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 glasses.

See the companies Write to me
01Story

20+ years. Three companies. One restart.

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

    First computer.

    My mother bought it. I grew up in Toronto and spent most of my 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. “Failure is tuition.
    The trick is never paying twice.”
  6. 2016

    Co-founded VR Vision.

    Enterprise VR and XR training for energy, utilities, manufacturing and automotive. I run operations as COO.

    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 AI-native marketing agency that helps brands get found in traditional and AI-powered search.

  8. Now

    Launched Skill Reality.

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

02Proof

What I can put a number on.

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

Technology is most valuable when it changes what people can actually do.

  • 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

  • Discovery helps the right people find what you’ve built.

    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

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

Enterprise VR and XR training for energy, utilities, manufacturing and automotive, co-founded with Roni Cerga.

Sectors
Energy, utilities, manufacturing, automotive
vrvisiongroup.com

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

Fade Digital

Founder, since 2024.

Fade Digital

An AI-native marketing agency helping brands become discoverable in traditional and AI-powered search.

Focus
GEO and SEO
fadedigital.ca

The phone is the animated hero from fadedigital.ca. Illustrative example, not a live AI result.

05Press

Writing and press.

As featured in
  • 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. If it’s about VR Vision, Fade Digital or Skill Reality, say which.