John Eckert
John is passionate about mentoring great entrepreneurs. Investing for over 20 years, he
first provided the initial
funding to Softimage, the world-leading 3D animation and first ever public company
bought by Microsoft. In 1994, John
co-founded McLean Watson Capital, one of the most successful technology investors in
Canada. Start-up funding was
provided to FloNetwork (sold to Doubleclick) and Fortiva (sold to Proofpoint). McLean
Watson was also the majority
investor in i4i, and driving force behind its patent infringement victory against
Microsoft. Through its investment in
Lavalife, John met Bruce which eventually led to their co-founding of Round13 Capital.
John held senior positions in M&A and public financing with Wood Gundy. He is a past
President and Chair of the Canadian
Venture Capital Association and for several years, a judge of the Entrepreneur of the
Year Award.