Clay Schubiner Research by SuperAGI

Executive Summary

Clay Schubiner is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Canal, an e-commerce technology company based in San Francisco, California. Holding a Bachelor's in Computer Science from Stanford University, Schubiner leads Canal’s technical vision and product development, directly supervising a multi-disciplinary engineering team. His professional background includes significant leadership and engineering roles at prominent technology companies, with a specialized focus on scalable, innovative software architectures for high-growth digital commerce.

Professional Background

Current Role

Co-Founder & CTO, Canal

Location: San Francisco, United States

Company Size: 11–50 employees

Industry: Computer Software / E-Commerce

Reporting Structure:

Reports to: Bennett Carroccio, CEO & Co-Founder

Direct reports in engineering include: Soham Waychal, Toby Brachmann, Simran Nayyar

Key colleagues: Michael Wardrop (Customer Success), David Richardson (Recruiting), Maxwell Gallin (Partnerships)

Team Leadership: Oversees backend, software, and full-stack engineering teams; leads build-out of Canal's e-commerce infrastructure.

Previous Experience

Engineering Manager, Canvas (June 2019 – Feb 2021)

Led backend engineering, managed product scalability and reliability initiatives.

Senior Software Engineer, Airbnb (July 2015 – June 2019)

Led full-stack development using Ruby on Rails, Java, and JavaScript.

Developed the Google AMP version of Airbnb’s SEO/SEM landing page.

Instrumental in "Airbnb Plus" backend engineering.

Designed and executed numerous A/B tests to increase website conversion rates.

Software Engineer, Okta, Inc. (June 2014 – Sept 2014)

Designed and implemented an automated testing framework, increasing app count by 93%.

Software Engineering Intern, LinkedIn (June 2013 – Sept 2013)

Mobile Software Intern, Millennial Media (June 2012 – Sept 2012)

Education

Stanford University — Bachelor’s in Computer Science

Burlingame High School — Secondary Education

Company Overview: Canal

Sector: Computer Software / Consumer E-Commerce

Headquarters: San Francisco, CA

Size: 11 - 50 employees

Business Model:

Canal operates as an exclusive e-commerce network, enabling individuals (ranging from bloggers to trainers) to curate and sell products directly without holding inventory.

The company provides infrastructure allowing anyone to set up online storefronts accessible to their audiences, transforming traditional product sourcing and sales mechanisms.

Market Position:

Backed by top e-commerce investors and industry leaders.

Aims to disrupt the way digital commerce platforms operate by lowering barriers to direct-to-consumer retailing.

Professional Highlights & Thought Leadership

Forbes Technology Council — Former member; contributed expert commentary on technology leadership, engineering management, and fostering innovation in technical teams.

Expert Articles:

Encouragement of developer side projects to drive innovation and job satisfaction.

Best practices for new tech leaders on managing day-to-day tasks while maintaining strategic oversight.

Public Content:

Published on company channels and external platforms about dropship program development (e.g., LinkedIn post on Canal’s collaboration with Fellow).

Actively recruits talent for the Canal engineering team and promotes a high-growth, innovative culture.

Technical Skills & Interests

Technical Innovation in E-Commerce

Startup Leadership and Management

Full-Stack Web Application Development

Conversion Optimization (A/B Testing)

SEO/SEM Technology

Automated Testing Frameworks

Team Building in High-Growth Environments

Strategic Insights

Clay Schubiner’s trajectory reflects deep expertise in engineering scalable e-commerce platforms and leading high-performance technical teams in fast-moving startups. His approach emphasizes best-in-class, flexible software development and adoption of new technologies to meet evolving market needs. His active presence in thought leadership forums such as the Forbes Technology Council, along with his direct involvement in product and engineering innovation at Canal, positions him as a key contact for collaborations involving e-commerce enablement, technical partnerships, and digital product scaling.

Professionals engaging with Schubiner should note his strengths in product engineering leadership, rapid prototyping, and technical evaluation of digital commerce solutions, as well as his focus on building agile, cross-functional teams.