April TASK: Zero to Exit / Security Budget Playbook
Join TASK this April for a dual deep dive into building cybersecurity companies from zero to exit and mastering the security leader’s budget playbook — designed for practitioners, founders, and security decision-makers navigating growth, influence, and real-world constraints.
Live and in-person at TMU + Live-Streamed on Discord
Date: Wednesday, April 29th, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
In-Person Location: DCC 208 Classroom at TMU's Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex - 288 Church Street
Registration: Not required
Live-Stream: Although TASK is always best in-person, we will steam live again on Discord @ https://discord.gg/aXfY76xgVJ.
Topic: From Zero to Exit — Building Cybersecurity Companies: The Real Story
Speaker: Dave Millier
Building a cybersecurity company is nothing like the pitch deck version. In this candid, story-driven talk, serial entrepreneur Dave Millier takes the TASK community behind the scenes of three decades in the security business — from the accidental pivot that turned Dexagon into Sentry Metrics, one of Canada's most successful MSSPs, through two company exits and his current full-time focus growing Quick Intelligence. Dave covers the stuff nobody puts in a keynote: cash flow nightmares on a recurring revenue model, partnerships that go sideways, and the M&A lessons that only land after you've made the expensive mistakes. He'll also share what surprised him most about selling a company — twice — and what he'd tell his younger self if he could. Whether you're thinking about starting something, already building it, or just curious what the ride actually looks like, this talk is the unfiltered version.
Dave Millier is a serial cybersecurity entrepreneur and author with over 25 years’ experience building and selling security companies in Canada. He founded Sentry Metrics — growing it into one of Canada's leading Managed Security Service Providers before selling it in 2014 — then launched Uzado, a cloud-based InfoSec company focused on simplifying security for the mid-market, which he sold in 2018. Today Dave serves as CTSO of Quick Intelligence (quickintel.com), a boutique cybersecurity and managed IT firm he co-founded in 2011 and has been growing full-time since 2020, offering services ranging from 24/7 MDR and managed detection to advisory, AI consulting, and disaster recovery. He is also the author of Breached! A Cautionary Tale of Cybersecurity and Intrigue, a novel drawn from his two decades of real-world breach response experience. When he's not thinking about security, Dave can be found riding off-road motorcycles with his training and tour company, Canada Rides www.canadarides.com
Topic: Money, Attention, and Political Capital: The Security Leader's Budget Playbook
Speaker: Spencer Dosset
Modern cybersecurity leaders don’t just defend systems—they allocate resources, justify investments, and influence decisions across the business. Success depends on mastering three key currencies: money, attention, and political capital. This talk explores how to trade between these currencies to secure budget, prioritize tooling, and turn security problems into fundable initiatives.
We’ll walk through the full lifecycle of budgeting: how to make effective asks, select and negotiate with vendors, and strategically deploy resources for maximum impact. Finally, we’ll cover what happens after the purchase—how to reinforce your decisions, defend your investments, and ensure your tooling continues to deliver value over time.
Spencer Dosset brings a rare combination of financial acumen and technical depth to cybersecurity. With a foundation in accounting and early career experience in investment advisory, insurance, and hedge fund administration, he developed a deep understanding of how organizations think about money and risk — long before he ever wrote a line of code.
After retraining as a software developer in 2016, he moved through web development and infrastructure roles before landing in security. At Dialogue, he built their cybersecurity program from the ground up while the company prepared to go public, sharpening his ability to deliver results under real financial pressure.
He is currently Senior Manager of Information Security at Borrowell, where he has expanded his scope over four and a half years to own the company's full security posture, IT, fraud prevention, and a significant portion of the technology budget.
Few security leaders have sat on both sides of the table. His talk draws on that intersection: how to think like a CFO when building your security program, and how to get real results when the dollars are limited.
We look forward to see you all there!
The TASK Steering Committee