So what has Calgary’s Internet whiz kid been up to since striking it rich with the sale of CADVision last year?

Geoff Shmigelsky, who as an ambitious small businessman founded CADVision in 1990 and transformed it into Canada’s largest private Internet service provider, is kicking back and enjoying life.

Some days, the young-looking multi-millionaire passes the time by giving friends rides in his Ferrari.

“For some people, it’s a lifelong dream to ride in a Ferrari,” explains Shmigelsky, smiling boyishly.

Since jumping off the high-tech treadmill with the sale of CADVision 18 months ago, Shmigelsky has been making up for lost time – a decade in which he lived and breathed his company while neglecting his health and personal life. This past year he returned to the University of Calgary as entrepreneur-in-residence in the faculty of management.

At 32, a refreshed Shmigelsky says he’s set for life financially and doesn’t need to work another day. But get the Pincher Creek native talking about his passion for the science of human genetics, which he believes is the next big thing in technology, and watch his eyes light up.

And you figure there’s another ace up his sleeve.

1. What was your first job?

“My parents (Elsie and Sid) bought the Foothills Motel in Pincher Creek when I was very young, so I helped there. For many years, I would fold sheets, take care of the whirlpool, deal with customers, run the switchboard and wash dishes. I was a jack of all trades, and I busted my ass there seven days a week. So I’ve been working almost continuously since I was seven.”

2. Was that a character-building experience?

“It did two things. It created the habit of working. To me, it’s unnatural if I’m not working on something. It’s very ingrained in my genes. The other part is that I saw the value of having your own business. If you work for someone else, you don’t control your fate. If you have your own business, your success and failure is based on the decisions you make. My parents have had the greatest influence on me. They showed me the value and resilience that is required to create and run a business.”

3. Who was your role model?

“Bill Gates (Microsoft founder and chairman). I knew everything about him. I understood how he thought. I understood how he was positioning his company and how he was positioned in the markets he was in so his company would grow.”

4. What struck you about the Gates success story?

“Momentum and leveraging. If you have something and you can leverage it to get something else, that’s a very powerful thing. When you have your own business, it’s like a train. Once you get the momentum, it’s very hard to stop the train. Microsoft is very much like a huge train. When I built CADVision up, I wanted that business model. Something that would scale. I knew how to make the next AOL (American Online) long before anybody else did, but I didn’t have the resources to do it.”

5. What was your boyhood dream?

“I wanted to be wealthy and successful. I wanted to go out there and stake my claim in the world. I knew if I didn’t give up, it would happen.”

6. What kind of a university student were you?

“I had a 2.0 GPA (grade-point-average) when I graduated, and I graduated on probation. I also maxed out the ‘D’ option. Academically speaking, it doesn’t get any worse than that. I was taking a full-course load, but I was never at campus. I was downtown working. I was making good money as a computer consultant – $25 an hour. I hired students to go to school for me. I paid them $10 an hour to go to class for me and get my notes. So that’s how I got through university. I didn’t see much point in hanging around there. I used the rent money from my mom and dad to incorporate my company (CADVision).”

7. What character trait allowed you to succeed with CADVision?

“I’m very stubborn. I will never give up. I will never admit defeat. If I set my mind to do something and I believe it’s the right thing to do, I can make it happen. There were lots of times in the early years with CADVision when I’d be sitting at home and thinking, ‘my god, what did I get myself into? This might be over my head.’ But I always came back the next day fighting.”

8. What did your parents think of this high-tech venture called CADVision?

“My parents were wondering what I was doing because there are easier ways to make a living. To this day, my parents don’t have Internet, and they don’t quite get what it does. So they felt I should be doing something a little less risky. Now they agree with me, but back then there were some heated debates.”

9. Was selling CADVision in 2000 an easy decision?

“No, it was not. I spent 10 years building the company up. But I think I wanted to do something different. After you go through the growing stage, it becomes more of a monotonous thing.”

10. What did you sell CADVision for?

“I can’t say. It was a lot. I never have to work again. Ever. Looking back on it, the timing (of the sale) was amazing because we sold at the top of the stock market. I didn’t know that then. I thought the market would continue to go.”

11. So what does that feel like, knowing you don’t have to work again?

“It’s great. I spend my days now playing with my son (22-month-old Joshua). I can spend all day playing with my son. We can go to the park and play and play. And I don’t have to worry about having to go to work the next day. So I spend my time having fun. And the stress isn’t there. When you run a large company, especially a private company, there’s a huge amount of stress that is a weight on your shoulders. It was a beautiful feeling to be able to set that weight down and do something different. Joshua’s truly the highlight of my life. He can spell to a point and I’ve already got him doing some math.”

12. How did contracting whooping cough change your perspective on life?

“Ultimately, that was the key to my decision to sell the company. The adult version of whooping cough is much more lethal than the child version because your diaphragm is much more developed. It lasted for six months. After that happened, I said, ‘I’ve busted my ass for eight years, I’ve had enough of this nonsense and I want to go and balance my life out.’ I decided to have a family and have more fun.”

13. What was it like returning to the University of Calgary as entrepreneur in residence in the faculty of management in the past year?

“It was interesting to go back because, in business, people have more money than time. In university, people have more time than money. And as a result they tend to be a lot lighter and they’re a lot more fun to be with. So it was a fun time, I learned a lot and I met a lot of amazing people. I also mentored a lot of students.”

14. What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned in business?

“Don’t over-extend yourself. Whatever you do, don’t let your reach extend your grasp. When you get greedy or start thinking that you can do things that cannot be done realistically speaking, that’s when you get into trouble. Does that make sense?”

15. What’s the best advice you can offer a budding entrepreneur?

“Think outside the box. You see, when you’re an entrepreneur, you’re doing what people normally don’t do. You’re basically going to zig when everybody else zags. That requires you to have faith in yourself, but it also requires you to step back and do things that other people would say can or cannot be done.”

16. Are you working on any business venture now?

“No. I’m still bound by a non-compete agreement (from the sale of CADVision), and I’ve honoured that to a T. It runs out in April 2002.”

17. So what happens next April?

“We’ll see. I’m an avid investor – in stocks, equities, trusts. But if I did get back into something, I would probably go into human genetics. In my humble opinion, that (digitally encoding the genetic information required to assemble and run the human body) is without a doubt where the future is going. Genetics technology is going from an analogue state to a digital state. I see that at some point we’ll be able to program genetics like we program computers, and I believe that’ll change every single thing in our lives . . . it’s very exciting to be a part of that.”

18. How has your life changed since you sold CADVision?

“I’ve lost a lot of weight, I’m in much better physical shape, I’m much happier and I don’t have the stress I used to have and I have more of a sense of humour these days. I’m also more generous – I’ve given a lot to charities. I love to learn so this year I’m going to take piano lessons, I want to become a gourmet chef and I want to become a pilot.”

19. Is there one person you’d walk over hot coals in bare feet to have coffee with?

“I like Sandra Bullock. I like her attitude. It’s very fun. She doesn’t take herself too seriously. And she’s pretty hot, I must say.”

20. So what does money mean to you?

“I spend more money probably than the average person, just because I have so many projects on the go. But do I have fancy clothes? No. I rarely drive the car (Ferrari). I have a few more computers than most people. That’s about it. The money doesn’t really mean much to me. What money really represents is freedom. What I care about is having fun and being happy. It’s the quality of life. And that comes from how you feel on the inside, not what you have on the outside. Money is not so much the enemy as it is a means to an end.”

IN PROFILE: Geoff Shmigelsky

* Born/raised/age: Pincher Creek; 32.

* Occupation: Entrepreneur.

* Education: University of Calgary (computer science degree).

* Family: Wife Tamara, son Joshua, 22 months.

* Career: Shmigelsky founded CADVision in 1990 and built it into Canada’s largest privately owned Internet service provider. He sold the company to PSINet in 2000 (it has since been purchased by TELUS) for a sum undisclosed by mutual agreement.

* Role Model: Bill Gates.

* Passions: Computers, investing.