I’m honoured to be interviewing Bruce Croxon today. They call him a modern Renaissance man. He started delivering newspapers when he was only 12 for Globe and Mail making $5 to $7 a week before going to school at 7am. Co-founded a company Lavalife in 1988 long before “social networking” became a thing. Sold it for 180 million dollars with 2,000,000 users.
Show Notes
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Talking points:
- A story of a pitch Bruce had on Dragon’s Den that wasn’t solving a real problem
- Biggest lesson to VCs and entrepreneurs on hiring people
- Bruce’s philosophy on work/life balance
- Self-awareness breakthrough Bruce had in his early 20s
About Bruce:
Bruce Croxon made his mark as a digital pioneer by co-founding Lavalife and revolutionizing how people connect. Under his direction, he grew this early tech start-up into the marquee brand in online dating with over two million users. Partner, chairman and CEO, Croxon helped lead the company’s growth from four to 600 employees, while achieving revenue of just under $100 million. Since the sale of Lavalife, Bruce has been active as both an investor and advisor in growth stage companies in the technology sector. As an ex Dragon on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, he added a broad range of businesses and products to his portfolio that tapped into his passion for digital media, health and marketing. Croxon currently helms Round13, a company dedicated to investment in growth stage Canadian tech companies. He also co hosts The Disruptors on BNN and CTV, a weekly show spotlighting Canadian business and believes our entrepreneurs can hold their own with anyone in the world.
What is Off the Record with Aram?
Made by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. Off the Record is about the journey. It’s about fears, doubts, wins, and devastating losses. It’s about how people kept going no matter what to build their businesses, raise cash and hire the team.
Here battle-tested CEOs and VCs share how they jumped out of the airplane and tried to assemble it on the way down.
I hope you like it.
- Aram, CEO @ Crowdlinker.