John Ruffolo, Founder and Managing Partner at Maverix Private Equity, joins us for an full hour conversation. Our conversation begins with Ruffolo recounting his near-catastrophic brush with death last Fall, when he was struck from behind by a jack-knifing Mack truck hit him while cycling, and his subsequent and arduous 30-hours per week recovery regimen.
Our conversation then turns to the long standing issue of the trend of the historical Canadian brain and IP drain. Ruffolo shares his profound views and passion about Canadian innovation, and the mission he, his partners, and their advisors are on to discover, invest and capitalize Canadian companies in the disruptive innovation space, so that ultimately, their intellectual property remains ours, remains Canadian. Ruffolo is famously credited with the funding the capital expansion of Shopify (SHOP) into a home-grown Canadian e-Commerce powerhouse, as well as Hootsuite, among others. Ruffolo also shares his ideas and outlook on what are the most groundbreaking and promising areas of Canadian innovation going forward.
