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The official CEO.com podcast featuring unfiltered conversations with the leaders shaping our world.
Clint Betts: Dax, thank you so much for coming on the show. What an honor to have you. You are the founder and CEO of Lightspeed Commerce. Tell us what Lightspeed is and how you became the founder and CEO.
Dax Dasilva: Thanks for having me on the show.
I founded Lightspeed about 20 years ago. We’re actually celebrating our 20th anniversary this year. Back in 2005, I built a software system for SMB retailers—particularly retailers managing a lot of inventory.
Originally, the platform handled backend retail operations: inventory management, point of sale, and payments. Over time, we expanded the platform to match evolving consumer expectations, so now it includes e-commerce, delivery, loyalty programs, analytics, and much more.
The original software was built for Mac, but today it’s cloud-based and runs across iPads and modern devices. About 10 years ago, we also expanded into hospitality, serving restaurants in addition to retailers.
Our sweet spot has always been more complex SMB businesses—the “M” in SMB. These are companies doing more than half a million dollars in annual sales, often with multiple locations, larger teams, and more operational complexity.
Today we serve about 145,000 customers globally. We’re around $1.2 billion in revenue and have about 3,500 employees around the world.
Clint Betts: It’s remarkable what you’ve built. Seriously, it’s an incredible company. At what point did you realize this was actually going to work?
Dax Dasilva: Honestly, pretty early on.
Our first customers were Apple dealers back before Apple had its own stores. At the time, there were Mac dealerships everywhere, similar to how car dealerships operate today.
I had worked in those stores as a teenager and into my twenties, building software systems for them. So the original version of Lightspeed was immediately very attractive to those businesses.
The first couple hundred Lightspeed installations were mostly Mac dealerships. They were complex retailers with serialized inventory, multiple locations, and sophisticated operations, so they were a perfect fit.
The vision was that they would become the core of our customer base and then help spread the software into their own communities.
I think the moment it really clicked for me was when about 50 of those dealers came to Montreal for training only a year after launch. They came from places like Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and the U.S.
That was the moment where I thought, “Okay, this could actually become something much bigger.” These people weren’t just using the software in their own businesses—they wanted to build businesses around selling it to others.
Clint Betts: That must have felt incredible. You start something and suddenly realize it’s real.
Obviously back in 2005 nobody was talking about AI. Now it feels like it’s all anybody talks about. How is AI affecting your business and how are you thinking about it?
Dax Dasilva: The reality is that operating a business today is dramatically more complicated than it was 20 years ago.
Business owners now have to understand social media, online marketing, employee scheduling, workforce management, inventory across online and physical channels, product descriptions, analytics—it’s endless.
A lot of that complexity has come from technology itself. So AI presents a real opportunity to simplify things again.
At the end of the day, people don’t open restaurants because they love software administration panels. They open restaurants because they love Spanish cuisine or hospitality. Someone opens a bike store because they love bikes.
Our goal is to automate as much of the operational burden as possible so business owners can focus on what they actually care about.
We’re starting with AI assistants that help merchants navigate workflows and eventually moving toward more agentic AI that can actually perform tasks on behalf of the business owner.
Clint Betts: You mentioned something there that I think about a lot, which is how the role of CEO has changed over the past decade.
There’s now this expectation that CEOs have opinions on every political or cultural issue, even when it has nothing to do with their company. How do you think about that?
Dax Dasilva: I think people are starting to realize there isn’t much value in weighing in publicly on every issue.
If something directly impacts our customers, then absolutely—we’ll engage. Tariffs are a good example. Tariffs have political implications, but they also directly affect retailers, which means they affect our customers.
In that context, we can help customers navigate supply chain changes or identify new sources of inventory.
But I don’t think there’s much value in me publicly debating political ideology or broader policy questions unrelated to our business.
There are certainly CEOs who choose to be very vocal politically, but I prefer keeping our focus on the business and only speaking publicly when something genuinely relates to our customers or our company values.
Clint Betts: If I have this right, you went public in 2019?
Dax Dasilva: That’s right. We went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2019 and then listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020.
Interestingly, after our IPO, a wave of Canadian companies followed and went public as well. Some of those companies have since gone private again.
Personally, though, the public-company phase has actually been my favorite part of the journey.
The market gives you very immediate and honest feedback. Right now we’re in the middle of transforming Lightspeed into its next phase of profitable growth.
For years, especially during low interest rates, tech companies operated under a “growth at all costs” mentality. We’re now going through a multi-year transition toward a more balanced model, and doing that transformation publicly can be challenging because everyone watches in real time.
But I still think being public is valuable. You get feedback from incredibly smart investors who understand value creation deeply. It also gives you visibility. Public companies receive attention and credibility that private companies often don’t.
That visibility helps with recruiting, sales, partnerships, and ultimately creates value for employees and customers as well.
Clint Betts: How have you thought about company culture through COVID and everything that followed? A lot of companies are still trying to figure out remote work, hybrid work, and return-to-office policies.
Dax Dasilva: I actually stepped away from the CEO role for about two years and became chairman before returning as CEO in 2024.
One thing I realized during that time was how much I genuinely love the energy of being in the office.
We operate on a hybrid model. Employees are expected in the office Tuesday through Thursday, although many people come in Monday and Friday as well.
We sell software to physical businesses—restaurants and stores—so we fundamentally believe in human gathering and physical interaction.
I think we’re rediscovering how important that is, especially for younger employees. How do you get mentored? How do you grow professionally? How do you develop relationships if everything happens on Zoom?
