Our Story: A Timeline of Resilience and Community

Our Story

A Timeline of Resilience and Community (2019–2025)

In early 2019, Mike and I were in that new-parent haze where everything is running, but nothing feels sustainable. We had a one-year-old, one car, and two demanding jobs. I was back in B2B sales at Jimmy Zee’s Distributors Inc. Mike had spent eight years there as a warehouse supervisor, but he left for a higher-paying role to support our family. He worked graveyard shifts so he could be with our son during the day while I worked regular hours. We basically passed each other like shift change. Weekdays felt like single parenting for both of us, and weekends were just errands and family obligations. We were surviving, but we weren’t living.

The seed that was already planted (2011–2019)

The wild part is the idea for TFN had been quietly sitting in the background for years. In 2011, my mom, Roberta, made a Bitcoin investment. She wasn’t just watching charts. She was genuinely obsessed with the idea of decentralized systems and supporting people who didn’t fit the traditional 9-to-5 mold. She spent time at a Vancouver coworking space called DCTRL and fell in love with the energy, the collaboration, the feeling that people were building things together.

She had a full vision for her own space: affordable, supportive, and built for entrepreneurs and creators. She even had the name ready: The Fountainhead Network (TFN). By early 2019, she was watching Mike and me burn out, watching her investment grow, and she kept saying the same thing: stop living like this. Build the thing.

June 2019: We jump

In June 2019, Mike and I quit our stable jobs. We had a toddler. It was terrifying. Roberta’s Bitcoin funds would help finance the start, and we went all-in as a small family team.

We built the website, learned everything we could about coworking, joined Coworking BC, and the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce, and hunted for a space in the Tri-Cities that could handle open coworking plus events. We were looking for something community-friendly, not corporate, and big enough to become a real hub.

Late 2019: We find “the one”

By October and November 2019, we found what felt like the perfect location in Port Coquitlam. It was accessible, the size made sense, and the rent was somehow reasonable for the square footage. We negotiated the lease and planned to move in February 2020.

We ordered furniture, invested in a custom kitchen, lined up contractors, worked through layouts and permits, and poured a significant amount of funding into making the space real. Everything was set up for a 2020 launch.

Then the universe laughed.

March 2020: COVID hits

We moved in February 2020. In March, the pandemic hit and shut down the world. Our business model was literally “people share space” and suddenly that was not allowed.

We were locked into a lease, deep into buildout costs, and we couldn’t open. Our landlord allowed a three-month rent deferral, but it wasn’t forgiveness. It was rent stacking up, waiting to hit us later. We were staring at the question every small business owner remembers: how do you survive when the plan is dead and the bills are not?

Spring to late 2020: Pivot, fast

We pivoted hard into media and community promotion. If people couldn’t come to networking, we’d bring the spotlight to them. We built a podcast studio and started producing interviews and content to support local businesses through lockdown. Mike’s background in entertainment and production became a lifeline here.

At the same time, we did attract a small group of early members, the people who truly needed a place outside home. We kept everything compliant and distanced, and because we were new, we could build COVID-safe systems from day one. It was tiny, but it kept TFN alive.

We also learned how to build community without a room full of people. We lived on Zoom. We joined Chamber meetups and online business groups. We did endless outreach. Mike ended up interviewing over 100 local business owners through our podcast and content projects. Over the next several years, we’d connect with hundreds more entrepreneurs through those efforts.

We weren’t profitable, but TFN was becoming known. Not just as a space, but as a hub that genuinely cared.

2021: The year of sacrifice

2021 dragged. Restrictions continued. Events were limited. Membership growth was slow. Costs were not.

Midway through the year, we hit a breaking point and did the thing nobody wants to do. We sold our home to catch up on rent and bills and to keep TFN going. We moved into Mike’s parents’ basement. It was humbling, stressful, and also the only way we could keep the dream alive without collapsing under debt.

Then came the “are you kidding me” stretch: a break-in and theft at the space, our business bank accounts getting hacked, sudden landlord operating-cost bills that made budgeting impossible, and personal hits at home that piled on during an already fragile season.

