HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes’ entrepreneurial endeavors include successes in a variety of industries from founding a pizza restaurant chain to building the top online paintball equipment supplier in Canada before launching the popular social media dashboard tool.
His interest in tech emerged early after winning an Apple II in an elementary school programming contest. Ryan founded digital agency Invoke Media in 2000 to provide holistic marketing, development and design services. Invoke also developed products including early CMS and e-commerce web apps, the Memelabs contesting platform, and then social media dashboard HootSuite. Rapid growth led him to spin-out HootSuite in December 2009 when he partnered with funders to facilitate additional growth.
Ryan frequently presents at conferences internationally — including 140tc, OMMA, 140conf, IMA, Open Network Labs — speaking about the evolution of the social web. He is widely quoted in media sources including NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian (UK), and Venture Beat. Personally, he is an enthusiast of yoga, rock climbing, paragliding, surfing and playing with his dog Mika.