Mark Dawds

Mark Dowds does nothing in half measures. An accomplished endurance runner and cyclist, a serial investor and startup founder, Mark has earned a name for his ability to motivate others to get “unstuck”—to innovate in old spaces and displace established industries in the name of relevance. He brings that level of commitment to the world of tech whether he is getting a new initiative off the ground or empowering audiences around the world. In 2012 he co-founded Trov—the world’s first on-demand insurance platform—and today is accountable for all revenue, strategy, and growth as the company expands internationally. In two decades he has helped get dozens of ventures off the ground, through his Canadian-based incubators Fresh Initiatives and Creationstep. During his time in Toronto, he established a co-working facility that helped nurture the city's emerging web 2.0 community and half a dozen other start-ups, including ServiceCloud that was acquired by Salesforce.com. Mark was an LP in Bullet Time Ventures, an early seed investor in Uber, Twilio and is a current LP in Anthemis Venture Fund. He is the Chairman of Techstart Ventures, helping entrepreneurs build successful technology businesses from the ground up. Mark is the Chairman of Generation Innovation - a program designed to bring entrepreneurial experiences to high school students throughout Northern Ireland. He is an advisor to several companies including, Modius Health, StageTEN, and eHarvestHub. Mark is an electric speaker - tackling topics like disruption, relevance and upending the ways we approach problems primarily in the tech, finance, and insurance sectors. He thrives on pushing people forward to accomplish big things. If he is not on a plane or a stage, these days Mark is on a bike or spending time creating adventures with his two teenagers and wife of 21 years.