Dax is back: why he stepped down, then returned, as the company he founded approaches its 20th birthday.
Can you name the Canadian entrepreneur who stayed at the helm of their company for 17 years, from startup to scale-up to publicly traded company, only to see its share price spiral after pandemic highs—so much so that they stepped down as CEO?
And then, after a two-year sojourn (or board chair position), returned as CEO?
“Fiscal ’25 is the year we turn 20, and it’s the year we cross a billion in revenue and we become a profitability story.”
Dax Dasilva
On this episode of The BetaKit Podcast, we have the once and future king, Dax Dasilva, of Montreal’s Lightspeed. And we get into it: why he stepped down, then returned, to the CEO chair; what went wrong under JP Chauvet’s tenure (who is now executive-in-residence at Inovia), what it means to be CEO again in 2024; and how he plans to get Lightspeed to $1 billion in revenue for the company’s 20th birthday.
Or FY25, more accurately. Please do not consider this a forward-looking statement, Lightspeed is still a publicly traded company. And despite publicly ruminating about privatization, it doesn’t seem like Dax has any intention of leaving the public markets any time soon.
But this conversation is about more than public market posturing. Dax Dasilva has a lived experience unlike any other Canadian entrepreneur. And he’s an entrepreneur with an identity that extends well beyond entrepreneurship—and I’m not just talking about the Emmy he won.
So, Dax is back. Why?
Let’s dig in.
The BetaKit Podcast is sponsored by Innovate BC: a Crown Agency of the Province of British Columbia.
We work to foster innovation in B.C. so that British Columbians in all regions of the province can benefit from a thriving, sustainable, and inclusive innovation economy.
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The BetaKit Podcast is hosted by Douglas Soltys & Rob Kenedi. Feature image courtesy Lightspeed Commerce.