I’m Allen and I’m a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and a champion of the Canadian startup ecosystem. Welcome to my new blog where I plan to share my ideas, insights and inspirations.

I like to write. Over the years I’ve probably shared in excess of 300,000 words. I’ve contributed to media outlets like Inc. and Entrepreneur. My previous blog, Making Things Out of Nothing, covered technology trends, my latest investments and company milestones. For several years, I’ve also maintained an internal blog to communicate with 100+ employees around the world. This private blog encompasses everything from company strategy to technology shifts to management advice. Through my internal blog, I created a lot of content that’s applicable to many people, but discoverable by few.

My hope is that this new blog changes that and becomes a central place for me to share the things I’m passionate about more broadly. And yes, of course, there will be a ton of new content as well. I know there is no shortage of business and tech insights available on the internet, but I believe I can offer a different perspective – from a scale-up or Canadian lens, for example – that sometimes can be difficult to find.

So what am I passionate about?

I’m passionate about entrepreneurship. I’ve launched three companies; the first one failed, I sold the second one, and the third, Wattpad, has grown from a reading and writing app, to a global entertainment powerhouse with a vision to entertain and connect the world through stories (and is well on its way). Both failures and successes have taught me valuable lessons and I’m excited to share these lessons with others – it’s my way to pay it forward so others can avoid (and learn from) the mistakes I’ve made.

I’m a believer in the power of the innovation economy to transform the world by creating a virtuous cycle of disruption and innovation. As both an entrepreneur and investor, I’ve seen some incredible ideas that will dramatically change the way we work, live and play.

As a proud Canadian and as an immigrant myself, I am certain that diversity is a strength, especially in the workplace. It’s no vanity metric either, I can cite numerous examples where diversity powered progress and drove real business results.

So what can you expect from this new blog? In a nutshell, I’ll share my experiences, ideas and even advice about the things that matter to me – entrepreneurship, startups, tech and innovation, leadership, diversity and a whole lot more.

Welcome to Allen’s Thoughts. I’m excited to have you here!