Hometown: Saint John, N.B.
Alma mater: University of New Brunswick, Saint John – Bachelor of Science (Data Analysis),
Master of Computer Science, PhD (Computer Science)
Headquarters: Saint John, N.B.
Founded: 2019
Employees: 8

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What does TrojAI do?

TrojAI’s software provides “end-to-end coverage” to protect AI training data and models from being hacked. With AI systems being used in everything from self-driving cars to medical diagnostics, there’s growing concern about their vulnerability to cyberattacks. “The inputs to AI hang outside your traditional cybersecurity perimeter,” explains James Stewart. This puts the systems at risk during every stage of the process, from the start when large amounts of data are used to train the models to final deployment when those models take inputs from the real world.

 

Previous startup leads to discovery

Stewart first recognized the need for AI-specific cybersecurity while he was running his first tech startup, EhEye. The company developed video recognition software that could detect security threats in public places. After he sold the company in 2018, he launched TrojAI a year later with his friend and co-founder Stephen Goddard.

“[We saw] the need from my previous work and the explosion of recognition in the industry that this is a really important problem. We’re just fortunate that we started when we did, so now we’re positioned as a leader in that spot.”

 

Thankful to be “pushed off the cliff”

Stewart initially became an entrepreneur out of necessity. In 2016, after being laid off from his senior data science job, he decided to launch EhEye with “no other options than to make it.”

“I was certainly all in, which I think really helped because it can get so hard that if your back is not against the wall, I’m not sure if you’d push through when things get really hard.”

 

A wild ride to a quick exit

“We experienced just about every possible thing you can experience,” says Stewart, describing the challenges of launching EhEye. “I mean we ran out of money. I took money from my line of credit to make payroll. At one point, we had to lay folks off and the team we had kept working until we were able to get funding going again.”

EhEye kept going and a little over two years later was acquired by Toronto security tech company Patriot One for $3.2 million in stock.

 

Good things come in threes

“For some reason, I want to do three companies. I want to do three exits,” says Stewart. “That’s always sort of been a motivator. So, the first one we were able to exit and continue building jobs here on the East Coast. And, I want to do that again but bigger. We’ll see if there’s a third one in there.”

 

Technology draws on his “protective DNA”

“If I were to go around again, I might have been a police officer,” says Stewart, who started his career as a software developer, but later worked as a crime analyst and is still an active auxiliary police officer after 17 years.

“All of that was protective in nature. And this again is very protective in nature. Some of the stuff we’re working on would be national security issues. So, being able to blend our technology with protection is the perfect fit for us.”

 

The funding path so far

TrojAI completed a $750,000 pre-seed round in 2020, which Stewart sees as “a strong indicator of interest in what we’re doing.” The company is now trying to raise $2.5 million in a seed round to hire more employees and explore new growth opportunities.

 

How would you describe your startup journey?

“It depends on the day,” he jokes. “You have to really work hard to navigate—it’s a tough old world out there.” Stewart describes being accepted into Montreal Techstars, the national accelerator program for AI startups, as the highlight for him so far with TrojAI.

As for low points, he says the lowest came during his first venture. It was the day he flew to Toronto to meet with investors but failed to get the funding he needed to go on. “I remember being at a pub having a beer by myself wondering, ‘How the heck am I going to tell our investors that it’s over?’ That was probably the lowest point that I felt because there’s a huge responsibility to your employees and to the folks who trusted you with investments.”

 

What’s the biggest risk you took with this venture?

With the acquisition of EhEye, Stewart received a senior position with Patriot One and “a stable paycheque that I hadn’t had in quite a while.” But he gave that up to start TrojAI.

“So, to step away from that and take the financial hit to start building it all over again, that’s probably the biggest risk right now.”

 

Best advice for other startup founders

“Make sure you know your customer because it’s easy to think of a really cool idea that nobody will actually buy. So, number one is do your research. And number two is once you’ve done that, you’ve got to go all in. You can’t survive as an entrepreneur playing from the sidelines.” •