This is a story of the right timing and right people and the magic that can happen when alignment happens. And also how that led to our firm investing in GameClub which is based in New York City. GameClub is the all-you-can-play subscription home for gaming’s greatest hits, delivering unlimited, exclusive access to a library of over 100 timeless titles.
The story begins about 4 years ago in Fall 2015 when Paul Heydon, our co-founder, met Dan Sherman, co-founder of GameClub at a dinner. Dan was Co-founder and President of Tilting Point at the time. Paul and…
Why Toronto is crushing Silicon Valley, The way Silicon Valley crushed Boston
Chris Albinson, Co-Founder BreakawayGrowth
Published May 20th, 2019
On a chilly day in November 1993, we were standing ankle deep in a slushy field with Sir Terry Matthews, the founder, and CEO of Newbridge Networks. Terry looked out on the partially frozen marsh and declared that we were going to build two new ten-story towers full of engineers in this marsh in the next twelve months. Peter Charbonneau, the CFO, and a fellow Canadian looked at Terry and me and asked if we should we wait for spring…
This is a story of serendipity and how that led to our firm leading the Series B for AppOnboard (“AOB”) which was announced today. AOB is a mobile app demo and analytics platform that powers app demos, which allow users to instantly experience an app or game without a download.
The story begins in January 2017 when Andrew Allison, co-founder of Gawkbox, introduced Paul Heydon, our co-founder, to Jon Zweig, founder of AOB. Paul had led the seed round at Gawkbox on behalf of his last firm and Jon was an angel in that round too. Jon had founded Jirbo…
We are excited to announce our venture firm, Breakaway Growth Fund (“BGF”), based in San Francisco and London. Our two general partners are Chris Albinson and Paul Heydon. We have a combined 50+ years of experience as Founders, operators, investors, and advisors in companies in North America and Europe.
Our approach and focus are different in multiple ways. Rather than focus on a single stage or sector or region, we are focused on backing bold Founders of capital efficient startups. We will consider deals from seed to late stage — but we put a strong emphasis on the team, as…
