Real Ventures brings on former Yahoo, Frank & Oak man as EIR


Real Ventures evidently wasn’t done when it hired former Mozilla and Facebook exec Mike Shaver.

This week the Montreal-based venture capital fund announced the hire of one of its own as its new entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) in Isaac Souweine. Souweine had recently left his post as Flatbook’s VP of product. Flatbook, a tech startup that allows people to easily book premium short term rentals, is a Real Ventures portfolio company.

“My goal is to help Real across its portfolio, platform and fundraising efforts, to keep doing my part to push the Montreal ecosystem forward, and to grow personally while I plot out my next big project,” Souweine told MTLinTECH. “But I’ll also be spending time engaging with other incubators, accelerators and startups, especially ones that need support on product development and product strategy.”

Real Ventures’ John Stokes commented in a blog post that Souweine led product at two of city’s fast-growing startups: Frank & Oak and Flatbook.

“Isaac has also been a committed member of the community — mentoring at FounderFuel and Founder’s Institute, organizing events like Product Tank MTL, and advising countless young entrepreneurs,” wrote Stokes.

Souweine previously spent six years working in Singapore, where he lead product marketing for Yahoo Southeast Asia, helped Pollenizer expand its incubation model into the region, and earned an MBA from INSEAD. He began his career in New York, developing educational technology and games at Scholastic and leading sales for a dot-com startup.

Stokes called the EIR role a “transitional position,” but that the firm still expect them to create real impact for entrepreneurs and the startup ecosystem.

“Isaac is passionate about building great companies, supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs and making Canada a world-class startup ecosystem. We look forward to working with him toward all these ends, and hope you’ll join us in welcoming him into this new role,” said Stokes.

Souweine said it was “really a no-brainer” when the opportunity arose to work with Real Ventures.
“I’ll get to work with people I respect and admire, keep helping startups grow, and expand my own professional horizons. For me, it’s a dream setup,” he said.
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