In wide-ranging BetaKit interview, Chauvet takes inventory of Lightspeed tenure, shares plan to assist different entrepreneurs.
Ex-Lightspeed Commerce leader Jean Paul (JP) Chauvet has joined Montréal-headquartered enterprise capital (VC) agency Inovia Capital as its newest executive-in-residence (EiR).
During his greater than 11 years on the commerce know-how firm, Chauvet performed a key function in scaling Montréal-based Lightspeed into a world, publicly traded participant. He joins Inovia months after stepping down as Lightspeed CEO, following two years on the helm trying to information the fast-growing agency to profitability amid a difficult tech market.
“I’m really proud of the last two years. I think we did what we had to do.”
JP Chauvet
In an unique interview with BetaKit—his first since being changed as CEO by his predecessor, Lightspeed founder Dax Dasilva—Chauvet stated he wished to take a while off from operations to relaxation, reset, and take into account his subsequent transfer. Inovia provided a “natural fit” and an opportunity to share his information with different Canadian tech corporations.
“I don’t want to just rush, I want to be sure I take the time from Lightspeed—which I am very proud of and I think it’s a fabulous company—to land on something that’s going to give me the same excitement and emotions [that Lightspeed did],” Chauvet stated.
As EiR, Chauvet intends to assist Inovia supply and consider offers, whereas supporting the VC agency’s portfolio firms. He expects the part-time, one-year “transition role” to lead to board seats, private investments in promising startups, and probably even his subsequent gig.
Inovia has witnessed Chauvet’s and Lightspeed’s evolutions firsthand: the VC agency was one among Lightspeed’s first traders. Inovia accomplice Chris Arsenault, who has recognized Chauvet since earlier than his Lightspeed days, informed BetaKit that he expects Chauvet to carry “immense value” to the VC agency’s portfolio firms.
“[Chauvet] joined Lightspeed in the early days as head of revenue and partnerships,” stated Arsenault. “Both as an investor and a board member, I saw him take ownership and accountability, growing into the role of president and after that CEO. [Chauvet] is an amazing executive, a team builder, and a strong metrics-driven operator who thinks big and executes bigger.”
RELATED: Lightspeed founder Dax Dasilva returns as interim CEO, changing JP Chauvet
Chauvet held many roles throughout his time at Lightspeed, a lot of which was spent working as Dasilva’s second-in-command. “[Dasilva] used to always say, ‘I’m the external CEO, you’re the internal CEO,’ and I think everyone at Lightspeed knew that,” he stated.
When Chauvet took over from Dasilva and have become CEO in February 2022, Chauvet famous that the timing was “very difficult,” emphasizing that the previous couple of years have been significantly robust for many tech firms. “There’s been a clear readjustment. Interest rates are high; yields are not as good when you look at public companies,” he stated.
“If you look at the story of Lightspeed being public, the first five years were, I would say, a fairly easy ride, because the market wanted tech, wanted hypergrowth,” stated Chauvet. “And then all of a sudden, the market just flipped over and started saying we want profitability, we want slower growth, higher margins, and that wasn’t our DNA.”
RELATED: Lightspeed to lay off 300 staff as it targets “profitable growth”
Amid these circumstances, Chauvet stated he dedicated to doing what the market demanded and bringing Lightspeed to profitability, which required the corporate to be restructured. “I think I left after having done the work, and now it’s time for [Dasilva] to come back,” Chauvet stated.
“I’m really proud of the last two years,” he added. “I think we did what we had to do, and it was a major shift for Lightspeed internally.”
Chauvet realized some classes whereas he was within the high seat at Lightspeed. “The big learning for me is, sometimes, perception is more important than reality,” he stated. “[Dasilva’s] forte has always been messaging … My forte is I’m the most rigorous operations guy you can find.”
RELATED: Lightspeed exceeds fiscal Q3 income, profitability targets however firm’s shares nonetheless slide
He stated he’s significantly happy with his final two quarters as Lightspeed CEO, when the corporate posted optimistic adjusted earnings earlier than earnings, depreciation, taxes, and amortization, following a “thorough and long journey” that concerned shedding 300 staff (10 p.c of the corporate’s workers), specializing in funds, and focusing on bigger clients.
Lightspeed made progress in the direction of profitability, however Chauvet claimed the lingering “perception of Lightspeed being a high-burn, loosely integrated business” was tough to overcome in a brief interval. “The learning is that it takes much longer than you think to change perceptions.”
Lightspeed’s inventory worth has dropped greater than 87 p.c from its peak in September 2021. Despite the work Chauvet put in to reshape the corporate and win again traders, he was not in a position to make vital headway on this entrance throughout his time as CEO. Looking again, he’s not stunned by this.
“[While] interest rates remain high … I think it’s gonna be very difficult for growth businesses to have the recognition that they deserve,” stated Chauvet.
In February, shortly after Lightspeed beat its fiscal Q3 targets however nonetheless noticed its share worth sink, the corporate introduced again Dasilva as interim (and now everlasting) CEO. Dasilva has been tasked with main the corporate by way of the following part of its push to woo traders and recoup among the worth it has gained and misplaced in recent times.
Post-Lightspeed, Chauvet desires to give again. “When you’re growing, there’s always room for a good sounding board that has lived a lot of different experiences,” he stated, noting that he has seen firms by way of vital development as effectively as “the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
“I want to help the Canadian ecosystem.”
JP Chauvet
Arsenault expects Chauvet’s expertise, together with his experience in “hypergrowth” and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by way of the bevy of firms Lightspeed acquired and built-in throughout his tenure, to show helpful to different rising Canadian tech startups throughout Inovia’s portfolio.
“[Chauvet] has spent over a decade building Lightspeed from $10 million CAD to over $900 million USD in [annual recurring revenue], and his deep empathy and expertise will be invaluable for our hypergrowth companies, bringing strategic M&A and sales strategies to our ambitious global entrepreneurs,” Arsenault stated.
Chauvet joins a roster of different Inovia EiRs that features ex-Microsoft and National Bank leader Adam Schlesinger, Uber alumnus and Maple VC founder Andre Charoo, Allocadia founder Kristine Steuart, former Google software program engineer Mike Lueck, ex-Maluuba and Microsoft product leader Mohamed Musbah, and serial entrepreneur Rasool Rayani.
As to what may come subsequent for him post-Inovia, Chauvet was noncommittal. “I don’t think it’s wise for me to jump into something [new], because the Lightspeed ride was incredible, but also very draining, and the only thing in my life was work,” he stated.
In the meantime, he plans to do what he can to assist different corporations observe in Lightspeed’s footsteps. “I want to help the Canadian ecosystem,” he stated. “I’m Canadian, we built a beautiful company in Canada, and I think now there are going to be many [companies] to follow and I want to help as much as I can.”
Feature picture courtesy Inovia Capital.