Elton Pereira is a Canadian businessman who has enjoyed success in a variety of entrepreneurial endeavors over the course of his career. But perhaps his greatest success story thus far, and the business that he is best known for, is ParetoLogic, a technology and software startup based in Victoria, British Columbia, that grew prolifically and rapidly over the course of 17 years before retiring from the market in March of 2020.
The ParetoLogic Success Story
In 2004, Elton Pereira co-founded ParetoLogic with his two brothers, Adrian Pereira and Myron Pereira, and business partner Don Wharton. The company provided PC and cloud-based security platforms that focused on optimization, backup, security and privacy solutions to consumers and small businesses. Working with investments provided by each of the four founders as well as insights gathered through a thorough examination and evaluation of an extensive and accurate market research campaign, the company quickly embarked on a significant period of growth that allowed it to operate with positive cash flow since its very early days.
“My bros and I started with our own online marketing companies, took out large credit lines on our Visa and started to play,” he recalls. “Throughout the trial and error process of selling a variety of software online we discovered a niche market in the anti-spyware space that turned out to be the beginning of our growth journey. As a reseller, we were having success marketing and selling hundreds of units of an anti-spyware product per day but we had bigger dreams and aspirations.”
By 2015, ParetoLogic had grown to amass as many as 350 million downloads and had $24 million in sales in countries all around the world. By 2020, when the company retired, Pereira shared the secret to its rapid growth and success.
“I would have to say our PURE success was directly a result of our highly talented, passionate, warm-hearted, driven, committed and loyal team,” he declared. “Each and every one of them played a part in our growth journey. Even during our biggest challenges as a tech company in a competitive world, I was inspired by the team’s positivity, resilience, drive and thrive attitude. It was all heart and soul that allowed us to provide software solutions to over 10 million customers in all 196 countries in the world for 17 great years.”
Elton Pereira’s Business Values
And in fact, the company did earn an impressive reputation for its “heart and soul.” While Elton Pereira was defining and developing a growth strategy in collaboration with the company’s executive team, he was also focused on creating a corporate culture based on his personal and family values, values that he and his brothers inherited from his father who was also an adventurous, yet responsible entrepreneur. These values centered around building a team that displayed innovation, creativity, and a solid work ethic, hiring talented, forward-thinking professionals, and recognizing and rewarding each of their unique set of skills.
In addition to fostering and embracing these values in the workplace, Pereira also proceeded to instill in his company and staff his belief that companies owe their success to the support of their communities, including their consumer base as well as their staff and employees. He also believes passionately that companies have a responsibility to utilize their resources, power, capital, and influence for the good of humanity, and that the success of companies is sweeter when they also create a lasting, positive impact on communities and human beings, not only locally, but all over the world.
Giving Back to the Community
Under Pereira’s leadership and guidance, ParetoLogic became renowned as a company that valued community giving, a goal that influenced its day-to-day operations. While the company engaged in many philanthropic endeavors, Pereira often points to one philanthropic achievement in particular that makes him extremely proud of his company’s efforts. In 2014, ParetoLogic entered into a partnership with Change Heroes, a company that provides online fundraising technology for companies as well as individuals to connect and work with peers, thus creating unique opportunities for charities to build a recurring donor base, leading to greater fundraising success. Through the Change Heroes’ partnership with Free the Children, a Toronto-based organization that engages children and youth around the world to raise funds for projects that benefit youth, the organization was able to provide sustainable development primarily in six countries, including Kenya, Sri Lanka, India, Ecuador, Sierra Leone and China.
In partnership with Free the Children, ParetoLogic was instrumental in raising enough money to build several schools in various countries around the world, including the Dominican Republic, Mexico, India, Haiti, and Kenya. Pereira is committed to children’s education as an essential need, and sees it as the cornerstone of success and growth for both individuals and communities.
Pereira even became involved in the fundraising efforts as an individual, and on his own volition managed to raise $30,000 in a single week to fund three new schools in India. His philanthropic efforts, combined with those of ParetoLogic, have positively impacted the lives of hundreds of children.
But the company’s involvement with charitable organizations spans far beyond Change Heroes.
Elton Pereira fondly recalls when his staff and team members at ParetoLogic shaved their heads in support of Cops for Cancer. The company also volunteered to serve breakfast for needy families at Our Place, a Victoria-based nonprofit that donates meals to the most vulnerable members of society. Pereira has also donated blood to Canadian Blood Services, and personally sponsored children and supported global projects through the global organization World Vision. He has made donations to BC Children’s Hospital, and has contributed to the protection, empowerment, and rehabilitation of girls through the Eddie & Maggie Pires Center in North Goa, India.
ParetoLogic has also made contributions to the Canadian Red Cross to battle the Fort McMurray Wildfires, as well as the Heart and Stroke Foundation. They’ve also contributed to Power To Be, a non-profit that provides nature outings to connect youth, adults, and families living with cognitive, physical, financial and social obstacles by empowering experiences in nature. Additionally, Pereira and his team have also partnered with CFAX Santas Anonymous by making contributions to toy deliveries for children in need during the holiday season.
ParetoLogic’s Recognition for its Community Giving
While Pereira has earned several accolades and awards for success in business, based on the rapid growth and success of ParetoLogic, he is most proud of the many awards he has received acknowledging his charitable contributions and philanthropic endeavors, as well as his commitment to giving back to communities both locally and globally, be it through his personal efforts or those of ParetoLogic and the various other companies he is involved with.
ParetoLogic received the Community Engagement Award presented at the BCTIA Technology Impact Awards ceremony in 2012, and in 2017 the company was awarded the VIATEC Community Involvement Award. VIATEC made mention at that event of the fact that ParetoLogic had contributed both time and capital to a total of 11 charitable endeavors in the year leading up to the ceremony alone. ParetoLogic also received the World Vision Recognition for Humanitarian Efforts award in both 2015 and 2016.
Life After ParetoLogic
Upon ParetoLogic’s recent retirement in March 2020, Pereira has devoted more time to his family, but he has also embarked on new business ventures, all of which are founded on the same core principles of responsibility and corporate accountability to the community. Pereira is co-founder of Constant Content, a content provision platform that links businesses with freelance writers seeking top quality SEO web content. He is also a co-owner of SendtoNews, a state-of-the-art platform that distributes sports videos and has become one of the world’s largest and fastest growing companies of its kind. He is also a partner in SureSwift Capital, a company that provides SaaS startups with strategic exits for founders to propel these companies to the next levels of growth, as well an early stage investor in The Very Good Butchers, a rapidly growing business that provides plant-based alternatives to meat products. He is also a limited partner in Social Nature, a pioneering social marketing company that delivers natural products directly to consumers, as well as in Version One Ventures, a venture fund that supports early stage founders in mission-driven organizations. Pereira is also an active board member with Gravity Group, an international advisory and investment firm that supports businesses committed to solid environmental, social and governance missions, as well as companies that are innovating ground-breaking technologies.
Through all of these endeavors, Pereira maintains his generous philanthropic spirit and his commitment to giving back to the local as well as global community. His most recent charitable contribution in 2020 was a donation to Startup Skool, a project committed to bringing social change by empowering youth with entrepreneurial skills and an entrepreneurial mindset, hosted at Glenlyon Norfolk School in his home community of Victoria, BC in Canada.
With his varied entrepreneurial talents, keen insight for growth trends in a variety of business sectors, and driven commitment to both his goals and his values, Pereira is committed to continuing his pursuit of growth and success while pursuing both of his passions: entrepreneurial success as well as a positive impact on the local and global community.
