Trying out turkey on toast with tech titans
It’s flattering when guests, like Johnathan Nightingale and Melissa Shapiro, tell you that they’ve read your book, when they quote lessons from it. But it also sends the message that they know when I screw up.
I’m saucing the first course, sort of a Mexican hot turkey sandwich of leftover Thanksgiving meat on thick slices of cinnamon french toast that I’m bathing with a creamy mole sauce. Sounds good, but watch me screw it up.
I’m focusing on getting people the right plates. Shapiro, CMO of Wattpad, can’t eat pork or mango (a fate worse than gluten-sensitivity). David Crow, director of business development for OMERS Ventures, is lactose intolerant.
The rest of my tech-industry guests — April Dunford (COO, Tulip Retail), Nightingale (vice-president, Firefox) and Ryan Merkley (CEO, Creative Commons) — eat everything.
So I’ve got a separate pot of the sauce (mole, stock, cream and maple syrup) with no dairy and a separate batch of plums that I only caramelized with rum, no butter.
To simplify, I fried the bread in duck fat.
And just when I’ve spooned the perfect covering of sauce over each serving, I see what’s left in the pot and, ignoring my own advice, keep pouring, until each plate is a soupy mess, the purple plums hidden under a brown bog.
Do as I say, I suppose, not as I do. But it would be nice to start dinner by looking competent about food, on a night when I have no idea what everyone is talking about and need every little thing explained.
For the first 20 minutes, I’m in a fog of tech jargon. Having recently bought some stocks, I suddenly have an interest when the subject comes up.
“The first rule of trading accounts,” says Crow, who works for the venture capital arm of one of Canada’s largest pension funds, “is you’re putting money into the public markets that you’re bound to lose.” I don’t like the sound of that. “Very similar to VC (venture capital),” says Dunford.
“Oh, I love this fight,” encourages Nightingale.
Merkley estimates that 19 out of 20 tech startups will fail. Those are considerably lower odds than a restaurant or marriage.
“You’d be better off putting money in your mattress than into venture capital,” says Crow.
Given the risk, I ask, why is OMERS moving about $200 million of its portfolio (a small piece of its $65 billion) into Ontario tech startups?
“Because once in a while,” answers Nightingale, “that million dollars just bought you half of Facebook, which is a $40-billion company. It’s like a lottery ticket. Except a little better because you can control it. A lot better because you’ve got a community of people around you.”
He compares the value of a robust tech community to a city with a vibrant restaurant scene, in which theoretically experienced professionals trade business expertise.
I appreciate when guests distil their fields into food analogies so I can understand.
The “rising tides raise all boats” theory is a groovy vibe as we switch to the next course, served family style, everyone passing around bowls of rice, cilantro and sour cream, Shapiro ladling out vegetarian chili from a big pot in the table’s centre. Maybe this is what it’s like in the beanbag chair-strewn common rooms of young tech companies.
But this type of open source, supportive feelgoodery doesn’t happen in the zero-sum game of Toronto’s restaurant scene.
Another difference is that when tech companies take off, they typically relocate to Silicon Valley. That’s what this crew would like to see change.
“You’re starting to get to the point where there are VCs willing to invest in Toronto,” says Merkley, “where there are companies that are choosing to stay in Toronto, and where the spiralling vortex of Silicon Valley isn’t requiring everybody who starts up in Toronto to uproot the entire company and move it to the valley.”
We offer tax incentives, like we do for film production. But so does every other city that wants to be the next tech hub. We’ve got the schools, the talent, the money, the livable city. So what needs to happen to make Toronto a more hospitable place for tech?
“You need a couple Arcade Fires, a couple Jen Aggs,” says Shapiro. “Folks that are the meaningful beacons of that movement. And then the ecosystem swells around that.”
“We have those,” argues Dunford. “I work for a company that sold for a-billion-and-a-half dollars. And what does everyone say about it? ‘It doesn’t count.’ ” As voices rise, Crow takes the bait. “My argument,” he waits for everyone to quiet down, “isn’t that those aren’t amazing companies. They’re one-offs. We’re talking about Janna, Docspace, Ripple . . .” He lists local startups that paid off.
When they start arguing about whether Waterloo counts as Toronto, voices shouting over each other, I interrupt to ask, if those successful exits aren’t the indicators, then what is?
“I think it’s about creating the conditions for winning,” says Merkley.
“The holy trinity is talent, money and a diversity of companies. You can swing your arms and hire a CMO in San Francisco or the Valley. You could search for months here.”
He puts forward another food analogy, one that I buy.
“If you have the ecosystem right, a great chef who walks out of a job on Monday will be working by Friday, somewhere else. You need an ecosystem of places to go so developers will choose Toronto, so if the company goes under, because it’s one of the 19 out of 20, they’re going to get a job somewhere else. “Now people can say, ‘I’m not moving.’ We’re starting to see the beginning of it and if you keep pulling off the winning companies and moving them down south, you miss the opportunity that we’re now seeing here.”
MEXICAN HOT TURKEY SANDWICH
Star Tested 1 lb (450 g) leftover turkey (or roast chicken), shredded 4 thick slices of bread 2 eggs 1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon 2 tsp (10 mL) brown sugar 1 tbsp (15 mL) unsalted butter 1 cup (250 mL) mole* 1 cup stock (chicken, vegetable, pork)** 2 tbsp (30 mL) 35% cream 2 tbsp (30 mL) maple syrup * Mole pastes, in many varieties, are available in any Latin grocery. ** The mole-to-stock ratio here will change radically based on the thickness of the mole you buy (or make). Aim for the consistency of gravy. Preheat oven to 275 F/135 C. Place meat in ovenproof dish with a splash of water. Cover and place in oven, just to warm, while preparing french toast. Preheat a large pan on medium. In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs with cinnamon and sugar. Dip bread in the eggs and fry in pan with butter until browned, about 2 minutes on each side. In a medium pot, heat mole with stock, whisking as it comes to a boil. Reduce and simmer until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Add cream and maple syrup.
To serve, divide French toast and meat between four plates. Pour sauce over top.
Makes four servings. Email mintz.corey@gmail.com and follow @coreymintz on Twitter and
instagram.com/coreymintz