Shopify founder to speak at University of Waterloo

Shopify Founder and CEO Tobias Lütke, will visit the University of Waterloo on October 1, marking his first-ever appearance at a Canadian university.

Lütke will speak to a group of Waterloo’s math and engineering students in a fireside chat, where he will offer insights on what drives innovation ecosystems. He will also reveal his startup story, sharing how he became the visionary leader behind one of Canada’s tech giants.

Lütke founded Shopify after creating an online store for snowboard equipment and then expanded this online platform for small and medium-sized businesses. Since 2006, he has refined his roots in computer programming to become CEO of one of the world’s leading commerce platforms. Today, Shopify hosts over 175,000 online stores with $10 billion in sales. The company has four offices – all in Canada – including one in Kitchener-Waterloo.

Waterloo Engineering alumnus Michael Litt, co-founder and CEO of Vidyard, a leading video marketing platform, will act as moderator during the fireside chat with Lütke. Litt also serves as general partner of Garage Capital, a seed stage fund focused on Super-Cluster companies looking to expand their networks into Silicon Valley. He also sits on the Communitech Board of Directors; a KW based organization designed to help companies start, grow and succeed. 

During his visit to Waterloo Region, Lütke will meet with local dignitaries at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, including Premier Kathleen Wynne and University of Waterloo President and Vice-Chancellor Feridun Hamdullahpur. He will also speak to 200 people from the local tech community, in a talk hosted by Communitech.

The public is welcome to join us for the Shopify fireside chat, happening in the Engineering 5 Student Design Centre at 9:30am.