Founder & CEO, runQL.com

Rob Darling is a serial entrepreneur who builds successful software companies that deliver business solutions. He is a third-time founder with two previous successful exits (acquisitions) and he is frequently called on to coach software-focused startups.

Today he is the founder and CEO of runQL.com, a venture-backed startup that helps BI/Analytics teams answer data requests 10x faster by supercharging their daily workflows in writing, finding, documenting and versioning their database queries.

In 2021, he founded briefed.in, a data and media platform, which is Canada’s only public, independent system of record dedicated to tracking Canadian technology startups and venture capital. Briefed.in was acquired in 2022 by Communitech and is used by companies in Canada and the USA including banks, technology companies, media companies, startup ecosystems and venture capital firms.

Previous to briefed.in, Rob served as Chief Strategy Officer for Athena Software, which develops software used by social service organizations worldwide with offices in Canada, the U.S., Australia and Europe. Athena Software was acquired by Social Solutions/Bonterra in 2021.

From 2017 to 2019, Rob was the Chief Technology Officer and growth coach for Communitech (Community of Tech), one of the leading startup organizations in North America with a mission to help technology companies start, grow and succeed. Communitech has helped more than 1,000 startup companies that together generate more than $30 billion in combined annual revenue.

From 2013 to 2017, Rob was the founder & CEO of LaunchSpot.io, a platform focused on collecting and reporting on private market company data. LaunchSpot.io was acquired by Hockeystick in 2017.

Before venturing into technology startups, Rob was the Director of Enterprise Architecture for Manulife, responsible for providing technology strategy and leadership for the Canadian Division and representing the Canadian Division in the global organization.

In his early career, Rob led the Server Systems, Security and Network teams at Mohawk College.

Rob is a strategic advisor to multiple startup companies and has been a mentor for Google's Launchpad Accelerator, a Google program that matches top growth-stage startups from emerging ecosystems with the best of Google – its people, network, and advanced technologies – to help scale great products. He also co-organized the Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Meetup to help grow Waterloo region’s AI capabilities.

Altogether, Rob’s teams, products, and solutions have served more than 5 million people across Canada and in 25 countries around the world. These software and data solutions have been used by consumers, startup ecosystems, venture capital organizations, and large companies, including Scotiabank, SVB, Zoom, Financial Times, Financial Post, CBC, BetaKit, Associated Press, Toronto Star, BDC, Manulife customers, Pepsi, Home Depot, and Lowes to name just a few.

Outside of work, Rob has been a volunteer hockey coach, a Divisional Convenor and the Vice-President of a Minor Hockey Association.