What legacy do we want to build? -In memory of Alan Cyr

I was shocked to learn the passing of Alan Cyr .

Our ecosystem lost a fun problem solver. I was privileged to work with Alan during my time at Lab2Market and Ocean Startup Project, and our ecosystem wouldn't be where we are now without commitment from mentors like Alan.

In the early days of Lab2Market, while searching for mentors for participating teams, I received a concise but profound email from Alan:

"We should talk."

Alan was warm, engaging, and pragmatic.

He was not afraid of calling out what doesn't work and what might be feasible. I cherished his attitude of falling in love with problems, focusing on what works, and laughing at mistakes.

If anything, Alan taught me how to navigate through what doesn't work. In the second Lab2Market cohort he participated, we grabbed lunch at a local diner in Halifax, I recall him pointing out a problematic technology use case: he had this charismatic smile, followed by compelling evidence and clear reasoning to make his argument.

Reasoning is an almost lost art today. Alan was an excellent artist on reasoning.

The quality of our thinking is so important when building anything. What are the assumptions? What are facts? We often forget the premise of a thesis, and that's where our personal biases haunt our reasoning and decision-making.

I think my interaction with Alan can be summarized by this line I saw the other day: "In an ideal world, decisions are not made, they merely emerge from great discussions" - Fred Destin

Rest in peace, Alan.

Condolences to Mike Cyr and his family.