You can absolutely maintain a business remotely, but I think the truly exceptional ideas are usually created in person.
Clint Betts: I completely agree with that.
As CEO, what does a typical day look like for you?
Dax Dasilva: It starts at the gym early in the morning, usually with jump rope.
After that, no two days are ever really the same.
A lot of my time is spent in meetings with product teams, go-to-market teams, executives, finance, and our people and culture teams. There are standups, presentations, one-on-ones, and strategy discussions constantly happening.
I also spend a lot of time presenting to larger groups. Last week I did a company town hall. Today we’re welcoming our new Chief Revenue Officer, so we’re doing fireside chats across multiple regions.
This morning we did a session for North America and Europe, and later today we’ll do another for Asia Pacific.
There are also dinners, events, partner meetings—it’s busy, but it’s always interesting.
Clint Betts: What do you read, and what reading recommendations would you have?
Dax Dasilva: I read a lot of books on spirituality.
Right now I’m reading a great book called On Purpose.
From a business perspective, I’d recommend The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. I think it’s a valuable read for leaders at any stage.
I’ll also plug my own books. My first book, Age of Union, includes some leadership philosophy and reflections. It’s actually available as a free download now.
I also recently published Echoes From Eden. During the two years when I stepped back from the CEO role, I focused heavily on environmental causes and conservation work around the world.
That experience taught me that conservation projects are actually very similar to startups. Small groups of passionate people can create extraordinary change.
The book tells the stories of people working on the ground in jungles and conservation projects globally. I think business leaders might find it surprisingly inspiring.
Clint Betts: What was the writing process like for you?
Dax Dasilva: The two books were very different experiences.
Age of Union was more philosophical. There’s a chapter specifically about leadership and what I think matters most as a leader.
A famous Canadian author gave me advice that completely changed my approach to writing. He told me: “Write 500 words every morning before you speak to anyone, check your phone, or consume any media.”
I always thought I was a night person because when I originally built Lightspeed, I coded until 4:00 a.m. for years. But for writing, I discovered that the clearest thinking happens first thing in the morning.
I did that consistently for about a year, and eventually those fragments became a manuscript.
Interestingly, I also found that airports and airplanes were some of the best places to write because you’re trapped there with no distractions.
That first book took about three years between writing, editing, and design.
The second book, Echoes From Eden, was much more narrative-driven and collaborative. My co-author is a much stronger narrative writer than I am, so together we built the story from interviews and experiences we had during those conservation trips. That process took about a year and a half.
Clint Betts: What makes a great leader to you?
Dax Dasilva: I think one of the most important things is listening.
A lot of people think leadership means being the loudest person in the room, but I actually think the opposite is true.
If you want people to truly follow you, they need to feel heard. Even if the final decision differs from their opinion, people are much more willing to commit when they know they’ve been listened to.
Leadership isn’t dictatorship. Great ideas evolve collaboratively.
I also think it’s important to share ownership. You want people to feel autonomous and empowered. Support them when they succeed, but also support them when they struggle.
At Lightspeed we talk a lot about our values. One of them is “Make it happen.” But another equally important value is “Make it matter.”
You can move quickly and still accomplish things that don’t matter. Speed alone isn’t enough.
Some of our other values are:
“Make it human.”
“Make it together.”
“Make it about the customer.”
“Make it data driven.”
Those principles shape how we make decisions as a company.
Clint Betts: I love that.
Give us a sense for Canada and the startup ecosystem there. What’s it like building a company there compared to the U.S.?
Dax Dasilva: We’re very much a global company, but Canada has been an excellent place to build from.
We’re headquartered in Montreal, where multilingualism and internationalism are part of daily life. I think Canadians are generally very comfortable operating globally and collaborating across cultures.
One thing we’ve done particularly well as a Canadian company is integrate acquisitions into our culture without forcing monoculture.
We’ve acquired more than a dozen companies over the years, and instead of forcing everyone to become identical, we’ve tried to let each organization contribute something additive.
That feels very Canadian to me. It’s more of a mosaic approach than a melting pot.
Clint Betts: As you think about tariffs and economic uncertainty, how are you looking at 2026 and the broader economy?
Dax Dasilva: Consumer sentiment has definitely fluctuated this year.
The middle part of the year has actually been relatively strong for many of the businesses we serve.
We’re also seeing what many people describe as a K-shaped economy. The businesses using Lightspeed are often higher-end retailers and hospitality operators serving consumers who still have disposable income.
So while some parts of the population are really struggling with inflation, groceries, and fuel costs, our customer base has generally remained fairly resilient so far.
That said, if broader economic conditions worsen and higher-income consumers start pulling back too, then obviously those businesses would feel it as well.
Right now, there are mixed signals everywhere. The stock market is strong, but the labor market is softening. So honestly, it’s still difficult to predict where things go next.
Clint Betts: Finally, we end every interview with the same question. At CEO.com, we believe the chances one gives are just as important as the chances one takes. Who gave you a chance that helped get you where you are today?
Dax Dasilva: I’d have to give a lot of credit to my father.
My parents were refugees and we didn’t have a lot of money, but my dad always made sure I had access to computers and technology.
When I was 13 years old, I was already apprenticing at a startup with my dad’s boss’s son.
Even though Macs were much more expensive back then, my father always found ways to support my interests and get me the equipm
ent I needed.
He really fueled my excitement for technology and creativity, and I absolutely credit him for investing in me early on.
Clint Betts: That’s awesome. Dax, thank you so much for coming on the show. What an incredible company you’ve built.
Dax Dasilva: Thank you. Really appreciate it.