The year quiet quitting got loud for tech execs

If you’re reading this, you probably work at a tech company that underwent an executive leadership change this year … or know someone who does. 

BetaKit saw bucketloads of turnover in 2024, reporting on nearly 50 CEO changes alone throughout the year, with countless more tracked at the C-suite level. To give you a sense of the scale of the leadership shift taking place in Canadian tech, we called the turnover trend a “tidal wave” by February.

The tidal wave hit Canadian tech companies big and small this year. 2024 saw Dax Dasilva return to the helm of Lightspeed, Flashfood’s Josh Domingues step down, Chris Walker step in at Untether AI, Stephen DeWitt replace Bill Hewitt at MindBridge after a turbulent 2023, Beth Shaw take over at Katipult Technology, John McLane take the reins from Hamed Abbasi at Plooto, Geordie Rose leave Sanctuary AI, Jolie Kahn bring her crypto insight to AgriFORCE, Felicia Bochiccio bounce from Unbounce, and many, many more. In some cases, founders were replaced with fresh leadership, only to see their replacements replaced.

The tidal wave hit Canadian tech companies big and small this year.

It wasn’t just tech companies: innovation hubs such as Alberta Innovates overhauled its board of directors before removing its CEO, while Communitech CEO Chris Albinson announced his departure to the True North Fund shortly after the organization’s annual general meeting.   

Speaking of venture capital (VC), Canada’s investor landscape saw its fair share of turnover. At the pension fund level, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan swapped CEOs and AIMCo dismissed its entire board. VC firms such as Georgian, Panache Ventures, BDC Capital, and OMERS Ventures all had senior departures. At Startupfest this summer, BetaKit’s Josh Scott noted a worrying number of emerging managers dropping out, attributing the trend to market conditions that favour established funds. VCs told BetaKit that they expected to see even more turnover due to caution from limited partners. 

And, of course, the highest-profile departure of the year was Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on the day she was expected to deliver the Fall Economic Statement. 

#CDNTECH 2024

BetaKit looks back at the defining Canadian tech stories of 2024.

• The year quiet quitting got loud for tech execs
• Clio and the go-privates (forthcoming)
• Canada struggles to find its place in the global AI race (forthcoming)
• RIP to the feds’ (failed) innovation strategy (forthcoming)
• The BetaKit Podcast: The biggest tech stories of 2024 (forthcoming)

While the high rate of executive turnover peaked this year, it has not been confined to 2024. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, BetaKit has been reporting on CEO successions, including a slew of shake-ups last year at Wattpad, Ecobee, MaRS, BlackBerry, and Dasilva’s departure as Lightspeed’s leader before this year’s return. A Southlea survey of 60 S&P/TSX companies found that the rate of CEO turnover increased from below 10 percent to 15 percent from 2021 to 2023. The Globe & Mail also noted a sharp increase in CEO resignations in early 2023 among Canadian companies writ large, not just in tech. 

Nor is the trend confined to Canada: one US report found that more CEOs exited US firms in October 2024 than in any month since 2002.

Industry experts who spoke with BetaKit say the wave of CEO turnover is tied to a tough macroeconomic environment causing stricter expectations at the leadership level. For those who began their careers in the post-2008 ZIRP period, when venture money was doled out with abandon, it’s a jarring shift. 

“There’s a generation of CEOs that has never seen a downturn,” said Mark MacLeod, a startup and executive coach. MacLeod, formerly a CFO at FreshBooks and Shopify, wound down his own venture in 2020 to pursue coaching full-time.

“There’s a generation of CEOs that has never seen a downturn.”

Mark MacLeod
Startup CEO coach

Founders are dealing with one of the toughest fundraising environments in recent memory, with Canadian Venture Capital Association president Kim Furlong calling the decline in pre-seed and seed-stage investments “worrisome” last quarter. Canadian VCs are feeling squeezed, too, with 2024 on track to be the worst year for fundraising in a decade. 

Many factors have contributed to the cause, but the high rate of executive change-ups reflects what the Canadian tech industry has become: a mature, tougher market no longer in a free-for-all pursuit of growth. The maturation comes with higher standards and more pressure to perform. Emergent technologies like AI are also casting doubt on some leaders’ ability to keep up with the pace of change.

Higher expectations at the top have shifted the culture to juice more productivity out of leaner teams. With less capital to go around and a lower margin for error, leaders are now paying stricter attention to performance metrics and favouring executives who can hold teams accountable for reaching them, according to Nora Jenkins Townson, founder and CEO of fractional HR firm Bright + Early. 

That doesn’t mean it’s a bad time to build—though fewer Canadians are doing so, according to the declining entrepreneurship rates noted by BDC. Rather, it means founders should be prepared to build dynamic C-suites, ones that can adapt to a changing economic environment and set themselves up for success in proving market viability. 

MacLeod also said that many founders don’t understand how drastically their role can change from year to year. A seed fundraising cycle demands different leadership than an international go-to-market bid. 

On The BetaKit Podcast in June, Lightspeed’s Dasilva said that he learned “Every year, you’ve got to throw out your job description and rewrite your job description of what can you offer the company.” 

To qualify the national trend at an individual level, BetaKit went to the source: the sometimes-corporate, sometimes-candid LinkedIn posts of outgoing executives. 

In addition to the obvious mentions—a sense of pride and honour—several outgoing CEO posts reviewed by BetaKit mentioned the transitions as chances to “recharge.” One exiting founder took to YouTube, calling the jump “emotionally scary.”

This year at SAAS North, ex-Sampler founder Marie Chevrier Schwartz spoke about the stigma associated with failure and its mental toll on leaders. Feeding into the sense of loneliness Schwartz described is that founders are unwilling to share their defeats—only their triumphs. 

Townson and MacLeod agreed that leading a Canadian tech company is more challenging than ever. One way forward, MacLeod said, is building a support network that champions honesty over bravado.

Feature image courtesy Madison McLauchlan for BetaKit.