Ryan Holmes is a venture capital investor at LOI Venture who brings a rare combination of hands-on product building experience as Hootsuite's founder and deep focus on mentoring very young entrepreneurs through AMAs, pitch reviews, and educational content specifically aimed at teen and early-20s founders. Unlike most VCs, he actively codes and prototypes himself while maintaining a strong public presence as an educator and thought leader, allowing him to support portfolio companies with both operating expertise and go-to-market knowledge rooted in his experience scaling a social media platform.

• A strong dedication to supporting youth and early stage entrepreneurship through his accelerator program. He frequently highlights events tailored to high school and university students, pointing out specific initiatives like hosting a youth entrepreneur awards ceremony in Toronto and partnering with Richard Branson to execute a project for young founders.
• Sharing practical networking and pitching protocols for founders seeking investment. He gives highly specific operational advice, such as requesting introductions through email rather than text messages because emails are much easier for busy people to forward and track. He also circulates pitch deck templates so founders can benchmark their materials before sitting down for venture capital meetings.
• Prioritizing the immediate consumer utility of artificial intelligence over virtual reality hardware. He has expressed that companies like Apple should focus on improving their AI assistants rather than releasing expensive headsets, arguing that AI offers mass market value right now. He actively experiments with these tools himself, having built a custom browser extension to make copying code from generative AI interfaces less tedious.
• Looking for founders who understand the importance of community building and distribution. He believes the skills required to organize social events in school translate directly to building a strong startup culture, and he frequently reminds entrepreneurs to prioritize getting their product to market rather than just obsessing over the build. He also stresses that building a business should stem from a genuine excitement for solving problems rather than just sheer discipline.