On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2016. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Rubsun ↗
In their words
I'm going to talk to you today about reasons why you may not want to become an entrepreneur. It's become very trendy, it's very romanticized, this whole concept of quitting your job.
Cognition was a new-fangled, new-age law firm. Essentially our model was to remove all the overhead of practicing law and make the lawyers available at that much more reasonable rate.
There's no value in an idea. Every investor will tell you the value is created in execution of it. Blockbuster was a great idea until it wasn't.
Around the web ×1
Quick answers
What was Cognition LLP?
A law firm he co-founded around 2001 that cut the overhead of traditional corporate practice — no downtown towers — so it could offer lawyers at lower rates. Half was acquired by New York's Axiom; the remainder continued serving small and medium-sized businesses.
What was CrowdMatrix?
One of Canada's first investment crowdfunding platforms and a registered Exempt Market Dealer, which he described on the TechTO stage as “the AngelList for Canada”. It was sold to Kognitiv Corporation in 2019.
How did he start out?
As a securities lawyer at Stikeman Elliott in Toronto and New York. He left Bay Street in 1999 for Wysdom Inc., which raised about US$67 million in venture capital, grew from eight people to 350, and shrank back — he was one of the last three there to turn out the lights.