

And yet, here we are. You see, Tenato comes from the word “tenacity.” We persist in the face of adversity, because we know businesses need us, because we are driven to help them strategically grow, no matter what the economic conditions.

Where Tenato is Now

As you know, 2025 was pretty brutal economically. But at the same time, we had more time for family and personal growth, and have turned some incredible corners for the future. Here’s how:

We’ve learned a ton about AI

Honestly, everybody at Tenato all kind of hates AI. It’s the lazy, cringey approach to everything, and customers can spot it from a mile away (especially our daughter Liz, more on her below). We much prefer creating real concepts – with real humour and real heart, and being sure and specific about the sources we reference in our research.

On the other hand, we do think AI will take over a lot of the worst tasks – especially digital marketing tasks (and I am surprised it hasn’t already, because why couldn’t AI do SEO and Pay-Per-Click better than a human?) but this doesn’t matter to us, as we do very little digital marketing in-house anyway. 

So, we’re keeping AI in its place, and avoiding using it on anything human-facing.

We started offering fun business seminars 

This is a real approach to marketing our company, because people can get to know us up close. We’ve had great success with this already and will continue doing more throughout 2026. Liz might even offer one of her own for tech startups.

We’re basing the content on the book series I’ve written (which will begin release this year), which covers strategic aspects of business growth. The seminars are held at our HQ office in Calgary, but we hope to take them to our satellite offices in Vancouver and Toronto once we’ve worked out any minor kinks here.

We brought in super-brains 

You may have noticed we added Alan Osborne, an SEO/AI expert to our team in 2024, who’s made a tremendous difference to our knowledge base and approach. But we have another new member of the team who started in November 2025; she is my and Gary’s incredible daughter, Elizabeth Drew.

Liz brings a background as a tech entrepreneur who has worked in engineering and product management in Silicon Valley, and she is also a mechatronics engineer. She is already contributing limitless ideas on every front…which is why she’s assumed a role as our Innovation Strategist. She’ll be consulting and co-consulting on new and existing accounts, finding ways to up the ante on every front.

The funny part for me is that when you have a daughter, she knows all your strengths and flaws, yet has the most artful, persuasive ways to get you to improve. And the pride you get from hearing these fantastic ideas is a huge bonus. Oddly, I never asked her to join the company, as she was trained as an engineer, and I assumed she would head in other directions. 

But to our delight, while still working as an engineer in her own music-tech company (which designs, manufactures and sells modular synthesizers to individuals and dealers around the world), she wanted to diversify her skills by working here at Tenato. And she’s having a ball. I can’t help chuckling, as it seems that wherever she goes, she says, “Whoa, here’s a business that needs our help.” And before we know it, she’s introduced herself and invite them to a seminar. That’s an entrepreneur.

But with her being away working for a few years in high-tech, and realizing how much she enjoys the business strategy aspects (she was raised on my rants throughout her life), I’ve come to know the adult, professional version of her. To my amazement, I’ve discovered that her philosophy, can-do attitude, and positivity are an uncanny match to mine. We’re having so much fun, you have to wonder if we’re actually working. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

We’ve taken a close look at 2025

Some of you may have read my recent article, on the History of the Calgary Economy. In it, I describe the ups and downs (likened to a roller coaster) we’ve lived through.

One thing I’ve noted. Although the tariffs felt like cruel punishment, it seems to be giving Canadians a renewed value on buying local, and standing independently from the US. As a country, we had one dominant customer, the USA, on which we were too dependent. If Canada were a business, any consultant would tell you that this creates vulnerability.

This is why today, Canadians are rallying to build a stronger, more diverse collection of global customers for our unique offering. It’s been a tough transition, but it’s a path to a stronger future. 

Looking Forward to 2026 and Beyond

Over the years, I’ve noticed that Tenato gets a huge lift with each key team member we add. Just like our fantastically talented, insightful Art Director Samantha Boone (who of course created our new 30^th Anniversary logo), and our brilliant problem-solving Operations Strategist Gary Drew, the addition of Liz Drew will bring our company to a new level of performance. 

And how about Tenato’s founder, yours truly? I have never been in better shape, physically or mentally. Plus, I’m releasing my books – instead of one, long comprehensive strategy book, I’m going to release the content as a series. And I’m loving the seminars because they help me connect and reconnect with so many people. But the best part is my Tenato team: I’m not a one-woman show slugging a baby on my side anymore. I’ve got a set of the most brilliant brains that take us well beyond what I could achieve alone.

The universe really is here to help me. And you, too. If you need our assistance, reading this might just be the serendipity you needed. Go ahead and book a consultation. 2026, here we go.