Clio’s Jack Newton can build another Shopify without building like Shopify

For BetaKit’s second-ever Town Hall, Clio CEO and co-founder Jack Newton was the perfect guest to carry forward the national conversation on Canadian productivity, innovation, and optimism.

With 16 years in the game at Clio, Newton’s perspective on building in Canada is earned. He’s also shown himself to care about the local and national tech communities—while BetaKit Town Hall: Vancouver would have likely occurred without him, it was significantly easier having him pitch us on a BC-focused event at a chance coffee meeting in May.

“Our DNA is Canadian, but if it’s going to help increase the odds that we can build a terrific company hiring out of the US or hiring elsewhere in Canada, we’ll do that in a heartbeat.”
Jack Newton
Clio

These things matter, but Newton would still be the perfect candidate were he an abject anthropophobe who recently fell from the sky. That’s because much of the national conversation (whether explicitly acknowledged or not) is about how to create more Shopifys in Canada. We feel their lack, and agonize over our ability to foster them.

At this moment in time, Clio is one of Canada’s best examples of a company moving toward Shopify’s outcome without following the same path. A lot can be learned from interrogating that journey, and Newton lays out the decisions he made and the reasons for them in our fireside chat, presented for you on this podcast.

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Now, the company has a long way to go and many of those decision points are a matter of necessity: Clio has already surpassed Shopify’s revenue at time of IPO, and the company might have to double that number if it wants to go public under current market conditions; the ZIRP era is dead (RIP); and the national political landscape looks very different from 2015’s sunny ways.

That said, many of the recommendations Newton lays out for today’s founders—don’t expect a hometown funding discount, sell where your customers are willing to pay, build a pan-national employee base and a global exec team—sound awfully similar to what Shopify president Harley Finkelstein laid out on a September edition of The BetaKit Podcast before 600-pound beavers coopted the conversation.

It’s almost like the title of this podcast episode is a bit of a straw man used to get you to pay closer attention to and learn from one of the more interesting Canadian tech companies scaling today, without the baggage.

Blame me if you want but when the name Shopify is invoked, the terms ‘tall poppy syndrome’ or ‘founder mode’ often closely follow. We deserve more sophisticated discourse. Perhaps one that is practically patriotic.

Jack has that in spades, with receipts. Let’s dig in.

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The BetaKit Podcast is hosted by Douglas Soltys & Rob Kenedi. Produced & edited by Jess Schmidt. Feature image courtesy Eric Ennis from Renovo Agency for BetaKit.

On October 22, BetaKit Town Hall: Vancouver continued the pulse check on Canadian innovation, policy, and optimism.

Please enjoy this selection of highlights and insights from the town hall: