RYAN HOLMES
FOUNDER AND CEO, HOOTSUITE
PREVIOUSLY # 37, 2016 Vancouver is still seemingly in love with Ryan Holmes and Hootsuite. The city approved a recommendation last year to allow added density in Mount Pleasant, increasing the maximum height of buildings to more than 12 metres in some areas. A couple of years earlier, Hootsuite and Westbank partnered to purchase a full city block bordered by Main and Quebec Streets. The plan is to develop a tech hub in “Mount Pixel” that would serve as a new Hootsuite oice, as well as other like-minded tech companies. But there are some uncomfortable developments as well. Platforms the company depends on, like Facebook and Twitter, have increased costs or cut access. And there’s been no sign of a long-rumoured initial public oering (though in October, the company recently hired Goldman Sachs to explore a sale at a valuation of $750 million).