Ryan Holmes's Recent LinkedIn Posts

I built a GPT (https://lnkd.in/gUNWdAby) to write executive thought leadership articles, and then asked it to write an article in the style of Ryan Holmes (naturally) about how this is going to change Thought Leadership. What do you think? Riding the AI Wave: A Fun-Filled Journey to Transforming Executive Thought Leadership Welcome to the thrilling world of AI, where every day is a new adventure in the realm of executive leadership! As we surf the AI wave, let’s dive into how this dazzling tech is reshaping the art of leading in the 21st century. The AI-Augmented Executive: Smarter, Faster, Cooler Gone are the days of yawn-inducing spreadsheets and endless data analysis. Enter the era of AI-augmented executives – a league of super-leaders armed with AI-powered insights. Imagine making decisions not just with gut feeling but with a digital brainpower that crunches numbers like a boss! Strategy on Steroids: AI's Magic Touch Strategizing isn’t just a boardroom activity anymore; it's a fast-paced, AI-driven thrill ride. AI doesn’t just help you make decisions faster; it turns you into a strategic wizard, foreseeing market trends and outsmarting competitors with the flair of a chess grandmaster. Chit-Chat Like a Champ: AI in Communication Communicating like a pro is now easier than ever. With AI, tailor your message to resonate with everyone, from interns to investors. It's like having a personal communication guru in your pocket, helping you hit the right notes every time. Ethics: The Cool Kid’s Guide to AI As we embrace AI, let's not forget the cool rule: be ethical. Balancing tech-savvy with a strong moral compass is the new hallmark of great leaders. It's not just about being smart; it's about being smart and good. Conclusion: The Fun Future with AI Leadership So, there you have it! A sneak peek into the future of leadership where AI is your sidekick in this exciting journey. Embracing AI is not just about keeping up; it’s about leading the charge with a smile and a style that’s all your own.

Attention all young entrepreneurs who want to build a startup in 2025: today's your day to apply for LOI Labs Batch 14: https://bit.ly/3Claiak If you know someone chomping at the bit to build something this year —maybe a family friend, student, or even someone you’re mentoring — point them our way. From AI agents to e-commerce, SaaS to fintech. If you’ve got a startup idea, we wanna see you apply: https://bit.ly/3Claiak What’s Labs Batch 14? It’s a free, virtual 12-week program designed for founders under the age of 30 in the earliest stages of their startup ($0-$50K ARR) who are ready to take the next big step toward traction. And it’s our 14th cohort since launching the League of Innovators Startup Accelerator What makes it special? • Workshops, panels & AMAs with high value founders • Pitch coaching, product testing, and investor intros • A Slack community of 1,500+ alumni • 100+ hours of recorded lessons to tap into anytime Most importantly, it’s a chance to join a community of builders who’ve gone on to create $1B+ in enterprise value. It’s not just a program—it’s a launchpad. Applications close Feb 2. Let’s see who’s ready to take the leap.
Apply now: https://bit.ly/3Claiak P.S. Share a note in the comments if you end up applying #startups #entrepreneurship #technology

Ever wanted to attend (and potentially invest) in a live Shark Tank event? April 24th is your lucky day. I’m teaming up with Michele Romanow, Andrew Wilkinson and Peter Pham to hear 4 founders pitch their business... Sign up to watch the virtual Battle Royale go down here: https://kern.al/events Here’s the format: 📌 Pitches are 5 mins or less 📌 Each of the founders will be looking to raise ~$500K 📌 Viewers can request to meet/invest* during or after the founder's pitch (*accredited investors only) It should be a boatload of fun and will likely be super helpful to the founders raising their rounds. So if you're too busy to join, just forward the event link to someone on your team so they can take a listen and give you the recap notes. See you there: https://kern.al/events #startups #entrepreneurship #innovation

