About Us

EQO (pronounced “echo”) is a FREE application that brings free instant messaging, cheap calling and cheap texting to your mobile phone. Chat on the go using MSN, AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, QQ (NEW!), ICQ and Jabber, or call and text anyone in the world at super-low rates. Invite your friends to join your EQO network and you can use EQO to call them at 50% off EQO’s regular calling rate, or send them an EQO Message for free.

NEW! Check out EQO’s cool new application on Facebook – EQO Virbrator. Send free Vibes to anyone on Facebook, or send Vibes to you EQO friends and their mobile phone will vibrate.

Anyone can use EQO

All you need is your mobile phone and a voice/data plan with your mobile operator. We provide a free software in the form of an EQO Phonebook that makes calling, texting and IM as easy as using as... well... using your phone. Just download it like you would a ringtone or a game, and we'll do the rest.

The Company

EQO launched at the prestigious DEMO show in February 2006 and was honoured as one of the top 100 private companies in 2007 by Red Herring. EQO is headquartered in Vancouver and operates marketing/business development centers in San Francisco and London. EQO is funded by the top venture funds in Canada including Ventures West, BDC Capital and GrowthWorks Capital. As one of the top emerging applications, EQO has partnered with leading platform and handset manufacturers including Nokia, RIM, Symbian and Sun.

Management Team

Bill Tam
Chief Executive Officer

Colin Quon
Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Laura Colwill
Chief Financial Officer

Jeff LaPorte
Co-Founder & Chief Software Architect

Kevin Lim
Vice President, Operations

John Lieu
Co-Founder & Director, Service Assurance

Simon Edelstyn
General Manager, Europe

Bill Tam

Chief Executive Officer

Bill is veteran startup guy, having been both an entrepreneur and a venture capital investor. As CEO of EQO, he is responsible for the company's overall vision, strategy and product direction. In his previous position as a founding Chief Marketing Officer at MetroNet Communications, Bill helped build the start-up company to be the largest competitive telecom providers in Canada before being acquired by AT&T. Prior to joining EQO, Bill was a Venture Partner with SpringBank TechVentures, and served on the boards of several technology startups. Bill holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, and earned his undergrad degree in Electrical Engineering at McGill University.

Colin Quon

Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Colin is the founding vision behind EQO – to build a mobile internet phone service that is easy, affordable and accessible to everyone. As Chief Technology Officer, Colin leads EQO's product and technology strategy. Before EQO, Colin led product management and development at TELOS Technology (now a division of UTStarcom), and developed the first mobile softswitch. Colin also spent more than 10 years in senior R&D, product management, and business development roles in telecom systems and wireless chipsets at Nortel, Holley Communications, and Glenayre. Colin holds a BASc in Electrical Engineering from Simon Fraser University and an MBA from the University of British Columbia.

Laura Colwill

Chief Financial Officer

Laura oversees the financial management and administration at EQO. Prior to joining EQO, she was Director of Finance at MDSI Mobile Data Solutions Inc. where she handled both Canadian and US public company reporting requirements. She has experience with hi-tech start-ups and larger industries including MEC, an organization with $200 million in annual sales. A Chartered Accountant, Laura was part of the high tech practice with PricewaterhouseCoopers and worked with KPMG in Canada and internationally.

Jeff LaPorte

Co-Founder & Chief Software Architect

Jeff is our Telco 2.0, Web 2.0 guy and Mobile 2.0 guy mashed into one. He is the brains behind the EQO platform and is responsible for the overall software architecture and system design. Prior to co-founding EQO, Jeff was an independent software and system design consultant for Push-to-Talk over Cellular and enterprise VoIP solutions. He brings experience across a wide range of critical software technologies in the core network, SIP-based applications and media controls. At TELOS Technology (now a division of UTStarcom), Jeff held design roles in softswitch and VoIP media controls, system performance optimization, and software system design. Jeff received his B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia.

Simon Edelstyn

General Manager, Europe

Simon leads our efforts in expanding EQO’s business in Europe driving subscriber growth and partnerships. Simon was previously Director of Syndication Partnerships at Google (EMEA) where he built and managed the syndication partnerships team providing ISP's and Portals with outsourced search and monetisation. During his time at Google Edelstyn helped to establish Google as the leading syndication partner of choice in Europe, securing partnerships with key incumbent Telco ISP’s including T-Online, Terra and Virgin Media.

Edelstyn brings more than eight years of business development and general management experience in Europe having also held positions as VP of Business Development and General Manager at BTLookSmart, EMEA and later Director of Business Development at Vitaminic.

John Lieu

Co-Founder & Director, Service Assurance

John manages the testing and verification of every aspect of our service. Before co-founding EQO, John held product management roles at TELOS Technology and Altus Solutions. He also spent six years at Nortel Networks in software project management, product management and customer solution architecture. John holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia.

Kevin Lim

Vice President, Operations

Kevin is responsible for keeping the EQO service running around the clock, all over the world. Kevin has a great deal of experience in the design and operation of large scale technology systems. Before joining EQO, Kevin was vice president of Operations at Paystone Technologies, an online money transfer technology company servicing customers in 15 countries spanning across North America, Europe and Asia. Kevin was also director of Operations at Correlation Technologies and has also held senior technical and management positions at ISM-BC, a Telus and IBM joint venture. Kevin received his B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia.