20VC: Hootsuite's Ryan Holmes on Optimising Productivity in Meetings, Creating An Ownership Culture & Lessons From Running A Pizzeria!

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The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2016

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ryan Holmes is the founder and CEO of Hootsuite. He started the company in 2008 and has helped grow it into the world’s most widely used social relationship platform, with 15-million-plus users, including more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies. As of 2014, HootSuite has raised over $250m in venture funding from some of the best in the world including Accel, Insight Venture Partners and Fidelity. Prior to Hootsuite, Ryan started a string of ventures from a pizza restaurant to a digital media agency. Ryan is also a prolific angel investor with investments in the likes of Gusto, Bench and previous guest Immediately, just to name a few.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Ryan transition from being a restauranteur to founding Hootsuite?

2.) What were the big lessons Ryan took from his hard journey as a restauranteur? How has he applied those lessons to his role with Hootsuite today?

3.) How does Ryan look to create an environment of employee ownership and internal entrepreneurs? What has been successful? What has not?

4.) Meetings suck. What does Ryan do to optimise the meeting for simple enjoyment and productivity?

5.) How was the fundraising process for Ryan? What does he think he did well and what would he like to improve on for the next rounds? How was fundraising in 200*? Is now a good time to be raising?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:

Ryan’s Fave Blog: Media Redefined

Ryan’s Fave Book: The Long Walk

As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Ryan on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

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This episode was supported by Wunder Capital, the leading online investment platform that allows individuals to invest in large scale solar projects across the U.S. Wunder’s solar investment funds allow you to earn up to 11% annually, while diversifying your portfolio, curbing pollution and combating global climate change. Do well by doing good and sign up for a free account here and join the thousands of people that are already achieving their investment targets.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the 20 minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings and you can find me on Snapchat at H. Stebbings
0:04.9	to see everything from backstage snaps to VC offices to mehito making classes. However, to more
0:10.5	important things and this very special Founders Friday episode as we welcome an incredible founder and
0:15.1	serial entrepreneur to the show today in the form of Ryan Holmes. Now Ryan is the founder and CEO at
0:20.4	Hoot Suite, the company he started in 2008,
0:23.5	and has helped to grow into one of the world's most widely used social relationship platforms with 15 million plus users,
0:30.0	including more than 800 of the Fortune 1,000 companies. As of 2014, HootSuite has raised over
0:35.6	$250 million in venture funding from truly some of the
0:38.9	best in the world, including Excel, Insight Venture Partners, and Fidelity.
0:43.5	And prior to HootSuite, Ryan started a string of ventures from a pizza restaurant to a digital
0:47.6	media agency.
0:48.8	And Ryan is also a prolific angel investor, with investments in the lights of Gusto, Bench,
0:53.5	and previous guests immediately, just to name a few. However, before Ryan takes to lights of gusto, bench, and previous guest immediately,
0:55.2	just to name a few. However, before Ryan takes to the hot seat, as all investors will tell you,
0:59.4	one of the keys to doing well in this game is communication, and that's where Angel Loop come in.
1:03.7	They are the experts in facilitating communication and data sharing between companies and investors.
1:08.4	On the platform, founders can track their performance metrics and
1:11.4	send out updates to their investors on the state of their business. In turn, investors can then react in
1:16.6	real time to help their founders with introductions, follow-on funding, and much more. Angel Loop is free
1:21.8	for all investors and only costs $59 for companies each month. Right now, they're offering a free
1:26.7	two-month trial with the promo code 20-minute VC,
1:29.4	and you can check it out at angelloop.com or in my show notes. And the 20-minute VC is also very
	...

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