About Chris Shahabi
Chris Shahabi has been an entrepreneur, investor and business coach for the past 25 years. He started his career in 1995, after graduating from Simon Fraser University (department of political science and international relations), by joining a team of software innovators.
His first venture team went on to build a $24 million dollar software company that was acquired by Lucent Technologies within 2 years. In 1999 Chris got involved in a second startup, a shopping mall for SMEs in Canada, long before platforms such as WordPress and Shopify became the standard of choice in ecommerce.
With Dr. Firouz Michael Naderi, Former Director at NASA JPL and Board Advisor to Creative Oxygen Labs, a clean tech company I started in 2020.
The Journey of Life
In 2000 Chris decided to take time off and travel the world. From 2000 to 2020 he lived, worked and traveled across 24 countries in West Asia, Far East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and America, helping entrepreneurs setup innovative startups in the SAAS space.
In 2010 he joined a $50 million dollar home décor company where he was instrumental in raising the company’s sales figures by 110% through the implementation of a SMART customer focused engagement strategy.
In 2013 Chris started another venture, this time in healthcare marketing. Within 120 days he was able to bring the company to a million dollar valuation and a positive cash flow. For that he was featured in FORBES magazine and the NATIONAL.
In 2020, as the world began to grapple with COVID that also affected members of his family, including his wife who spent five days in the hospital, Chris invested in a clean tech company committed to bringing clean air to the world at a time where pollution, airborne bacteria and viruses were causing great harm to human health. The company was incorporated in Canada and by 2022 Chris filed his first patent in the United States. In 2024 Oxygen was nominated for the EARTHSHOT prize award for its innovation in clean technology.
In the SPOTlight with a proven track record
With a passion for education based on first principles teaching and learning, short programs and micro credentials, Chris also spends time coaching and mentoring future leaders with a “limitless mindset” method he has developed over the years. In 2021 he was involved with the Toronto School of Management where he taught Digital Marketing in a booming digital economy and ran Entrepreneurship workshops, and in 2024, he joined Conestoga College where he is now teaching International Trade Finance, Sustainability, Service Marketing and Sales Strategies as part of the International Business Program. As a global citizen himself and a firm believer of “collaboration across creative minds”, Chris has had the good fortune of working with students from Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Jordan, Iran, India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ghana, Nigeria, China, Korea, Japan, and other countries.
My digital marketing class
Attending Convocation of my students in International Business
My students in Sales and Marketing
Chris is also a microlight pilot, a PADI certified scuba diver, a former golden glove boxing champion, and a die hard tennis player.
