Liftoff Is Part Of John Swan’s Legacy
Jake Swan started Liftoff Capital to help entrepreneurs link up with investors, peers and mentors, but now he sees it as part of the legacy of his late father, the Saint John tech entrepreneur John Swan.
Swan grew up hearing his father, a serial entrepreneur who was Executive Chairman of the tech consultancy Encore Interactive, say entrepreneurs’ greatest challenges are finding investors and mentors. So in 2014, Jake began working on a dating-site concept that would help entrepreneurs expand their networks.
The younger Swan heads a team that launched Liftoff Capital in the autumn and is now at work developing entrepreneur networks, its tentacles extending beyond Atlantic Canada. By the time of the launch, the Swan family had learned that John Swan was suffering from cancer, and the disease claimed him in December.
“Dad was an all-around outstanding guy,” said Jake Swan in an interview last week. “I couldn’t have been luckier than to have him as a father. Dad was a very pragmatic guy. He never got over-excited, but he really liked this idea. He put a lot of himself into it as well, in terms of customer service.”
Read more about this story in Entrevestor.