Larry Hillis is a third-generation fisherman out of Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf in Richmond, B.C.. At 57, he’s spent most of his life fishing for a living. One thing Mr. Hillis has learned: The more steps his catch takes before reaching the dinner plate, the less he gets paid. Once he’s landed the day’s catch, it travels from the dock to the processor, to the wholesaler and retailer, and then finally to the consumer. Closing the supply chain can be the difference between making money and not,” he says.
A few months ago Mr. Hillis found a way to shorten the trip. He began working with Coastline Market Inc., a Vancouver startup whose app connects fishermen direct with restaurants, bypassing the middlemen.
Coastline Market was founded this year by Robert Kirstiuk, a theoretical physics student at Western University, and Joseph Lee, a computer science and business student at the University of British Columbia. Both are 21 and met in high school, where they discovered a mutual love of entrepreneurship. Their first venture, at 17, was an organic candle company. “We made them in our parents’ kitchens and we sold at farmers markets and to our grandparents,” laughed Mr. Lee, Coastline’s chief product officer.
