Robert Purdy
Business Mentor @Founder Institute
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WORK HISTORY
Business Mentor @Founder Institute
Calgary, AB, CA
The Founder Institute is the world\'s largest pre-seed startup accelerator, having helped launch over companies across 200+ cities and six continents.The company was founded in 2009 by serial entrepreneur Adeo Ressi and his colleague, Jonathan Greechan. The idea for the program spawned from operating TheFunded.com, where it became apparent that most entrepreneurs at the idea and launch stages lacked the structure, feedback, and support network needed to be successful.News of the launch was announced on TechCrunch, the first Founder Institute program methodology was crowdsourced by over CEO members of TheFunded.com, and the inaugural program started in May 2009 in a small classroom at Stanford University. There were originally no plans to expand beyond Silicon Valley, but upon receiving immense inbound interest to launch the program in other cities, the Founder Institute began to expand. Today the program operates across 200 + cities and is localized into 9 languages.In total, Founder Institute Alumni have raised over $1 billion and are worth an estimated $30B.Our VISION is that there are talented people everywhere whose potential can be unlocked to make an impact on the world through entrepreneurship.Our MISSION is to empower talented and motivated people to build businesses that matter, with 80% of new FI companies directly addressing the UN SDGs by 2030.Great companies start with great people.Great companies can be built anywhere.Great companies are not built alone.Anyone can change the world through entrepreneurship.Focus is one of a founder\'s greatest challenges.Startups are much harder than you think.Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, building a co-founding team, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more.
EDUCATION
University of Calgary
B. Comm., Finance, Marketing, IT, Legal Studies
Central Memorial High School
Rockin High School, Just Growing Up!
ABOUT ROBERT PURDY
Passionate about growing World Class Brands, Running with Cheetahs, and creating Excellence in the world.30+ years in Private Equity, Venture Capital, Private Fund and Portfolio Management, early stage structure and finance, business plan development. Specialties: Early Stage Venture Capital and Identifying Growth Companies; Business/Investment Analysis and Financing; Portfolio Management.__Rob is a third generation Calgarian and a seasoned investment professional who launched his second second North American based Private Equity Fund – APERION Fund I. Rob is currently the Chairman and CEO of APERION Fund and the APERION Group of Companies, founded in 2019. Prior to APERION, Robert formerly founded Purdy & Partners Inc. in 2008 - a Calgary-based Private Equity firm specializing in sourcing and incubating Early-Stage Ventures. It survives today in name only and was successfully wound down in 2019. As of 2018, PPI and its Limited Partners successfully exited the Firm’s first fund (Alpha Fund) delivering just over a 240% return of capital net of carried interest and all fees in seven years. Collectively, the six core investments in Alpha, now represent over $1.6B in Enterprise value, and still growing. Successfully investing and exiting Alpha in one of the most challenging decades in the Canadian business environment, Rob anchored the PPI team with a broad spectrum of business experiences and partners with diverse operational insights across numerous sectors. Prior to launching PPI, Rob spent sixteen years in portfolio management at RBC Dominion Securities, Canaccord Genuity, and Peters & Co. Focused on private equity finance and public equity investment and trading, Rob built and managed a diversified base of private investors, corporate clients, and institutional accounts with consistent “winning” outcomes. Rob holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Calgary, Level 2 CFA, and active in Start- Up Grind Calgary, the Founders Institute, and several incubator groups across North America
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