I never expected to start a company, but I'm glad I seized the opportunity when it presented itself.

In 2012, I took the plunge and quit my job at Microsoft to co-found GoBonfire.com

I went through W15 , raised a Series A (2017), and sold to GTY for $108M USD (2019), then served until I handed it off in 2022.

After that, I spent time thinking about what I wanted to do next...

I was a little burnt out, and for a hot second was seriously considering pivoting and going to into construction and home building...

But what I ultimately realized I love building software, and I loved building for government and public sector organizations. So my previous co-founders and I got together again to start a new company.

In 2023, I started GovAI.com , a platform for safe, contextual, AI tailored for government and public sector organizations.

I had initially built Bonfire using PHP and CodeIgniter but over time our tech stack morphed into React and Node.js (and a few other things...). It worked for us, and we were able to build great products, but it did start to feel slow and cumbersome.

When I sat down to start, I took a look at the landscape and started to read up on Laravel and Livewire, and within a few days I was hooked.

For GovAI, we're all-in on the TALL stack: Tailwind, Alpine, Laravel, and Livewire, and we've never been more productive.

I'm based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada and am happily married with two kids.

I love to play the baritone saxophone (I was originally going to go to university for music, but switched to math and computer science in the end). I used to play in a quartet and gig around town but don't get to do that as much anymore.

I also love to collect, paint, and play table-top miniature wargames. I run a small not-for-profit organization called KW Wargaming Guild that provides a gaming space for table-top wargamers and we run an annual charity event to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis Canada.

I'm always happy to connect with new people, so if you'd like to chat about work, life, or wargaming, please reach out! Or if there's anything you think my expertise could help you with, I'd love to hear from you.

You can email me at alexander.millar@gmail.com .