Now building Skill Reality

I’m Lorne Fade. Taking agentic AI off the screen and into the workforce.

Twenty years of companies in Toronto, from digital marketing to VR training to wearables.

See the companies Write to me

In short

Lorne Fade is a Toronto founder and operator. He is Founder and CEO of Skill Reality, Co-Founder and COO of VR Vision, and Founder of Fade Digital. Skill Reality, founded in September 2026, turns a plant’s SOPs into AI-authored, hands-free guidance on display glasses for frontline industrial workers. VR Vision, co-founded in 2016 with Roni Cerga, builds enterprise VR and XR training for energy, utilities, manufacturing and automotive. Fade Digital, founded in 2024, is a GEO and SEO agency that gets brands found in Google and cited in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity answers.

01Story

20+ years. Four companies. One restart.

Portrait of Lorne Fade.
Lorne Fade · Toronto
  1. Age 11

    First computer.

    My mom got me my first computer and I was hooked. Grew up in Toronto and spent a LOT of time on that machine.

  2. University

    Computer Science.

    I studied it formally at York University. The tinkering became a trade.

  3. 2004

    Founded Academic Ads.

    Digital marketing in the early days of online advertising. I scaled it to millions in revenue.

  4. 2014

    The partnership ended.

    I sold the business and started again from zero.

  5. “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
    Mark Twain
  6. 2016

    Co-founded VR Vision.

    Enterprise VR and XR training for energy, utilities, manufacturing and automotive. As COO I run operations, sales, marketing and product.

    Lorne Fade at his desk trying on an Oculus Quest 2 headset, with headset boxes in front of him.
  7. 2024

    Founded Fade Digital.

    An agency that gets brands found in Google and in AI answers.

  8. 2026

    Founded Skill Reality.

    Glasses that look like glasses met a model that can read a plant’s procedure. I started building in May 2026 and founded the company in September.

02Proof

What I can put a number on.

Years building companies, from Academic Ads to Skill Reality.
Technicians trained on VR Vision programs since 2016.Via VR Vision
Enterprise VR training deployments since 2016.Via VR Vision
VR Vision clients
  • Toyota
  • Siemens
  • Coca-Cola
  • Hydro One
  • Enel
03What I believe

I judge a technology by what a worker can do with it on a shift.

  • VR gives people a safe place to practice their job.

    VR Vision

  • AI gives them guidance when they’re doing the real work.

    Skill Reality

  • Search and AI answers decide who finds the work.

    Fade Digital

That’s the thread running through my companies. The long version is an essay on where work goes after the headset.

Read Eyes up
04Companies

What I’m building.

Skill Reality is my current focus. VR Vision and Fade Digital have their own teams.

Skill Reality A worker’s first-person view through display glasses, with Skill Reality’s step-by-step guidance over the task.

The focus.Founder and CEO, since September 2026.

Skill Reality

Skill Reality is AI-authored, hands-free guidance on display glasses like Meta Ray-Ban Display, for frontline industrial workers.

It turns a plant’s SOPs into hands-free, step-by-step guidance on the glasses, with every step on the record.

Now
Live on Meta Ray-Ban Display. Tested on Android XR, with a RealWear prototype.
Status
Raising a $2M seed. Ask for the deck
skillreality.com

Skill Reality builds on ten years of VR Vision’s enterprise training.

VR Vision proved immersive training works in headsets. Skill Reality takes it onto display glasses.

VR Vision A VR Vision fall-protection training scenario: a trainee avatar in a harness and hard hat beside a bench of safety gear. Watch the demo reel

Co-Founder and COO, since 2016.

VR Vision

VR Vision is enterprise VR and XR training for energy, utilities, manufacturing and automotive, co-founded with Roni Cerga in 2016.

Trained
100,000+ technicians, 2016 to today
Deployments
100+
Clients
Toyota, Siemens, Hydro One, Enel
vrvisiongroup.com

Fade Digital is how the work gets found, in search and in AI answers.

05Press

Writing and press.

Bylines and coverage
  • Forbes
  • Inc.
  • The Globe and Mail
  • UC Today
Writing, by Lorne Fade
Speaking, hosted by Lorne Fade
Coverage, about VR Vision
06Contact

Want to talk?

Send me a note. I read every message personally.

Write to me Ask for the deck