Team
Brent Cunningham, Partner
The Start
Paper boy, photo lab technician, construction labourer, bricklayer’s helper, draftsman for Agriculture Canada all before university. Tuition funded by working summers at a chemical factory compounding carbon black with molten polyethylene.
Alberta Farm Life
Cleaned chicken barns, bailed hay, branded cattle, and drove the grain truck each fall while my grandfather combined wheat from sun-up deep into the night.
Travel
47 countries on 5 continents.
Scary Stuff
Three near death experiences - the scariest: being robbed at gunpoint at 15 years old. The most vivid: barely missing a flight from Miami to Puerto Rico that crashed on arrival killing all passengers and crew.
Moved Around
After University of Hawaii, lived in San Diego, Washington DC, Zurich, the south of France, London, Dubai, Vancouver, Whistler (why not?) and now Toronto.
Entrepreneurial
Started, grew, and sold two technology companies in California. Led global sales for two European software companies. Independent banking security consultant in the Middle East. Founded Sequoia Mergers & Acquisitions in 2007. Founded Corvus M + A in 2023.
Now
Decent skier, crappy golfer, avid wine drinker. Most importantly, blessed with a magnificent, adventurous, and tolerant wife and two great twenty-something kids.
Words to Live By
“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’ Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.” — Mary Kay Ash
“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” — General Eric Shinseki
“Be better. Be different. Or be cheaper. The last one is not much fun.” — Steve Loates
Brian Smith, Partner
The Start
Paper boy, deli short-order cook (please no short jokes), zipper order picker, dress order picker, mover, Kraft margarine re-processor, retail clothing salesman (sold a sports jacket to Margaret Trudeau for the then Prime Minister). Graduated from McGill with tuition funded by my newlywed wife in exchange for me doing all domestic chores.
Farm Life (a.k.a. Entremanurial)
As a kid spent summers on my grandparents’ dairy farm in Sutton, Quebec where I handled input (feeding and watering) and output (mucked the manure gutters.)
Travel
25 countries on 4 continents.
Scary Stuff
Shinjuku Golden Gai district in Tokyo late at night (early in the morning?). Missed getting t-boned on my motorcycle by a nano-second.
Moved Around
Born and raised in Montreal then moved to Ottawa when I turned 19 (legal drinking age in Ontario is 19 versus 18 in Quebec – this may have been a factor). Moved to San Diego to work with Brent in his start-up in 1990 then back to Ottawa, Frankfurt, Dallas, San Francisco, UK and back to Ottawa. Seems I can’t escape this place.
Entrepreneurial
With over 30 years experience growing early-stage information and biotechnology companies, acquired a deep understanding of how to commercialize technology to drive shareholder value. Domestic and international operations, sales, marketing, and business development experience in senior executive roles. Intimately involved in M&A in Canada, US, UK, and Germany.
Now
Cliché cowboy who likes hiking, fishing and hanging with my dog. Crappy skier and even crappier golfer but excel at both après ski and the 19th hole. Blessed with a tolerant, magnificent, and adventurous wife and two extremely adaptable children having moved internationally with our two awesome boys 6 times before they turned 13 and 14. Grandparent to a dog my son rescued with whom we share joint custody.
Words to Live By
“Hope is not a strategy.” — Brian Smith
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” — Peter Drucker
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” — Helmuth von Moltke