From struggles to success: Building lasting connections

James McInnes (Master of Business Administration ’25) has spent much of his life searching for his purpose. Now as an entrepreneur and recent Athabasca University graduate, he’s helping others build community by empowering authentic connection.

McInnes’s search for purpose started in Calgary, Alta., when he was in and out of foster care while his mother struggled with addictions. At the age of 12, what was meant to be a temporary placement became permanent.

“It was scary, because my mother was the only biological family I had,” he recalls.

Mastering the art of reinvention

Starting over at a new school and feeling powerless about his life, he felt determined to take control of his future. He poured his energy into working hard to prove to himself he could excel academically and to find acceptance among his peers.

It worked—for a while at least. McInnes thrived in junior high. He made many friends, earned good grades, won awards, and was active in social circles. Things changed in high school when he realized that the smartest person in class wasn’t necessarily the most popular.

He decided he needed a new strategy to make friends and found inspiration through magic tricks. While watching Street Magic on TV, McInnes was impressed with how magician David Blaine perfected his talent and brought inspiration and happiness to people regardless of their social status.

McInnes started performing magic tricks and learning sleight of hand and enjoyed it. But what he didn't like was how magic didn’t feel entirely authentic. Behind every illusion was hundreds of hours of practice to master sleights that, if done correctly, others would never see and couldn’t be disclosed. A true magician, as they say, never reveals their secrets.

In Grade 11, McInnes took up a new hobby to challenge himself and to make friends: competitive Halo. “I thought that if I was really good at this video game, that's really popular, then I'd be able to fit in better, and ladies would like me more. It didn't work that way.” 

Then in Grade 12, he found a new pursuit while making music with his mouth in class. His classmates told him to look up “beatboxing” on YouTube. When he did, he was immediately impressed and followed a new passion.

Beatboxing his way to championships

Beatboxing was relatively unknown at the time but the ability to produce music anywhere resonated with him, as did the self-taught nature of the art.

It's very authentic, very transparent. Everything you're hearing, I'm doing right there.

Going by the stage name “Peterpot,” McInnes grew in skill and as a performer. In 2008 he won the Stampede Talent Search, and in 2013 he became the Canadian Beatbox Champion and toured internationally, performing in England, Malta, and South Africa. He also co-headlined the 2014 Calgary Stampede Grandstand Show, performing in front of more than 200,000 people over 11 days.

Even though he enjoyed performing, McInnes needed a safety net to help pay the bills. He continued beatboxing throughout a bachelor of business administration degree at Mount Royal University and during his career as financial analyst with Alberta Health Services.

Connecting with his roots

McInnes’s search for purpose took another turn in his 30s. He was always curious about his ethnicity, so on his 30th birthday, he took a DNA test and discovered his Métis heritage. Through that process, he also located his father, who until that point was unaware he existed.

McInnes joined the board of the Metis Local 87 and started attending events and learning more about his heritage. He learned that the definition of wealth, in some Indigenous thinking, is based on the quality of one’s relationships, and the contributions that they make to the community. This Indigenous belief made in impact and later became one of the inspirations behind Prompty, a personal relationship manager that allows users to experience authentic connections.

Pushing past safe, into the unknown

2021 was a pivotal year for McInnes. It was the year that he connected with his biological family and welcomed the birth of his daughter. By this point in his life, McInnes was enjoying professional success, working as a financial analyst for with AHS for 15 years.

And just like during his childhood, it felt like something was missing. He kept returning to the Indigenous teachings he learned and the notion that a life is not about material possessions, but about the quality of relationships. He found himself rethinking his accounting career as his primary channel to positively impact society.

All of these events coincided with McInnes looking to pursue an MBA, not knowing exactly where it would take him or what opportunities would present themselves. “I didn't know where I'd go once I broke the glass ceiling, but I knew it would be somewhere because I've always excelled at what I put my mind to.”

Choosing AU

AU stood out for a few reasons. The online nature of the studies gave McInnes the flexibility he needed to build a business, work during the day, and pursue other things like travelling for beatboxing, all while completing coursework. It also helped that several people in his life spoke highly of the university. His wife, Charity, had graduated from AU’s Bachelor of General Studies program and went on to get her registered nursing designation through University of Calgary. Another graduate that McInnes looked up to was Mauro Chies, the former CEO of AHS.

I remember getting in and being so excited.

Starting a business from the ground-up

That excitement continued throughout the program. In 2023, during his first year of his MBA, McInnes attended a small group entrepreneurship event put on by his church. There were roughly 20 people in the group, who went around the circle introducing themselves and their businesses. He was the only one who had a piece of paper, a pen, and was taking notes. McInnes was really surprised by that because he believes that an entrepreneur’s network is the most valuable resource.

“It's a multiplier for your time, your money, and your knowledge. It's essential. They say that your network is your net worth, and for an entrepreneur, it's an essential aspect,” he says.

Thanks to his note taking skills, during the next meeting McInnes remembered everyone's names and details. Others could only remember one or two people. Within a few months he was requested to lead the group.

This experience made him realize that there weren’t great tools for business professionals to formulate authentic, meaningful connections. Business cards are often exchanged, with most to be discarded within a week, and LinkedIn is seen as transactional—widely considered a “necessary evil.” 

Remembering someone’s name greatly improves my confidence, and if I don’t, I can actually become avoidant.

Creating authentic connections

Influenced by that experience and some Indigenous teachings defining wealth as the quality of one’s relationships, McInnes started to investigate other solutions to build authentic connections—without getting lost in social networking news feeds or through other distractions. He came up with Prompty, which helps people manage the relationships they make during in-person networking events.

The free service allows users to securely exchange information in-person using QR codes or physical products. The platform then stores the date and location of that first meeting and allows users to make private notes to remember the context. The idea is similar to a digital rolodex and is complementary to existing methods of connection. Unlike LinkedIn or social platforms, there is no news feed, advertisements, or messaging—only human-focused features that empower authentic connection.

The platform also incorporates some of the Indigenous knowledge that McInnes learned. The app’s “Connection Collection” feature shows the total number of connections that can be made at an event. It was important for McInnes that the status was not only displayed in a hierarchal fashion, like traditional leaderboards. This model creates a more collaborative goal showing that everyone is connected.

Gaining the confidence to start new ventures

McInnes’s experiences pursuing his MBA helped him stay attuned to business opportunities and gave him the confidence to take the risk of starting his own venture.

That’s one of the challenges of being an entrepreneur. It takes risk to do it, and with this, I could tell myself, ‘Even if Prompty fails, I'm going to have an MBA.'

He also viewed his MBA like an incubator—where he built his business through assignments and class discussions. Courses on information technology and entrepreneurship helped him uncover the greater value of what he was building and helped him scale for long term success.

At AU convocation in Athabasca in June, McInnes will celebrate two milestones: the completion of his MBA but also a very public engagement with his business among his peers.

This June, Prompty will be the primary networking solution not only at convocation, but at several events, including Social West, the largest digital marketing conference in Canada.

Long term, McInnes wants to build Prompty into the “go-to” method for fostering meaningful connection with integrations into event and customer relationship management software. In 2026 he also plans to turn his applied project from his MBA, which examines trust in the age of artificial intelligence, into a book.

After years of searching for purpose, not only has McInnes found it, but he is helping others build connections and community. He truly has come full circle.

“It’s an exciting time. Having Prompty integrated into convocation as a digital yearbook is not just the culmination of my MBA journey, but it's a reflection of the collective efforts of everyone at AU who has contributed to the platform’s creation: my cohort, my professors, the faculty, and the AU Graduate Students’ Association who offered feedback, mentorship, and support.”