Congrats to all the finalists and award winners recognized at The 2025 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Conference. The League of Innovators Accelerator (Canada’s Home and Leading Accelerator + Community for Young Entrepreneurs) had 500+ founders nominated, and the most promising 19 young founders from across Canada were invited to attend the event in Winnipeg, where the winners were announced live on stage in front of hundreds of investors, entrepreneurs and startup ecosystem partners. Thanks to all the sponsors who made the awards night possible: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Float, TD, Baker Tilly, Boast, Futurpreneur and most importantly, Manitoba Innovates for hosting. And congrats again to all the category award winners: - Francesca Albo, Puppy Sphere - Nanette Sene, Juno Technologies™ - Annika Ng, Blossom Social - James Quinn, Larry's Catch - Georgiy Sekretaryuk, Overdrive - Ankur Boyed, Boardy - Jennifer Côté, Opalia You can read more about the event and winners here: https://lnkd.in/gasVYKyv #Startups #Innovation #Technology

Wanna grow your startup idea from $0-$1M? Join LOI's next founder cohort. Applications close in 48 hours: https://lnkd.in/gkt_w4Yc If you're a young founder feeling stuck and confused about all the AI noise, this is your sign. LOI’s Labs Batch 15 program is a 12-week, no-equity, fully virtual accelerator designed for founders aiming to grow from $0 to $1M+ in revenue. It's what I *wish* I had in my 20s before I started building Hootsuite. The League of Innovators Accelerator program offers real talk from founders who have faced every setback you can think of, grown to $100M ARR, tackled AI, grown incredible teams and built bulletproof sales systems. Also, founders who graduate get the opportunity to pitch LOI Venture for a $100K-$300K check at the end. Sound like your kinda thing? Applications close in 48 hours: https://lnkd.in/gkt_w4Yc I'll be hosting one of the first AMA Zoom calls, so if you get in, say hi. Let’s build the next wave of unicorns in Canada. #startups #technology #entrepreneurship

Quick announcement for all the startup folks on here: Know a young founder trying to scale their startup but they're hitting a roadblock or confused about all the latest AI releases? Tell them to apply to LOI’s next founder cohort: https://lnkd.in/gGYAyd75 The hard truth I wish someone had told me when I was younger is that building a startup is lonely and hard, and when you find a community of other founders where you can get feedback, ramp up your skills and share learnings is one of the most powerful things you can do as an entrepreneur. And that's where the League of Innovators Accelerator's Boost program comes in. It's a year-long program for founders building teams, systems, and real growth engines to grow from $100K in revenue to $1M and beyond. It’s not a university course. It’s not a long podcast. It’s direct conversations with entrepreneurs who’ve scaled to $100M+ in revenue by focusing on the hard real stuff that grows their business nowadays: AI, team structure, backend, sales, and growth etc. The Boost program is built for busy founders in growth mode: - It's free. - It takes 0 equity. - And it's 100% virtual with in-person meetup options. It's exactly what I wish I had before building Hootsuite.com 20 years ago. Applications are open for the next 48 hours, but the cohort starts at the end of June, so you'll have to get your name in soon. Comment a friend below that should join the cohort or apply yourself here: https://lnkd.in/gGYAyd75 I get the incredible opportunity of welcoming all the founders in one of the first group AMA Zoom calls, so if you make it in, be sure to say hello after you make it into the LOI Slack group. Here’s to rising up more unicorn founders in Canada 🇨🇦

Other than ChatGPT, what's been the top AI tool, app or website making your life easier as of late? I've got a few spare hours this afternoon and would love to get up to speed on testing out whatever is blowing people away these days. Side note: if you're building something interesting and looking to raise a pre-seed or seed round , drop our LOI Venture team a note with your deck (hello@loi.vc) as we're actively investing in the space.

Tune in to watch us host a live Shark Tank. Click the link join the community and tell us if you’d invest: https://lnkd.in/g9mZJQkY

Beyond impressed with our portfolio Blossom Social and its founder Maxwell Nicholson. They are passionate about providing opportunity to their community and opened up a crowdfunding round. 50% complete in under four hours. Congrats team!

Thanks to everyone who joined us at our sold-out North House Launch Event this past Sunday 🍁 Vancouver’s always been a special place to me. And in the early days of building Hootsuite, office space and meeting other like-minded founders was tough to come by. So I couldn’t be happier to see the League of Innovators Accelerator Charity stepping into this next chapter to launch out a 8,000 sqft coworking space for the early stage startup ecosystem of Vancouver. Canada needs more hungry startups thinking, dreaming and executing in bigger and bolder ways. But it doesn't happen overnight. It happens in spaces where founders can be encouraged, challenged, mentored and introduced to those teams a couple steps ahead of them. This is the heart of North House. And the fact that we could have Eric Ries, Tara Bosch, Daniel Dubois and 200 of the top tech leaders in BC join us was the icing on the cake. If you’re a startup in Vancouver looking for a spot to build, apply to North House today 🪑 Who knows where it could take you. 🍁 #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Innovation

My friend Chip Conley has been a wonderful person to talk with about life, and life after captaining the Hootsuite rocketship. He’s releasing a book about midlife called Learning to Love Midlife which I am sure is packed with golden nuggets. https://lnkd.in/gPEdkcFa I can’t wait to read it. Given the advances in modern medicine, at some point, mid-life may start to be 50, 60 or even 70. 🤪 What does midlife mean for you? A second career, new hobby, giving back? I’d love to learn about how you’re thinking about it.

I’ve got 2 exciting things to share with you today: 1) LOI Venture just passed 1,000+ RSVPs for our virtual Demo Day happening later today (RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/gGBqwfg2) 2) Kernal, a company I co-founded, as a platform for accelerators and entrepreneurs is hosting the event. Here’s the thing. I’ve always been passionate about entrepreneurship and both Kernal and LOI scratch that itch. The Kernal team has been working hard on building out a platform that helps accelerators host demo days because that’s where so many early-stage entrepreneurs begin their journey. At LOI, one of the biggest opportunities we’ve been noticing is how helpful a strong demo day can be for helping portfolio companies close more funding. So today, I’m so excited because we’re putting together these two organizations Kernal, and LOI Venture for a power event with: - 5 founders pitching: Eric, Diana, Tefari, Kiran, Brayden - 3 investor panellists: Manny, Navid and Melissa - 1 awesome MC: Nadia So if you’re an accelerator wanting to watch a real-time demo day on Kernal’s bespoke platform, an angel or venture investor looking for deal flow, or an entrepreneur wanting to watch pitches, please join us! 🍿 Join 1,000 others and RSVP here:  https://lnkd.in/gGBqwfg2 And if you’re interested in hosting your own demo day on Kernal, hit up Paul Donnelly with a message. He’d love to chat. #startups #entrepreneurship #innovation

Oct 24th: Join Mark Cuban and I for a fireside chat on startups and investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs Mark has generously opened his calendar to share some stories and advice with the top founders and startup partners across Canada. Spots are filling up quickly but you can RSVP here: https://luma.com/s266bpq7

I retired from coding in 2004—back when we flipped our phones open and fought for a spot in friends’ MySpace Top 8. Over the past bit I've been Vibe Coding on some fun projects. I think this one has been the most fun. Introducing Chad, the AI Pitch Simulator—my Patagonia-vested robot VC who fires finger guns and tough questions at founders. Zero judgment (Chad’s silicon heart doesn’t flinch) Instant feedback (no waiting for that “Let’s circle back” email).1,200+ pitches already simulated—think Mike Tyson sparring, minus the bruises Grab a free workout for your pitch here: https://lnkd.in/gfhdHZ9Z Tag a founder who needs more reps before facing real-life investors. Sound off in the comments: What’s the weirdest feedback you’ve ever received after a pitch—or your favorite AI productivity hack? Bonus points if you still think Clippy counts as artificial intelligence. #AI #Startups #PitchDeck #Founders #Productivity

Meet our last speaker for today’s virtual pitch event: Hootsuite founder, Ryan Holmes. Havent RSVP’d yet? Save your seat here: https://lnkd.in/gz6AxVnR Aside from building the world’s most popular social media management platform, Ryan Holmes has also founded LOI Accelerator and LOI Venture in an effort to scale up up more young entrepreneurs around the world. He also has grown his voice online to 2M followers and written several books on the power of social. Come watch Holmes speak on stage alongside Brianne Kimmel Vivek Sodera, Haley Bryant and Stephen O'Brien June 26th at 12pm PST. Save your seat here: https://lnkd.in/gz6AxVnR #startups #entrepreneurship #technology

Toronto: The LOI team has launched our inaugural Youth Entrepreneurs of the Year Awards Ceremony and I'm excited to share they're hosting Mejuri's Cofounder Noura Sakkijha to be their feature fireside chat. The Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Ceremony will focus on: 👏 Celebrating the top Young Entrepreneurs across the country  🎙 Featuring a few inspiring speakers to share their stories 🎉 And offering a mix of food, giveaways and surprises The event will be at the University of Toronto's Myhal Centre theatre and tickets are already 60% sold out. Founders, investors and supporters are all welcome, so please get your ticket before they are gone: https://lnkd.in/g2F8xPt2 🎟 If you didn’t already know, Noura Sakkijha has an inspiring story. Exposed to fine jewellery design at an early age, she wanted to eventually pursue a career in it. After she immigrated to Canada to receive her MBA at Toronto Metropolitan University, she worked in consulting at one of the top financial institutions in Toronto. Though she loved her job, fine jewellery was more on her mind. So in 2015, Noura made the decision to leverage her learnings from the industry and her deep understanding of supply chain to create Mejuri, the category-defining jewellery brand the world now knows. She's too humble to say it, but Mejuri has quickly become a household brand that's worn by celebrities like Selena Gomez, Hailey Bieber and Ariana Grande. Noura and her team have redefined the way individuals think of fine jewellery and have built a global brand on the foundational principles of empowerment, inclusivity and innovation. I couldn't be prouder of the LOI Accelerator team working hard to rally the entire entrepreneurship ecosystem around this big idea. Noura Sakkijha sounds like the perfect fireside chat speaker and I can't wait to watch this event come to life. 🎟 Grab a ticket before it's too late: https://lnkd.in/g2F8xPt2 #startups #entrepreneurship #innovation #toronto

I’m excited to invite you to LOI’s fireside chat with CBC Dragon’s Den Investor Arlene Dickinson on Feb 16th at 12 pm PST for an exclusive conversation on the future of youth entrepreneurship. In our chat we’ll dig into: - our entrepreneurial journeys,  - business advice we *wish* we were told,  - and more behind-the-scenes frameworks on how we believe young founders  should be approaching 2024 with regard to AI, remote work and accelerator/venture fund networks  This event will be hosted on Kernal's Dealroom where there will be live polls, featured startups, and other engagement opportunities for the audience. Seats are filling up fast so snag your spot quick. Click here to register: https://lnkd.in/gkCWyJCB #Entrepreneurship #Startups #Technology

Zen Zen has been a big add to our team!

This was an amazing event. Check out the silent auction, which is still going and includes incredible access to some of the best business minds of our time who have generously donated unique experiences. RH

So impressed with the work that the Hootsuite team is putting together. This report is all about where social is going. 🎉

Have you listened to the My First Million podcast? Then you'll love the Tuesday event I'm hosting with Sam Parr. It's gonna be half AMA, half pitch event: - we'll chat a bit about where to find good startup ideas - we'll share the top frameworks Sam and I use to validate them - then at the end, we'll hear some video pitches and give our input Save your seat by RSVP'ing here: https://lnkd.in/gnb6ZN6Z #startups #technology #entrepreneurship

Video games for mental health? A very promising, science based concept from my friends at DeepWell. Pass along to those needing a mental health break.

Toronto friends: if you're free tomorrow, League of Innovators Accelerator is hosting a founder jog & coffee social with adidas and the Toronto Tech Week community 👟 Almost 200 people have signed up, but there's a few spots left: https://lu.ma/nxoqxxcj Dust off those shoes, bring a friend and come enjoy a cup of coffee or juice on us. There may or may not even be a DJ swinging by... Grab your ticket here before they're gone: https://lu.ma/nxoqxxcj #TorontoTechWeek #Startups #Entrepreneurship

Julien was an early sales person Invoke Co. and joined the Hootsuite team early on. I have always been impressed with smarts, work ethic and positive attitude. Excited to see where he and the team are going with Superpanel