Tobias Lütke, CEO of the Centretown-based, billion-dollar business Shopify, will be giving a talk on business innovation on Oct. 6.
In December 2013, Shopify became the first online startup in Canada after the dot-com bubble to reach a $1billion in value, The Globe and Mail reported at the time.
Shopify, which describes itself as “a complete ecommerce solution,” provides an online platform for running businesses of different sizes. Companies can use Shopify to design their own website and manage different payment options.
With more than 175,000 stores among its customers, Shopify sells its services to many small- and medium-sized businesses. They also offer premium packages to bigger companies, including notable clients such as Wikipedia, Tesla Motors and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lütke, 35, founded the company after emigrating from Germany to Ottawa. In 2004, he started an online-based snowboard-selling company, and he has said it was his difficulties in finding a suitable website design that inspired him.
“It was a very, very short affair trying to find the right software for my business out there and realizing no one else had yet,” he said in an online interview for Bessemer Venture Partners.
Lütke was not available to discuss his upcoming speech.
Founded in 2006, Shopify now has four offices across the country. The head office relocated to 150 Elgin St. last October — the redesigned “Performance Court” tower that also houses Canada Council for the Arts and the high-end restaurant Beckta — and contains themed workrooms that resemble cabins, cottages and saunas.
Lütke was awarded 2014’s CEO of the Year as part of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Ottawa Business Journal’s Best Ottawa Business Awards.
The talk, entitled “Creating an Innovative City,” will be about what innovation means to the Shopify CEO, says Michael Curran, publisher of the Ottawa Business Journal and one of the organizers of the event.
“It’s about creative people coming together in a way to explore real-world solutions to problems that consumers and business leaders face every day,” says Curran.
“We are targeting business leaders from all business sectors who want to directly hear from the entrepreneur who has built a $1-billion plus technology powerhouse right here in Ottawa,” he adds.
Presented as part of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Ottawa Business Journal’s CEO Talk series, the event will be held at the Westin Ottawa on Oct. 6. Tickets, $60 for chamber members and $75 for non-members, are available on the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce’s website.