On the TechVancouver stage ×1
First seen on the TechVancouver stage in 2020. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Ryan ↗
In their words
I grew up off of the grid, which is a fancy way of saying without any electricity. My parents were teachers in the 70s, they left teaching and they bought a hobby farm, so I grew up with goats and chickens and honeybees and kerosene lamps.
At an early age I started a lemonade stand. Talk about a terrible product market fit — zero customers, sitting there at the end of the driveway.
My mom was an entrepreneur. I think a lot of people that end up being entrepreneurs have entrepreneur parents — it helps demystify this thing of entrepreneurship that we do.
Around the web ×2
Quick answers
What is Ryan Holmes doing now?
He returned as interim CEO of Hootsuite in April 2026, replacing Irina Novoselsky. He had stepped down as CEO in 2020 and moved to the board.
How big did Hootsuite get?
By the time of his 2020 TechVancouver appearance the company had around 2,000 employees, 18 million customers and 800 of the Fortune 500 as clients (TechVancouver stage 2020-02-26). It employs about 1,000 people globally as of 2026.
What did he do before Hootsuite?
He ran a paintball field through high school and a window-washing round before that, and later founded the Vancouver digital agency that built Hootsuite as an internal tool.