On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2016. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Dan ↗
In their words
talent attracts talent so that's very key so remember if anything else from tonight people come first when you're building a company customers come second in revenue third
Quick answers
Who founded Rubikloud?
Kerry Liu, Dan Theirl and Frank Thomas founded it in Toronto in 2013. Liu was CEO, Theirl held the CTO, chief product officer and VP product partnerships roles in turn, and Thomas led engineering.
What does Dan Theirl do now?
He founded Marvenn, an AI agent platform for lead generation and outbound with human approval, in late 2025. Before that he spent five years at Amazon Robotics as a senior technical program manager.
What did he argue at TechTO?
That people come first, customers second, revenue third. He gave Rubikloud's three hiring filters as intellectual curiosity, pursuit of excellence for the team rather than the self, and a bias to action, and argued complementary personalities beat similar ones.