Overview

Gender

male

Investor Type

Investment Partner

From building a 1990 BMW race car with his brother to crafting LinkedIn’s mobile growth strategy, Hootan genuinely enjoys finding creative solutions to challenging problems. His formula is simple: enthusiasm + perseverance + out-of-the-box thinking + a dash of charm (never hurts) = success. He brings this mindset when joining any team to drive results and ultimately win.

Prior to Canaan, Hootan spent three years on LinkedIn’s business operations team in Silicon Valley, building his operational skills on the mobile and feed consumer product teams. As the company’s mobile business operations lead, he contributed to and oversaw LinkedIn’s flagship mobile growth from 30% to 70% of total site engagement. Additionally, in 2015, he collaborated with executive and R&D leadership to execute the launch of Project Voyager, LinkedIn’s newly built flagship app and largest app release ever. He also partnered with the Head of Feed Product to drive LinkedIn’s feed engagement, a $500mm annual ad revenue business. The experience honed his abilities to measure and track company success, identify elegant products, and pinpoint high-quality management and execution skills.

Prior to LinkedIn, Hootan was an investment banker at GCA Savvian in NYC, advising high-growth technology companies on M&A and private capital raising. Although he spent time across the entire technology ecosystem, he focused on enterprise software, adtech, and online content companies.

Hootan graduated cum laude from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics and also holds a certificate in Financial Economics from the Kellogg Certificate Program for Undergraduates.