The next chapter: Shopify
I’m excited to join the corporate development team and help make commerce better for everyone
Disclaimer
I’ve always found writing as a way for me to crystallize my own thoughts. Once I start putting pen to paper (or keyboard to screen), it allows me to organize my thinking which can be ad-hoc and scattered. As I contemplated this next chapter, I had many thoughts and considerations that impacted my decision (which wasn’t an easy one to make). Outlined below is a reflection of my time at SurePath and what I’m looking forward to most at Shopify. Unlike, other things I’ve shared and written about here, this one’s a bit more personal.
Reflecting on the past to prepare for the future
A little over 3 years ago, I ventured outside the walls of KPMG (the only employer I had known throughout my co-op terms and first year after graduating from the University of Waterloo) to join SurePath Capital Partners — a firm founded by Mark MacLeod three months prior to when I joined. When I first spoke with Mark, shortly after he launched SurePath, I was intrigued and captivated by his vision to fill a gap in the market — a specialized advisory firm to help founders and entrepreneurs raise capital and achieve meaningful exit outcomes. A vision that now simply reads:
To be the leading boutique investment bank in the SMB software space globally.
As I reflect on the last three years at SurePath, I’m humbled by the opportunity I’ve had and grateful for many things. Most notably:
- the incredible opportunity to work with brilliant and innovative entrepreneurs/CEOs, alongside their teams on life changing/critical moments in their company’s journey;
- the meaningful relationships I’ve been able to develop with the ecosystem — from investors, buyers; and other advisors;
- the opportunity to grow & work with an amazing, passionate team;
- and the learnings. If you spend enough with Mark, you’ll hear him say, “Every day is a school day”. While my time at Waterloo was rigorous and set the foundation, the last 3 years of learnings has been Waterloo on steroids. There’s a lot I still don’t know, but there is whole lot that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn had it not been for the last 3 years at SurePath.
During my time at SurePath, I’ve had the chance to work on over 10 deals in a mix of financing rounds and acquisitions from Uberflip’s $32M raise from Updata Partners; SweetIQ’s acquisition by Gannett/ReachLocal; to Meta’s acquisition by the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative. I also created the SurePath SMB Index (an index consisting of 35 publicly traded software companies that serve the SMB market); avidly supported and spoke about the Canadian tech & VC landscape; and grew our team through the new analyst hiring process (to find the next great team members out of thousands of applicants).
What I enjoyed most about working with founders on these deals was helping them craft the right story to tell; help them build an investor-grade financial model to back it up; and work with investors/buyers to ensure they understood the where the company has been versus where they were going.
Through it all, I gained a great appreciation for what it takes to build a software businesses, how to determine the signal from the noise of key metrics, and the diligence buyers/investors perform to de-risk their acquisition/investment.
I’m truly grateful to have had this journey at SurePath for the last 3+ years.
I especially want to thank Mark MacLeod for his guidance and mentorship over my time at SurePath (and for responding to a cold email I sent in May 2015).
Next Play
While there is much that I will miss at SurePath, I am excited for what comes next at Shopify (the IPO roadshow video still gives me the chills every time I watch it). Throughout my career so far, I’ve always been on the advisory side of the fence. One of the things I loved about being an advisor is that it allows you to work with a variety of companies, across various stages. Every day is a new and different day. But as I continued to interact with entrepreneurs and finance leaders (on The Backbone podcast), I wanted to work within a company towards achieving a singular mission and vision.
I’m especially excited to have found a company who’s mission of making commerce better for everyone resonates deeply with me.
Ever since I was young, I have loved an underdog story. I’ve always supported the “little guys” — given the opportunity, I’ll shop at a local merchant vs a big chain/retailer. Whenever I walk into a new local shop, I enjoy learning about the stories of entrepreneurs and the path they’ve taken to start their businesses — a conversation that often starts with, “How long have you been operating at this location?” The passion and excitement that these small business owners tell their stories with is something I admire deeply.
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. According to the Kaufmann Foundation, over 500K new small businesses are started every month. Shopify equips these small businesses with the tools and products they need to compete with larger, established incumbents like Amazon and Wal-Mart. The tools it took Amazon and Wal-Mart decades to develop and build, small businesses can access on Day 1 using Shopify. This levels the playing field for small businesses, reducing the barriers of capital and infrastructure needed to start a business. This makes entrepreneurship more accessible.
I’m looking forward to the opportunity to work closely with startup founders and help them become a part of Shopify. I’ve enjoyed getting to know the team over the last few months and I’m excited to get to work on making commerce better for everyone!
