Renowned strategist, innovator, and pioneer in the mobile tech space, Michael Sikorsky is coming to Winnipeg to keynote and judge at Lift’Off, Innovate Manitoba’s annual startup conference and investment competition taking place June 20, 2017 at the Hotel Fort Garry.
Michael is a successful tech entrepreneur who is now based in San Diego but hails from Calgary.
Michael launched Robots and Pencils in 2009 with the then-contrarian view that mobile would be more transformative than the Internet. Since then, the company has become a trusted strategic partner to some of the world’s largest brands, creating more than 250 apps used by 77 million people worldwide. Robots and Pencils has also consistently been among the first to operationalize frontier technologies — such as machine learning, bots and conversational user interfaces — helping to reinforce its clients as innovators.
Today, Robots and Pencils is home to more than 180 talented robots, pencils and ampersands with offices located throughout North America and in the UK. Past accolades have included being named the 34th fastest growing company by Deloitte for a growth rate of 4,971% and being invited to the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year awards as part of a special citation on global growth.
With a growth rate of 4971% over five years, Robots and Pencils was named the 34th fastest growing technology company in North America in 2014.
Michael credits the success of his company to its secret sauce: talent obsession, as well as an internal ‘one culture’ partnership between award-winning artists and developers. Everything that Robots & Pencils does starts by blending science with the humanities – the robots with the pencils.
Michael’s Lift’Off presentation is “Natural vs. Unnatural Acts: What George Bernard Shaw Taught Me About Startups.” One of Michael’s favourite lines from George Bernard Shaw: “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”
Read Michael Sikorsky’s bio