I’m Mike Cousins. I live in Calgary, where I help companies start and scale.

I started my life in the shadow of my father, a career software developer and ravenous learner. He inspired my love of computers and all kinds of technology. I had a computer in my bedroom by the time I was 6, and I began exploring it with day and night.

After school I set off on a mission to work in as many different industries as possible. This is one of my favourite aspects of technology, the ability to work in any industry. Since then I have worked in telecommunications, oil and gas, healthcare, finance, energy, and many more.

I have also done many different roles at those companies from being a pure software developer, to architecting and tech leadership, all the way up to CTO/VP roles. I still don't know what I like best, so I keep doing them all. Maybe when I get older I'll figure it out.

Along the way I have realized that I love small companies, as I find that I get the most opportunities to make a real impact. I usually get a widely defined role where I get to touch a lot of the business. True happiness for me is learning about a new business, a new industry, meeting new people, and getting to solve a fun problem.

Today, I am tackling as many problems as I can get my hands on. I usually have a few things going on at all times to keep me busy.