More layoffs ahead for Canadian tech sector, Elevate conference speakers warn

Speakers at Toronto's Elevate tech conference this week are warning there will likely be more layoffs to come for Canadian technology companies.

The Elevate technology conference made its return to Toronto this week with a buzzy spectacle — shutting down several blocks of the Esplanade neighbourhood for a block party with performances from artists like rapper Haviah Mighty and scheduling more than 350 speakers, including tennis star Venus Williams, to grace its three venues by the time it wraps Thursday evening.

But the annual festival’s reappearance after a two-year, pandemic hiatus is coming at a less than grand time for the industry. A slew of startups and tech giants as prominent as Netflix, Shopify and Wealthsimple have slashed their workforces as the sector grapples with fading investor exuberance and a potential recession.

That meant how to navigate the economic headwinds — and predictions about how long they will last — were hot topics on the Elevate stages.

“I don’t think we’ve hit close to the bottom yet,” said “Dragons’ Den” star Michele Romanow in a Wednesday mainstage session called “leading through uncertainty.”

“Tech has seen the first kind of bump in this road and it could get a whole lot worse.”

Her e-commerce investing company Clearco has not been immune to the industry’s troubles. It laid off 60 employees last month as it handed off its international business, a month after cutting 25 per cent of its workforce.

The company anticipated a lot of international growth that no longer made sense in the current economy and it eventually cut “experimental” projects, which Romanow said was “devastating.”

She’s since been outlining a new business plan for employees and reminding them that she cannot promise it will go perfectly according to that plan.