THE INTERVIEW

Want a faster, stronger, richer Canada? Daniel Debow, Build Canada mastermind, has some ideas for how to get there.

- KATIE UNDERWOOD

FEBRUARY MARKED THE LAUNCH of Build Canada, a mysterious website that loftily promised plans for a “bolder, richer, freer country.” Soon, more details emerged: it was a non-partisan forum for entrepreneurs of all stripes to publish their visionary, occasionally radical policy ideas for bettering Canada. (Examples included making its public service leaner, its health records more accessible and its markets more friendly to drone-makers.) Once word broke that several Shopify execs— some quite vocally right-leaning—were possibly involved on the back end, the tech panic began: was Build Canada just DOGE 2.0?

“Absolutely not,” insists Daniel Debow, Shopify’s former VP of partnerships and corporate development and Build Canada’s unofficial head honcho. Even if Canadians don’t know Debow’s name, they’ve interacted with a company he either co-founded or invested in early— like Wealthsimple, SkipTheDishes, Ritual, Borrowell and Rypple, a cloud-based HR firm acquired by Salesforce for a cool $60 million. While Debow and Build Canada’s volunteer team aren’t planning an Elon-esque government takeover, they do have the business bona fides to know that, after years of sluggish productivity, the country could do with way less red tape and a gigantic injection of inspiration.

You’ve been on pseudo-sabbatical since you left Shopify back in December. How does a serial business-building brain like yours cope with more free time?

I’m spending time with my family, who I love. I’ve tried to learn how to cook. I’m also figuring out how to build electronic instruments—I want to invent a new one.

Within a couple months of wrapping work, you launched another huge new project: Build Canada. What’s the elevator pitch?