Desjardins Speaker Series: How to Build a $100B Company, Brick by Brick

Details

University of Toronto's Desjardins Speaker Series joins Toronto Tech Week's citywide lineup celebrating and connecting builders across Toronto!

Join Reynold Xin, co-founder of Databricks, a San Francsico-based data & AI infrastructure startup valued at over $130B and one of the fastest growing tech startups in history. Reynold, a proud U of T alumnus (BASc in Engineering Science), in conversation with award-winning business journalist Amanda Lang, will share his story of a founding team that turned a research project into a business with a global footprint, over 8,000 employees and thousands of enterprise customers.

Topics covered include:

Origin story of the company and advice for young founders

How to effectively commercialize research and what has changed since 2013 when Databricks was founded

Trends, opportunities, and threats in the field of big data and artificial intelligence

Lessons learned from a life spent in Silicon Valley

What Canadian business leaders, innovators, investors, and government need to do to compete

​This event is open to:

​​Founders and entrepreneurs in tech

​​Corporate innovation leaders and investors

Tech researchers and practitioners

​​Students and professionals interested in tech innovation

​​Industry partners seeking tech collaboration opportunities

​Registration is required due to limited capacity. If you can't make it in person, register for the livestream. There is also a viewing party on the U of T St. George campus at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus. Register here.

This event is presented by:

Celebrating Toronto Tech Week:

​Toronto Tech Week is a citywide celebration of the people building what’s next. From May 25–29, 2026, founders, investors, and builders come together for hundreds of community-led events across Toronto, connecting tens of thousands of people around Canadian tech. Torontotechweek.com.