Ryan Holmes had already done the slow version. Before Hootsuite, there was a pizza restaurant; before the company became a name in technology, there were years spent learning how business worked. Looking back, he saw something that success stories tend to edit out: the time lost finding people who could help. League of Innovators grew from that observation. The scarce resource was access to someone who knew what to do next.
- Free, equity-free support for founders aged 15–30 with a Canadian connection.
- Virtual cohorts, practical coaching, and a community that continues after graduation.
- Labs targets product–market fit; Boost targets scaling and leadership.
- Refundable deposits apply. Admission does not come with an investment cheque.
A shorter route to the right room
LOI’s roots lie in The Next Big Thing, a pilot inside Hootsuite’s Vancouver offices. Holmes launched League of Innovators as a charity in 2017, initially serving Canadians aged 15–25. Microsoft was helping develop a prototyping and entrepreneurship course. The premise was practical: young people needed credibility, networks, and advice before they possessed the credentials that usually open doors.
The first constraint was reach. A small accelerator could help its chosen few, but leave everyone else outside. LOI’s 2017–2019 impact report describes finding gaps in entrepreneurial education and expanding beyond acceleration alone. Discovery programs and community support became part of the offer. What changed was the unit of ambition: a longer entrepreneurial journey deserved attention, including the uncertain beginning.
Holmes also confronted an awkward problem with online education. Lessons travel easily; relationships do not. In his account of launching Labs, he described borrowing Hootsuite’s ambassador approach, putting tools into local people’s hands to build connections. Virtual delivery could widen access, provided human contact survived the move. A video library was never going to be sufficient company.
The ownership stays with you
Today, LOI offers a Canadian founder community and programs funded through partners and charitable support. Participants pay no tuition and surrender no equity. Sponsors get visibility, connections to founders, and opportunities to contribute expertise. In-kind supporters supply tools and services. Someone pays for free; the arrangement puts that bill on supporters rather than on a young company’s ownership.
There are commitment deposits: $120 for Labs and $250 for Boost, both described as refundable. The FAQ says Labs participants receive theirs back on completion. Time is the larger expense. Labs lists two to four live, one-hour sessions each week, alongside the work of running a venture. A founder should budget for participation, not merely celebrate an empty tuition invoice.
LOI also advertises a Venture Package worth more than $100,000 in credits, discounts, and resources. Its FAQ lists AWS credits, HubSpot discounts, Hootsuite access, and complimentary Notion. The advertised total is a bundle, not spending money. Its value to any founder depends on which tools they need and the conditions attached to each offer. Free software can be helpful; unnecessary software remains unnecessary.
An idea, a customer, a company
The programs distinguish problems that startup rhetoric often bundles together. Launch It addresses the idea stage through six self-paced levels, customer conversations, and optional written feedback. Its materials live in Google Docs, a pleasingly ordinary home for entrepreneurial ambition. As of October 2026, it is paused while LOI rebuilds early-stage programming. Eligible founders can still join the community.
Labs is the current ten-week accelerator for founders with a minimum viable product and early customer validation. It brings together 50–60 ventures for founder conversations, workshops, peer accountability, and a final showcase. The task is to find product–market fit: evidence that the thing being built answers a demand. Another polished presentation is less useful than a customer who comes back.
Currently paused
10 weeks
6 months
Boost is now a six-month residency for founders with traction and product–market fit. Its six Deep Dive Days cover hiring, operations, sales, growth, wellbeing, and long-term direction. That is a different education. The person who once did everything must learn to build systems through which other people can work. Being indispensable can become an expensive management habit.
“LOI’s investment of time is just as valuable, if not more, than capital.”Axel Villamil · StageKeep founder · Boost 2025
The person survives the pivot
LOI describes founders as athletes needing practice, coaching, and recovery. The comparison earns its place in Boost’s attention to burnout and sustainable routines. Entrepreneurship is demanding enough without treating exhaustion as a qualification. Peer groups also make recurring problems discussable: missed targets, hiring decisions, uncertain pricing. A useful community gives those problems somewhere to go before they become private catastrophes.
Its users span technology, consumer products, fashion, food, and social ventures, including nonprofits. In 2021, LOI partnered with Black Entrepreneurs and Businesses of Canada on tailored support for Black youth founders. That partnership acknowledged that a broadly accessible program can still benefit from specific expertise and mentorship. Removing tuition does not remove every obstacle a founder encounters.
Read the big numbers carefully
LOI’s current website reports 2,088 community founders, 794 founders in programs during 2025, more than $100 million raised by acceleration startups, and over $1.8 billion in collective founder enterprise value. Those are reported community outcomes. They are neither the charity’s valuation nor proof that LOI caused every dollar. They do show that participants have built companies with substantial economic activity.
Capital requires another distinction. LOI Venture, co-founded by Holmes and Manny Padda, announced a separate $20 million seed-stage fund in December 2021. It invests in startups; the charity’s FAQ says LOI itself does not write investment cheques directly. Joining an equity-free accelerator and receiving venture investment are different transactions. A founder should understand the terms of each.
Borrow the method, check the fit
The copyable part is simple: match support to a founder’s stage, put peers in regular conversation, make customer evidence matter, and keep the relationship after a cohort ends. LOI sits alongside university incubators, regional hubs, and investment accelerators with a youth-specific, sector-agnostic offer. Virtual delivery lets a Canadian founder participate without relocating to a major startup centre.
Fit still matters. Founders outside the age and Canadian-connection criteria need other options; those seeking immediate cash cannot treat membership as financing. Labs requires an MVP and early traction, while Boost expects readiness to scale. For eligible builders, the next step is to check the current program pages, join the community, and choose the room where their actual problem belongs.