The people
What they build
Open roles via the TechTO Job Board
Working at Xello
Browse open roles across the community on the TechTO Job Board — Canada’s most connected tech network. Xello’s roles show up here whenever they post.
Open roles on the TechTO Job Board ↗Or their own careers page: xello.world/careers ↗Jobs live on jobs.techto.org — the only structured source. We link to it rather than scraping career sites, so the board is always the source of truth.
On the TechTO stage
Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Xello ↗
About
Matt McQuillen and two friends founded the company in 1995 to help high school students work out what career might fit them. They spent a year and a half building the first product and launched it in 1997 having invested about $5,000 between them. McQuillen told the TechTO stage in July 2019 that the company was then 150 people with $20 million in revenue and had never once taken on capital — a path he framed as deliberate rather than lucky. His test for whether a business can be bootstrapped at all: minimal capital to start, customers willing to pay from the first day, room to build barriers to entry, and an industry with no ceiling on growth. What it buys, he argued, is control — the ability to hold to a mission, live a set of values, and treat people in ways that are not always financially justifiable. What it costs is living permanently at the edge of your own resources. The company now operates as Xello, with offices in Canada and England.
Backers
Bootstrapped. McQuillen told TechTO in July 2019 the company had never taken outside capital in 24 years; the Canadian Business Growth Fund later listed Xello in its portfolio, so the position after 2019 is not established here.
Quick answers
Was Xello always called Xello?
No. It launched in 1995 as Career Cruising and later took the Xello name. The 2019 TechTO talk was given under the Xello name, 24 years after founding.
Has Xello raised venture capital?
Not in its first 24 years, on its co-founder's own account from the TechTO stage in July 2019. Whether that still holds is not established here — the Canadian Business Growth Fund lists Xello among its portfolio companies.
Who founded Xello?
Matt McQuillen, its CEO, with Jeff Harris and Angus McMurtry in 1995.