Dawn Lepore is a busy woman. A day after the former drugstore.com CEO joined board of Seattle tech mainstay RealNetworks, she’s tossed her support behind Seattle startup SquareHub.
Lepore is investing in the company, and joining its advisory board. The total amount of financing in the company — led by former Amazon.com GM and Mpire founder Dave Cotter — was not disclosed.
“SquareHub is an exciting company and great app, one that we use in our family,” said Lepore. “There’s great opportunity for a ‘family-centric’ approach to social networking.”
In addition to the RealNetworks board, Lepore is on the board of AOL. The former Charles Schwab exec also sat on the eBay board for 13 years before stepping off recently.
Lepore joins a laundry list of big-name investors backing Cotter’s new startup business, a list that includes Amazon senior vice president Jeff Wilke, Isilon co-founder Sujal Patel; former T-Mobile USA Chief Marketing officer Cole Brodman, Groupon exec Vinayak Hegde; and super angel Geoff Entress.
SquareHub launched its mobile service for connecting busy families back in May, and Cotter says that downloads and engagement have exceeded his initial expectations.
“We’re already fundamentally changing how families communicate, day in and day out,” said Cotter. “Whether it’s families with young kids starting to explore social media, teenagers and college age kids staying connected with their family, or families living in multiple locations, we’re being told that SquareHub is making it happen for them. We have a lot more work to do, but that’s has been really rewarding.”
Cotter said that Lepore’s involvement will help supercharge efforts. “It’s great validation for any young company when some who’s been around the block, takes the time to understand what you’re doing, and jumps in with both feet,” he said.
She joins an already impressive list including AOL board member Rick Dalzell, Amazon SVP Jeff Wilke, Isilon founder Sujal Patel, former T-Mobile USA Chief Marketing officer Cole Brodman, Vinayak Hegde, VP over at Groupon, and Super Angel investor Geoff Entress and many others.”
Editor’s Note: Cotter will be one of the featured speakers this year at GeekWire’s Startup Day, presenting a talk titled: “Work-life balance of a startup dad.” Register for Startup Day here.
