About the Lab

The Builder Behind the Lab

Idea Warehouse is Colin Smillie's personal technology lab. A place to build, experiment, and ship real products. From mobile games to news aggregators, each project is a chance to explore new tools and ideas.

I'm a technology executive. Most recently VP Technology at YMCA Canada, where I led technology strategy across the organization. This lab is where I build things I'm curious about, outside the constraints of day-job roadmaps.

Background

My background spans decades in digital technology and marketing. I served as Vice-President of Digital and Social Media at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, collaborating with major global brands and WPP teams worldwide. Before that, I co-founded Refresh Partners, a social network marketing agency serving brands like Adidas, Ford, and Volkswagen.

What I'm Building Now

These days I'm most interested in AI-assisted development, using tools like Cursor and Claude to build and ship products faster than ever. Every project here is a real experiment: some take off, some teach me something, and all of them get shipped.

The Stack

The projects on this site span e-commerce (Shopify), mobile games (iOS/Swift), web applications (Next.js), and more. They're built with a mix of hands-on coding, AI-assisted development, and years of product instinct from the enterprise world.

Professional Work

Outside of Idea Warehouse, I work with organizations on technology strategy, AI adoption, and building better digital products. You can learn more about my advisory and executive work at colinsmillie.com.