Shopify helps customers build online shops, but it’s minting tech founders and investors, too
Last month, Jean-Michel Lemieux, the chief technology officer of Shopify, and the company’s chief talent officer, Brittany Forsyth, both announced that they are stepping down from their roles. Chief legal officer Joe Frasca is also set to step down, with all three ending their tenures next month. In their next chapters, all seem keen to advise, invest in or even launch startups, joining a growing number of former Shopify executives and employees to do the same.
For an enterprise of Shopify’s size the 15-year-old, 7,000-person, Ottawa-based outfit boasts a $130 billion market cap that’s not a surprise. Still, because of the vast wealth that Shopify has helped create, and its focus on sustainability among other things it invests $5 million per year in startups that fight climate change and publishes annual sustainability reports its former employees look to have an impact
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As rising tech executives who help entrepreneurs build online storefronts, Atlee Clark and Konval Matin know that taking a business from a concept to a viable entity can be a lonely and frustrating journey – especially for women.
The numbers tell a stark tale: women founders are much less likely to receive capital than men – according to business data platform Crunchbase, women-led businesses brought in just 2.3 per cent of all global VC funding in 2020, down from 2.9 per cent in 2019 – and when they do, the cheques are typically smaller.
“We see these statistics, and it is a big motivator for us,” says Clark, a director of marketing and partnerships at Ottawa-based e-commerce powerhouse Shopify.
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Women leaders at Shopify launch new angel group to invest in women and non-binary founders
A group of individuals who have helped lead and build Shopify have launched a new angel group in Canada, focused on investing in women and non-binary founders with a specific focus on Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)-led companies.
Called Backbone Angels, the group consists of 10 angel investors who have held various management-level roles at Shopify. The launch of the angel group was announced Monday, International Women’s Day.
The group includes Shopify chief talent office Brittany Forsyth; Erin Zipes, vice president of assistant general counsel; Anna Lambert director of product acceleration; Konval Matin, director of merchant storytelling; Atlee Clark, the director of operations for Shop; Solmaz Shahalizadeh, VP of commerce intelligence; and Arati Sharma, founder of Ghlee and former director of product marketing at Shopify; among others.