We shouldn’t have been surprised that Ted Hellard, chairman of Critical Mass, wanted to do this interview in the future — the company’s future home.

Hellard has made a career out of a future-tense mindset.

While others were scrambling to keep up to the Internet explosion, Hellard was already going deep, thinking years ahead of his peers.

Hence, while construction workers hammered away at the future home of Critical Mass in the antiquated Pilkington Building on 11th Avenue S.E., we dusted off the chairs and tuned out the jackhammers.

Typically, Hellard was also one step ahead of the interviewer. After questions about his background, Hellard smiled sagely and quipped, right on cue. “Twenty questions now.”

1. They say you're a visionary. Does that mean you're like Wayne Gretzky and see the plays before the opposition does?
“I think it’s a natural thing. It’s actually kind of an annoying nature, to be honest with you, because you can’t look at anything like a normal person does. You’re always trying to figure out an angle or how you can make it work better. When I’m with people, and I don’t think this is an egotistical thing, I seem to be three steps ahead. I’ve got what they’re thinking figured out. Sometimes I can be annoying in a meeting because generally they’ll start speaking and I’ve already figured out what they’re saying and I’m already answering it before they have half the question out.”

2. Is this more fun than teaching school in Lacombe, Alberta?
“Nope. Well, first of all, I don’t feel like I’ve ever stopped teaching. I just have different students now. Most of my staff is young, 22 to 27 years old. I’m not teaching them technical issues, but I am teaching them how best to make the most of their lives and their skills and what they have, which is really what I did when I taught school. But for just pure self-enjoyment, school teaching is the most fun I’ve had. You get rewards from that that the money side can’t touch.”

3. So what are the rewards of this business from your perspective?
“This is exciting because I’ve watched a company grow from literally nothing to what it is now. I’ve got half a dozen people right now who are 24 years old who are buying a house for the first time or having children. And a lot of what they’re doing is coming from opportunities the company has been able to provide. That’s what’s rewarding.”

4. So your 240 employees in the Calgary office are like family to you?
“Yeah, we have a European breakfast for the employees at 8 a.m. In here (new facility), we’ve got a bistro, a hair salon, a fitness centre, showers and we run full-time security. So we really try to go out of our way to provide a safe, fun environment. Every fourth Friday, we have corporate Friday while other companies have casual Friday. The idea is that if you can’t get up in the morning and look forward to work, you’re in the wrong job.”

5. Your hero is . . . ?
“To me, Wayne Gretzky is more of a hero because of the way he’s been able to handle himself through the whole thing. He has always been, to me, an amateur athlete. Even though he has made millions and millions of dollars, he has always handled himself like a true amateur, playing, talking, speaking, for the love of the sport.”

6. One person who has had a profound impact on your life?
“My father (Art, who was an air-force shop foreman). My father died when I was 24 and still pretty much a bum at university and I played basketball and did all the university party drinking. I think that, in the last 20 years, I’ve been working hard to prove that I wasn’t just a lost kid. He’s somebody I think about a lot and someone I’ve been driven by. I’m sure that in his mind he didn’t know what the hell was going to happen to me.”

7. So what was the turning point of your life?
“That would be when the Internet caught up with me. It was an environment where I could really think way ahead. Every other business I started, I was five years too early.”

8. A favorite childhood memory?
“My mom (Margaret) and dad were very traditional, almost like a ’50s movie family. They didn’t show a lot of affection for each other in public. I remember once in Penticton late at night, we were in the car watching planes land or something, and my father put his arm around my mother. It probably was the first time I’d seen it. I thought: ‘Man!’ I’m fairly like my dad. I try to keep my emotions pretty tight, so for me that stands out.”

9. Can you trounce your wife (ex-pro golfer Jackie Twamley-Hellard) on the course?
“If we play from the same tees, it’s a pretty even battle. I’m somewhere between a two and six (handicap). It’s so competitive that we actually don’t keep score anymore.”

