Josh Garellek

I started in psychology at Concordia before transferring to Yeshiva University in New York to study marketing. To pay my way through NYC I worked as a bartender, waiter, and maître d' — jobs that taught me more about people, sales, and pressure than any classroom ever could.

After school came the corporate detour: a biotech company in the green cleaning space, a small e‑commerce business of my own, and an internet marketing agency. Then I bet on myself and founded Arctic Empire, a small independent game studio. What began as a simple idea for a social game became something much bigger — in 2017 I joined forces with my business partner Jon Coy, and Arctic Empire evolved into Arctic Leaf: a full-service design and development agency with a 70+ person team across North America, serving multimillion- and multibillion-dollar brands.

Along the way I co-founded PartnerPortal.io — born from a real need inside Arctic Leaf to track partner referrals — raised a round, grew it into a modern partner-enablement platform, and saw it through to its acquisition by Relevize in 2024. I also backed Purecolo, a data-centre colocation company, as an investor, advisor, and board member — and helped steer it to its acquisition by CCDS in December 2025.

My passion project is Hardline Collective — a peak-performance brand built on a simple rule: no excuses, just execution. It's something I'm building for the long term, alongside a bench of projects that includes Corner OS, an operating system for boxing gyms, ChoreQuest, an app that turns kids' chores into adventures, and my first book, No Easy Road.

The boxing isn't a coincidence. I train, I spar, and I've stepped into the ring for charity — it's the best mental reset I know, and the same discipline carries into everything I build. Off the clock I mentor founders, sit on boards, and chase hard things like 75 Hard.