ecosystem / companies / shoelace
Shoelace logo

Shoelace

Shoelace is a Toronto marketing company that launched in 2015 as a self-serve retargeting app for e-commerce and now operates as an omni-channel growth-marketing agency for DTC brands. Its original founders, Reza Khadjavi, Alexander Sloan and David Berglas, left after a 2019 growth plateau to start Motion in 2021.

AdtechTorontoFounded 2015shoelace.com ↗
6,000+users at its peak, with a team of about 40, before growth plateaued around 2019BetaKit ↗
$1.2Brevenue generated for clients and $300M ad spend managed since 2015, per the company's site (self-reported, current agency)Shoelace ↗

The people

David BerglasCo-founder & Head of Finance · 1 TechTO talk
Reza KhadjaviCo-founder & CEO · 1 TechTO talk
AS
Alexander SloanCo-founder & CTOprofile coming

What they build

Retargeting (2015 to ~2019)Self-serve retargeting ad campaigns for e-commerce stores
Growth-marketing servicesManaged paid advertising, email and SMS campaigns for DTC brandsProduct page ↗

Open roles via the TechTO Job Board

Working at Shoelace

Browse open roles across the community on the TechTO Job Board — Canada’s most connected tech network. Shoelace’s roles show up here whenever they post.

Open roles on the TechTO Job Board ↗Or their own careers page: shoelace.com/careers ↗

Jobs live on jobs.techto.org — the only structured source. We link to it rather than scraping career sites, so the board is always the source of truth.

On the TechTO stage

TECHTO

David Berglas of Shoelace presenting Thoughts on Getting Started

June 2016
Watch on YouTube ↗

Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Shoelace ↗

About

Shoelace started in 2015 in Toronto as a retargeting product that let e-commerce stores run their own retargeting ad campaigns, going through the Boomtown accelerator in Boulder, Colorado. It grew to over 6,000 users and about 40 staff before the advertising landscape shifted and growth plateaued around 2019. Its founding team, CEO Reza Khadjavi, CTO Alexander Sloan and David Berglas, moved on to found Motion in 2021, while the Shoelace brand continues at shoelace.com as an omni-channel growth-marketing agency for direct-to-consumer brands.

Backers

Raised early venture funding after the Boomtown accelerator, but specific investors and amounts for Shoelace could not be confirmed in sources found. The founders' next company, Motion, later raised a $30M USD Series B led by Inovia Capital in 2024.

Some figures are founder-stated, not independently confirmed

More from TechTO ×1

Newsletter
You wish you failed like AirtableThe TechTO newsletter · mentions Shoelace
2026

Quick answers

What did Shoelace do?

It launched in 2015 as a self-serve retargeting app that let e-commerce stores run their own retargeting ad campaigns. Today the Shoelace brand runs as an omni-channel growth-marketing agency for direct-to-consumer brands.

What happened to Shoelace and its founders?

Growth plateaued around 2019 as the advertising landscape shifted. The founding team, Reza Khadjavi, Alexander Sloan and David Berglas, went on to found Motion in 2021, which raised a $30M USD Series B in 2024. The Shoelace name still operates as a growth-marketing agency.

Who founded Shoelace?

Reza Khadjavi (CEO), Alexander Sloan (CTO) and David Berglas, who met while working at the Toronto startup Hubba.

Suggest an edit
Work here? Claim this page
Know someone who belongs here? Suggest a profile
Maintained by TechTO · facts sourced and dated · last reviewed Jul 20, 2026