Canard Ventures

You know, the age old question — if your business were a bird, what type of bird would it be? It's important to know who you are as a company. And what we've learned about ourselves over the years is that we're not made out to be vultures. We're Canard. We're venture people, but really, we're passion people. Don't get us wrong though, we love to see the businesses we invest in soar. The difference with us is that we do everything we can do to help them, because we're in it with them. Which is why we only invest in people and ideas that we're truly passionate about.

Investment Portfolio

We are continuously seeking the balance between investing in our own ventures and those of others. We surround ourselves with friends that share in our ethos that good design really does matter.

In addition to financial capital, Canard adds value to its portfolio companies with brand strategy, product manufacturing, access to the right people, and a discerning eye for aesthetics.

Canard Capital

We focus on residential and commercial real estate development opportunities in select markets. Our business requires an intense hands-on approach to the value creation process. We invest on a property-by-property basis with an emphasis on dynamic communities.  We believe people want to live and work in neighborhoods that are urban, walkable, and sustainable.

People

People say it takes a village. We're making do with the seven of us.

Lon McGowan

Founder

Lon started his first company, iClick, in Seattle in 2001. Since then, he has founded or partnered in dozens of ventures in a variety of industries including hospitality, fast-casual restaurants, packaged foods, consumer retail, publishing, creative, overseas sourcing, and vertically integrated manufacturing. Lon started Canard to manage and scale his growing investment portfolio of emerging brands. He believes in profit sharing, investing in people over ideas, and that good design really does matter. His spirit animal is a duck, or in French, le canard.

Jon Baker

CEO

Many entrepreneurs thrive most during the inception of a company. Then there are the folks that come in behind founders and run with the big ideas. Jon proudly falls in the second camp. With a background in operations, Jon is driving the growth of our food and beverage investments all the while keeping an eye out for strategic opportunities for Canard. He lives in the mountains just outside Boulder with his wife and three kids.

Jim Heekin

Creative Director

Jim is the best. He's such a neat guy and so creative. He's too modest to tell you that, so I will. I'll also tell you that his creative journey has been vast and rich. It all started as a copywriter at Grey in New York City where he cut his teeth on brands like Etrade, Captain Morgan, Febreze, and many more. He moved to Boulder in 2010 to help run brands like Best Buy and Bing at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and to raise a family. After four great years he decided to leave them (CPB, not his family) and help Al Gore try to save the world (Climate Reality Project). Jim has created everything from SuperBowl ads to sandwich boards and loves a stiff challenge.

Brett Russell

Director of Operations

Brett's love affair with the restaurant business began when he was a little tike and used to tag along with his dad to business meetings at The Palm in downtown Dallas, and then solidified the first time he saw the long take scene in Goodfellas at the Copacabana. As long as he can remember, he always wanted to be a restaurateur. Brett has owned and operated his own restaurant group, as well as managed Regional Operations for Snooze an AM Eatery, helping them grow from a small Colorado company to a national player. He lives in Golden, Colorado with his wife and kids, and enjoys eating and drinking his way through new cities whenever he can, and sleeping in the back of his truck with his dogs in the woods when he can't.

Justin McKinley

Senior Designer

Justin's skills range from art direction and illustration to creative strategy and graphic design. Invite him to coffee and he'll likely share stories about art, bikes, motorcycles, coffee, camping, design, dogs, furniture and Fleetwood Mac. He has been a part of in-house creative teams delivering award-winning work for national brands, he's collaborated with business owners, engineers, developers, creative directors, product designers, and strategists.

Sarah Colbert

Project Manager

Meet Sarah, the project management guru who hails from the mitten-shaped state with her love of art, design and style. After getting her BFA in sculpture, she dove headfirst into the fashion world and has spent the past few years in start-up land building brands in the beauty tech space. Her management skills and all-around quirky personality has led her here - this little place we call Canard. Away from work, you find her thrifting for 70's vintage, roller skating, or hanging out with her dog, the one and only Dolly Parton.

Dory Troutman

Accounting Manager

When you think "accountant" it probably doesn't conjure up a person who has biked Scotland from coast to coast, or someone who has an herbalist certification, yet here we are, talking about Dory, Canard's in-house accountant. Dory grew up on the west coast, and while she still yearns for the ocean, hiking through the wildflowers of her home in Nederland isn't too bad of a consolation. A public accountant for 15 years, Dory loves numbers, almost as much as she loves working in her garden.

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