Meghan Cano

You have founded several companies in the fields of real estate, technology, medical diagnostics, government contracting and investments. When did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

The truth is I never thought I did. If I really take a hard look at myself and my career, I have always been a problem solver and I suppose with the mentorship of key people in my life it took the form of entrepreneurship. For as long as I can remember, I have had two criteria for my professional life: 1) I don’t want any day to be like the last and 2) I want to be able to help someone every day. Entrepreneurship has allowed me to meet both of those criteria daily. I have also learned that entrepreneurship comes in a great number of shapes and sizes, and I believe that is really what made me take the leap with each of our companies, time and time again. Entrepreneurship, albeit incredibly tough, provides a place at the table for everyone and every idea.

You currently serve as Chief Executive Officer for CHR Partners, a nonprofit that develops quality affordable housing, complete with built in social services that will empower residences to grow and prosper. Can you share an impactful lesson you’ve learned about leadership during your decade-long tenure? 

Leaders listen. I know that is not the most complex answer, but it was one that took me a decade to learn. In today’s digital age, with all knowledge just one google or Chat GPT search away, it is easy to think you have all the answers. In fact, in most cases, people are rewarded with promotion or leadership opportunities for having all the right answers. It is rare to find a team or leader that rewards experiential sharing, encourages risk taking and promotes on-the-job learning. It took me ten years, hiring more than 160 employees, growing and losing portions of our service portfolio, to learn that if I just listened and provided the environment for ideation, innovation and most importantly, the environment for failure without punishment – my team, my organization and our mission would flourish.

Tell us about BexarAid and the inspiration behind it? 

I believe the true inspiration for BexarAid was just to solve a problem.  At the height of the pandemic, residents of any city had to be symptomatic and willing to or capable of waiting in lines for hours to receive a free government test. More importantly, the real issue was symptomatic individuals were not the most threatening to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, it was the asymptomatic individuals; your neighbor or friend who looked and sounded totally fine. BexarAid knew we could solve this problem and do better for our community. In May of 2020, BexarAid became a major provider of fast, accurate, and reliable at-home and corporate diagnostics. We also became one of the most innovative companies when it came to testing on a large scale designing our own proprietary testing equipment for some of the world’s biggest manufacturers, Texas businesses and government agencies. Our competitive advantage was a lean methodology in patient sample collection, along with exclusive access to CLIA certified high-complexity laboratories.

How do you balance your responsibilities and personal life while juggling multiple business ventures? 

I don’t. I would love to say there is some magical formula that allows me to be everywhere all at once, but there isn’t. The closest thing I have to balance is my husband and business partner. Juan and I have started all of these businesses together, some with a third partner and some completely on our own. While I can’t say everything is perfect, I can be completely honest and say it has been a huge help to have a partner that understands why you are working so hard and why you push yourself to the absolute limit, time and time again. He has pushed me when I needed bravery and he has wrangled me in when I thought I could add more – we have both done this for each other. I guess my answer is balance is who is in your life as much as what you have going on in it.

How do you define “excellence” in business?

WOW, this is a tough one. Entrepreneurship is hard and scary and perhaps the furthest thing from a sure thing. While no entrepreneur signs up to fail or to begin a journey with a project knowing it will amount to nothing, there is a healthy dose of reality in trying to build something from scratch that you have almost no guarantee the market will buy. So I believe excellence in business is defined by the effort put forth. If I expected every CHR real estate deal to be won, every BexarAid corporate wellness contract to be awarded or every Housing Base tech contract to come through, we all know the kind of disappointment I would be facing daily. It is in the effort the team puts forth. It is the improved communication of the team each time they work together, it is the improved pitch deck after each declined offer, but it is also in the success gardened from all that growth. Excellence is found as we learn and become smarter, success is what we reap from those lessons.

How has being a part of the TBHF network impacted your entrepreneurial journey?

TBHF has been a great network. Whether it is webinars, in-person talks, happy hours or the annual Hall of Fame Induction Gala, there is no other organization that has put such a concentrated effort in connecting some of the most successful businesspeople in Texas with the generation that intends to follow them. And now with the Executive Leadership Program, it has only gone that much further. It has been an invaluable resource to me.