We were exhausted. TFN’s reputation was growing, but we still couldn’t afford staff. We needed help. Badly.

2022–2023: We get creative to survive

So we built our own solution. We launched the TFN Facilitator Program, a barter-based model where local entrepreneurs traded time and skills for workspace. Facilitators helped with front desk coverage, events, content, design, social media, podcast production, and member support. In return, they got access to a professional environment and a community that could actually move their business forward.

We also partnered with Douglas College through their internship and career development program, bringing students into the space for hands-on experience while giving us much-needed support and fresh energy.

Even with all of that, the economic pressure didn’t let up. We took on loans, scraped month to month, and kept pushing forward. We made it through our full four-year lease term in Port Coquitlam, which honestly felt like winning a war.

Late 2023: The lease crisis

Then the landlord told us renewal would mean double rent, with about three months’ notice.

We tried everything. GoFundMe. Investor conversations. Any option that could keep TFN in place. Nothing landed in time. And we had to accept a brutal truth: staying would bankrupt us.

We were preparing for the end.

The email that changed everything

Right when things were bleakest, our member and friend Chris Chong asked: “Have you guys ever talked to Site B?”

Mike realized he had an email for Chris Peacock, the founder of Site B in Port Moody. He sent a straightforward message. No pitch deck. Just honesty and a question: could there be a way to work together?

Chris replied quickly with, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

We met the next day. The alignment was immediate. Same values. Same community-first instincts. And suddenly, the impossible thing became possible: TFN could relocate into Site B under a revenue-sharing model instead of carrying a crushing fixed lease.

January 2024: TFN moves to Site B

We moved fast. We packed up PoCo, sold what we didn’t need (Site B was already furnished), and brought the TFN identity, members, and media gear into our new home in Port Moody.

At the end of January 2024, after operating both locations for a month while we moved, we closed the Port Coquitlam space. It was emotional. That place held years of blood and sweat. But we weren’t closing TFN. We were saving it.

2024: Our best year yet

The partnership worked. Better than we could have imagined. TFN was growing fast but didn’t have the capacity to rebuild a full events engine alone. Site B had event demand exploding but needed stronger coworking community culture and systems. We fit together like puzzle pieces.

With the revenue-share model, we finally had breathing room. We could focus on growth instead of panic. For the first time in years, stability didn’t feel like a fantasy.

May 2025: The merger becomes real

In May 2025, TFN officially merged with Site B. And at the same time, Brave Brewing merged with Twin Sails Brewing, expanding everything into a four-way collective: TFN, Site B, Brave, and Twin Sails.

Each brand kept its identity, but behind the scenes we became one team. Coworking, events, hospitality, and craft beer under one community-first umbrella. The result was bigger than a business structure. It was a shared ecosystem where work and connection actually coexist in real life.

2026: Momentum, Stability, and What’s Next

We entered 2026 from a position we’d worked years to reach: stability paired with momentum. Through tighter operations, aligned teams, and fully integrated programming, we helped double revenue across both The Fountainhead Network and Site B year over year. What once required constant firefighting now runs on clearer systems, shared infrastructure, and a much stronger financial foundation.

With the pressure of survival finally lifted, our focus has shifted to intentional growth. We’re actively exploring expansion opportunities, new partnerships, and additional locations that align with our community-first model. The goal isn’t growth for growth’s sake. It’s scale with integrity, replicating what works, protecting the culture, and creating more places where entrepreneurs, creatives, and community can genuinely thrive.

2026 feels like the beginning of the chapter we were building toward all along.

What this story is really about

This is not the glossy highlight reel version of entrepreneurship. This is the actual version. The one with real stakes, sacrifices, pivots, and moments where you think you might lose everything.

And it’s also proof of something we’ve learned the hard way: community is not a side benefit. It’s the foundation. The relationships we built didn’t just help others. They eventually saved us.

One suggestion. One email. One meeting. That’s what flipped the timeline.

Now we’re heading into the future stronger, wiser, and backed by a collective that believes what we’ve believed from day one: when people build together, the whole community wins.