HELLO,
I'M MARYAM Sabour.
Builder,
Partner,Strategist.
a little About Me
I believe technology should bring people together, not pull them apart. My work sits at the intersection of product, law, and partnerships, but the through line has always been empathy: understanding what people need, what ideas can become, and how relationships help them scale.
I was raised to believe everyone’s purpose in life is to add value to society. Over time, I have come to realize that the value I offer is nurturing the ideas and people around me. I love to help, guide, and lead. I also believe the bedrock of any idea, relationship, or company is empathy.
When we empathize, we put ourselves in another’s position while setting aside our own assumptions about the world. This allows us to better understand one another’s needs, communicate effectively, collaborate fully, and lead successfully.
I used to think being deeply empathetic conflicted with my love for technology. I wasn’t sure how to bring the two together without compromising either.
That was misguided. Technology is not separate from humanity; it reflects the people who build it and the problems they choose to solve. This is why I’m passionate about helping shape technologies, products, and partnerships that expand what people can imagine, create, and experience.
Technology
From Games to Platforms
I grew up on Super Nintendo: Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda, and Mortal Kombat. Gaming was a huge part of my upbringing, and I like to think it shaped my analytical thinking, pattern recognition, and quick problem solving (just think of all those doors in Bowser’s castle). It also sparked my interest in building online worlds, teaching myself HTML at age 10, and creating websites long before social networks became the default layer of the internet.
Fast forward, and my love for technology has only grown. I’m drawn to technologies that change how people interact with the world and with each other, from gaming and spatial computing to AI, platforms, and consumer wearables. What has always interested me most is not technology for its own sake, but how it expands human imagination, creativity, connection, and understanding.
Before joining Niantic, I built XR Portal, an early search engine for AR/VR content focused on education and social impact. I also created GEMS, an early location-based AR proof of concept exploring how digital experiences could be anchored to the physical world.
LAW
Making systems more accessible
My interest in law began with a simple realization: access to legal knowledge can determine whether an idea survives.
While completing my Bachelor of Commerce at Ryerson University, I joined the pilot project for the university’s first legal clinic. I worked with an entrepreneurial client who was a single mother, student, and first-time business owner. She had the ambition to build, but lacked access to the legal and business support most founders need to move forward. Helping her navigate those barriers showed me how inaccessible the law can be — and how directly that limits economic opportunity.
That experience led me to pursue both common law and civil law degrees at McGill University, and later become a licensed attorney in New York. I wanted to understand legal systems not simply to practice law, but to make them more accessible to the people building new ideas. It also led me to co-found Compass Startup & Legal Clinic, where I served on the board for eight years and worked with a team providing free legal and business consultation to entrepreneurs.
The legal revolution may still be unfolding, but AI and new technologies are making it increasingly possible to make complex systems more accessible, navigable, and useful to the people they are meant to serve.
Ecosystems
Shaping ideas into ecosystems
My first foray into entrepreneurship was Bchained, an e-commerce platform for handcrafted jewelry. It taught me the earliest lessons of building: understanding a customer, shaping a product, finding a market, and telling a story.
I later joined McGill University’s Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship, where I helped build founder programming, co-led the Lean Launchpad incubator, managed a 30-person team, and expanded the university’s startup network to San Francisco. That work led me to Propeller VC, where I helped create a $30M fund, and later to X Consulting, where I advised emerging technology startups on strategy, partnerships, M&A, business models, and product roadmaps.
Over time, the through line became clear: I am drawn to building ecosystems. From founder communities and venture networks to platform products and strategic partnerships at Niantic and General Catalyst, my work has centered on helping ideas become products, products become platforms, and platforms become networks of partners, customers, developers, and communities.
Reach Out
Happy to Connect
Maryam Sabour © 2025