10. You had a terrible injury when struck behind the ear by a golf ball a few years ago. How are you now?
“It was a balance injury. I would stand up and everything would flip and I’d fall down. And that damage was permanent. Most days, it’s not too debilitating to me. When it’s super cloudy or something, I lose part of the vision. When a bad flu is coming, I know it because I lose all balance. I turned my head literally maybe a quarter second before it hit and, if I hadn’t, it probably would’ve been pretty much over for me. It threw me right out of the cart. It was a freak accident.”

11. So you’re more cautious on the course now?
“You’d think so, but I still catch myself wandering ahead at times.”

12. Your first job?
“At the Stampede selling peanuts in the grandstand.”

13. The greatest lesson from your business career? “Personality-wise, it has been to be more patient and — this is going to sound weird — to accept that not everyone sees things the way I see it. And let others come forward with their skills and talent. It’s something I think I’ve only succeeded in the last six to nine months.”

14. To launch your company into the big times, you once offered Mercedes-Benz a Web site free if they weren’t satisfied. Why?
“There’s no way we’d have gotten the opportunity if we didn’t make that offer. And we had no money at that point. It was an absolutely 100 per cent do-or-die risk. To me, there was no other decision to make.”

15. Has success changed you?
“It’s given me more of an opportunity to spend time with my kids. Surprisingly enough, I think success has given me a little more humility. Some people might have perceived me as arrogant, although I never thought of myself as arrogant, but very focused. I think I see things from a much broader vision now. And that’s because I’ve got less stress now.”

16. You have lunch invitations with Bill Murray and Bill Gates. Which do you choose?
“Bill Murray. It’s not even close.”

17. Your house is about to be washed away by a flood. Three possessions you take with you?
“Jackie’s four DuMaurier Cups. I’m very proud of her. I caddied for her. The second thing would be any images of my kids. That’s it.”

18. God taps you on the shoulder and says you can do one thing over?
“I would have spent more time with my boys when they were my daughter’s age.”

19. What’s your vision for Critical Mass for 2005?
“We’d like it to be about a $100 million-revenue (annual) company and an 800-employee company, so basically double what it is today. But the biggest thing, and I think this is in agreement with all of us, is that we don’t want to do any of that and sacrifice the family environment. That is most critical. I really honestly wouldn’t be involved in this company if it became more of a bureaucratic kind of monopoly.”

20. What’s on the horizon for you, personally?
“I’ve been so focused for so long, it’s time to put something back into the community with charitable work and just relax a little bit and maybe soak up a little bit more life instead of being so wound up all the time.”

IN PROFILE: Critical Mass

* Brass: Ted Hellard, chairman; Jerry Johnston, CEO (Chicago office); Dianne Wilkins, president, COO.
* Focus: Critical Mass is a private company focused on full-service online marketing for blue-chip companies, including Web site development, strategic planning and e-commerce. It was co-founded by Hellard and Michel Clairo in 1996.
* Clients: Critical Mass counts several big-name players as its clients, including Mercedes-Benz USA, SAAB, Nike, Proctor & Gamble, Smirnoff, Samsung, Denny’s Restaurants and Telus Marketing Services.
* Awards: Critical Mass recently won one of seven Gold World Medals in the New York Festivals 200 International New Media competition for its Nike ID e-commerce site.
* Website: criticalmass.com
* Address: #400-805 10th Ave. S.W. (moving to Pilkington Building on 12th Ave. S.E., north of Victoria Park, in December).
* Phone: 262-3006

IN PROFILE: Ted Hellard

* Born/raised/age: St. Thomas, Ont.; Halifax, N.S.; 46.
* Title: Chairman/co-founder.
* Education: University of Calgary (B.A., education).
* Family: Wife Jackie Twamley-Hellard (ex-pro golfer), daughter Jamie Lee (10 months) and sons Ryan, 12, and Tyler, 14.
* Role models: Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe.
* Claim to fame: Caddied for wife Jackie on pro tour.
* Kicks back by: Golfing, playing with his kids, listening to jazz.