Today, we’re revisiting an episode with the unbreakable John Ruffolo, recorded during the pandemic last year. Since then, John has suffered a cycling accident, made an incredible recovery, and launched a $500M growth stage equity fund, Maverix PE. For Canada Day, we’re chatting with this maverick about nurturing the next generation of tech and VC entrepreneurs.
About John
John Ruffolo is Founder & former CEO of OMERS Ventures and Co-Founder & Vice Chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators. He started the Ontario Municipal Workers Pension Funds Venture arm in 2011, and has been instrumental in helping develop some of Canada’s biggest tech companies. John’s portfolio includes companies such as Hootsuite, Hopper, PasswordBox (which sold to Intel), Shopify (which IPOd 2015), Wave (which sold to H&R Block) and countless others.
In this episode we discuss:
02:00 Private market valuations prior to the onset of the COVID-19 crisis
09:26 How growth investors are pricing investments given the flux in public markets
15:51 Building stronger and deeper relationships without being able to visit CEOs
18:57 Adding value as a late-stage investor
24:08 How to raise capital as a seed/ Series A founder
27:45 John’s view on the Canadian tech landscape
36:16 Weak points in the tech ecosystem and recommendations for founders
45:04 Where emerging managers should focus their attention in a new landscape
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Canada Day Flashback - John Ruffolo, Founder of Maverix PE