Marcus is Founding Partner & CEO/CIO of Highline Beta, a corporate venture studio & pre-seed VC that is trusted by 40+ global institutions to grow beyond the core since 2016. 

With 26+ years as a serial tech entrepreneur, VC general partner, and corporate-startup innovation expert, Marcus is a trusted advisor to senior executives from RBC to Intuit, having led 100+ growth innovation programs, venture builds, and investment deals.

He leads Highline’s corporate venturing business, venture investing & vertical venture studio growth, and recently co-created Highline Beta ETH, focused on the future of finance at the intersection of TradFi, AI & Ethereum.  

Previously, Marcus co-founded Highline VC, served as Managing Director of Extreme Startups, and built, scaled and exited multiple digital product startups.

Ben is a Founding Partner of Highline Beta, active in guiding the company’s direction, working with corporate partners and building new ventures.

Ben has nearly 30 years of entrepreneurial experience building and investing in startups, along with 15 years of experience in corporate innovation.

In 2012, Ben co-founded the first venture studio in Canada, Year One Labs, which went on to build and fund five startups, one of which was acquired by Airbnb. He also spent two years at Salesforce, working in the product organization across Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, as a result of an acquisition.

Ben co-wrote “Lean Analytics” (published in 2013, translated into 9 languages), a book focused on how to build and validate new ventures and startups through a rigorous, analytical methodology, leveraging design thinking and Lean Startup. Many of the concepts from the book now live within Highline Beta’s corporate venture studio playbook.

As a product and innovation leader, Ben has worked with many global organizations, beyond Highline Beta’s customers, including LexisNexis, Salesforce, Schibsted, Google and Hearst.

Rebecca works across the whole of Highline Beta, supporting the firm’s strategic and operational goals. She supports our expansion into new business areas and growth of the company by working with our investors and portfolio companies alike, whilst managing the internal operations at Highline Beta to ensure our team has the resources they need to deliver exceptional work for our clients.

Rebecca worked most recently in predictive analytics and as a Strategic Advisor within the Chief Data and Analytics Office of PwC Canada. This follows an earlier career pivot from her work as a headhunter both in Toronto and her home of London, England. Rebecca explored the entrepreneurial space by joining Antler’s 2023 cohort, and having experienced the speed to execution and impact she never looked back.

Elizabeth leads corporate innovation projects, helping clients uncover and validate new opportunities, whether reinventing core functions or launching ventures beyond their core business. She specializes in qualitative, quantitative, generative, and evaluative research to pinpoint pain points, define and test solutions, and determine the best path to market.

Elizabeth has close to 20 years of experience conducting research in both academic and business settings. Before Highline Beta, she worked as a corporate innovation consultant at Cognizant Technology Solutions, with notable clients such as Novartis, Humana, PepsiCo, and Wells Fargo.

Chris leads innovation services engagements with our corporate clients helping them discover and validate new venture opportunities. Always enjoying a new challenge, building strong teams, and lateral thinking, Chris specializes in business design aspects of venture building such as business and revenue modelling, competitive scanning, go-to-market planning, ops models, and qual/quant research methods.

Chris has over a decade of experience working with private and public sector leaders between his roles at the Parliament of Canada and Deloitte. While at Deloitte, Chris led strategy and technology implementation consulting engagements for various Government of Canada clients such as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Henry Li is a Senior Product Designer at Highline Beta, working across corporate innovation, venture building, and venture studio engagements. He leads end-to-end product work—from discovery, UX/UI, and design systems to hands-on prototyping and development—partnering closely with founders, engineers, and executives to turn ideas into scalable, market-ready digital products.

Before HLB, Henry held design roles at Microsoft and worked with Minecraft, bringing global tech experience to his work. Earlier in his career, he co-founded Purism Design Inc., an AI product development studio, and practiced design across startups and established brands. As a patent-holding designer, he blends creative problem-solving with strategic execution.

I lead Platform Development at Highline Beta, helping accelerate how we attract, support, and activate founders, investors, and corporate partners. My role spans community development., program design, and partnerships.

My background and previous experience equip me to support venture studios and corporate innovation teams by helping build and operationalize ecosystems that strengthen communities. I contribute to enhancing venture momentum through structured programming, research, and strategic storytelling, and I work with corporate teams to help them succeed in their roles while positioning themselves as credible innovation leaders within their organizations and the broader market.

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Tim works with corporate partners to turn emerging opportunities into validated ventures using DVF and Lean Startup strategy. By uncovering customer insights, defining problem-solution fit, and designing evidence-led products & services, he ensures new ventures are created with strong desirability, feasibility, and viability from day one.

Tim brings over a decade of experience in innovation strategy, product development, and brand strategy. He has led digital product transformation, design system implementation, and AI/automation integration initiatives for global organizations such as TD and MADD.

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Devin is a product leader bridging corporate strategy and high-growth venture building. With 20 years as a founder and startup product builder,, he excels at taking products from 0 to 1 using design thinking and evidence-based strategy. Expert in Outcome Driven Innovation and UX, Devin has conducted R&D and explored building new products with giants like AWS, IBM, and RBC.

He has built and scaled products for CTV, CBC, and MLSE, steering multiple startups through acquisitions by AlticeUSA and PureFacts. By blending technical acumen with creative execution, Devin builds commercially viable, customer-centric products positioned for sustainable growth in tech ecosystems.

Ron Kunitzky is a partnership ecosystem builder with over 20 years of experience driving growth for technology companies through strategic and product-led partnerships. He has led initiatives that expanded market reach, accelerated revenue, and improved customer experiences by building collaborations across ecommerce platforms, POS systems, payment providers, loyalty platforms, banks, and AdTech partners.

Ron brings a full-lifecycle approach to partner development, from early concept and deal structuring through to execution and scaled impact. He works closely with cross-functional internal teams and external stakeholders to align incentives, unlock mutual value, and deliver measurable business outcomes.

Ronak leads business development for Highline Beta’s ETH vertical venture studio and Future of Finance initiatives, building executive relationships and pipelines that unlock new engagement and co-build opportunities. He also supports corporate innovation projects across research, insight synthesis, and prototype testing, helping teams move from early hypotheses to clearer venture directions.

Ronak brings operator experience across agritech, foodtech, CPG, and a family business, working with corporates such as Coca-Cola and Tata. He also has a strong finance and management accounting foundation from ABB, supporting Australia and Singapore divisions.

Alnur Ismail is a technology leader and entrepreneur focused on building and scaling software-driven businesses. He works at the intersection of engineering, product, and strategy, with a strong emphasis on turning complex technical capabilities into practical, high-impact solutions.

Alnur brings an operator’s mindset to his work, combining hands-on technical experience with a clear understanding of how teams, systems, and platforms need to evolve to support growth. His background reflects a consistent focus on execution, infrastructure, and long-term value creation across modern technology environments.