Tanya Shaw shares some of her best learning moments and news of her impending U.S. invasion

In 1994 Tanya Shaw launched Unique Solutions Design Ltd., a Dartmouth-based developer of innovative body fit solutions and technologies. A few years later, a bank agreed to loan Shaw $50,000 to cover expansion costs. “On the Friday afternoon that I was supposed to sign the cheque, the bank called to tell me they didn’t realize my company was a start-up and they couldn’t lend me the money,” says Shaw. “I was traumatized.”

The following Monday Shaw, with her advisor, met with the bank officials, who told her if she raised $50,000 in capital herself they’d give her the loan. “They might as well have said $500,000,” she says.
“I didn’t know anyone with that kind of money.” In an attempt to cheer her up, Shaw’s mother invited her to attend a Mary Kay cosmetics party with her that evening. “It was the last thing I felt like doing, but I went,” she says. It’s a good thing she did; after telling her story to several women there, she left with a promise for almost $50,000. “They all came through for me,” she says. “I raised the rest myself, and the bank gave me the loan.”

According to Shaw, now 40, that was one of “millions” of tough learning moments during her company’s evolution. She cites another: About 10 years after the bank-loan incident, Shaw went to Silicon Valley to pitch to potential investors. A New York City-based company agreed on a significant investment; four weeks from the scheduled closing date, a company representative called Shaw to arrange an on-site visit, the final step before inking the deal. The night before the visit, the rep called again—this time to tell her the division that was making the investment was shutting down and putting all deals on hold. “I didn’t see that coming,” says Shaw, who took a deep breath, had a glass of wine, and thought, what next?

What came next was two years spent focusing on refining the business instead of raising capital. That strategy paid off: During the last week of June, Unique Solutions received the first tranche of a $30-million investment from Toronto-based Northwater Capital Management Inc.’s intellectual property fund. The money will be used to support the company’s continued growth in North America.

Besides being the founder of Unique Solutions, Shaw is also its president and CEO; her company holds the exclusive licence for the only body-scanning technology that measures men’s and women’s bodies while they’re fully clothed. If the process sounds futuristic, that’s because it is. Shaw has continually excelled at staying ahead of market trends. “My team and I have always had a huge vision for the company,” she says. “We try to stay focused, and we try to be nimble enough to see other opportunities for the technology.”

For example, in September of 2010 Unique Solutions launched, Me-Ality, a permanent size-matching body-scanner kiosk, at its first location at Pennsylvania’s King of Prussia Mall. Here’s how it works: A fully dressed shopper steps into the kiosk and has his or her body measurements scanned by a large wand that rotates twice around the body using a safe low-frequency radio wave.

Using Unique Solutions’ software, the process records 3-D body measurements, weight, height, and body mass index, as well as personal contact and demographic information. Then a unique bar code identifier is printed, which is used to create a shopping report listing several brands and styles of jeans that will fit. All the shopper has to do is take the report to each store, ask for the item on the printout, try it on, and leave happy.

Shaw plans to roll out over 40 more kiosks at other large shopping centres and high-traffic venues throughout the fall, mostly in the U.S., followed by another 300 by the end of 2013. Does she expect more stressful moments along the way? Yes—but she’s ready for them. “It’s about perseverance, vision, believing in what you’re doing, and trusting that there may always be something better around the corner,” she says.