Inspirational Leadership: Stories of Strategy and Success with Pierce Ujjainwalla
In my role at Odgers, I have the opportunity to speak with Canada’s most forward-thinking leaders, who are working to redefine the industries they are in through innovation and creativity. Pierce Ujjainwalla, CEO and Co-Founder of Knak, is one of these leaders. A seasoned marketer turned entrepreneur, Pierce combines his expertise with an instinct for problem-solving, and a grounded approach to leadership. His story is one of curiosity, resilience, and an unwavering belief in the power of trust and creativity to drive growth.
From Marketer to Founder
Pierce’s journey began at Carleton University, where he studied international business, before landing his first job at Cognos, setting his career in motion. Working in the marketing department, Pierce was responsible for assembling digital campaigns including emails, landing pages, and all the behind-the-scenes elements that brought marketing programs to life.
“That’s when I realized you needed to know how to code to do this stuff,” he said. “That was back in 2008.” His early experience at Cognos introduced him to a challenge that would later become the foundation for Knak.
When Cognos was acquired by IBM, then the largest acquisition in IBM’s history, Pierce saw firsthand how major tech transitions unfold. “It was fascinating to see that happen,” he reflected. “I got to work with some of the best marketers in the world, and it really shaped my career.” This experience solidified his passion for marketing technology.
After witnessing scale at its largest, he became curious about agility, and what it looked like to build something smaller, faster, and closer to the ground. From there, he moved from large-scale operations to increasingly smaller and more agile environments: first at TITUS, and then at 360pi. “At 360pi, I started sitting in on a lot of leadership meetings,” he said. “That was a pivotal moment for me. I met Alex Rink, the CEO, who became a mentor, and gave me the confidence that I could start my own business.”
From Consultancy to Startup
In 2013, Pierce took the leap and launched Revenue Pulse, a marketing automation consultancy that would mark his first entrepreneurial chapter. “That was my first kick at being an entrepreneur,” he said. “Having the pressure to make money to survive was good. It teaches you a lot.” It was an environment where success depended on adaptability and grit, and the lessons came fast. Pierce credits that period with teaching him the fundamentals of entrepreneurship: the importance of understanding your customer, staying close to the work, and finding opportunity in every constraint.
While leading Revenue Pulse, he noticed a pattern. “We were doing the same project over and over again,” he said. “That’s where the idea for Knak came from.” Pierce initially started Knak as a side project while leading Revenue Pulse, and for five years, he ran both businesses simultaneously until Knak began to take off. “One summer, we closed three Fortune 500 companies in a month,” he recalled. “That was the beginning of Knak.”
In February 2020, Pierce decided to go all in, just weeks before the world came to a halt. “It was a memorable time,” he said with a smile.
Leading with Trust and Intention
As a founder, Pierce’s leadership philosophy has evolved significantly. “In my first business, I wasn’t a huge believer in the softer skills like core values and culture,” he admitted. “That company was successful, but there came a point where we were pretty broken internally. That’s when I realized I needed to intentionally build culture.”
At Knak, he took a different approach. “We defined our core values really early, with our first ten employees, and it’s something we lead with,” he said. “I don’t think the CEO defines culture, but they need to hold people accountable for it and live the values themselves.”
Today, Pierce leads by example and focuses on trust. “I give a lot of trust to my leaders and my team,” he said. “That wasn’t something I did early in my career. I had to really learn how to delegate and trust people.”
At first, that trust felt uncomfortable. “It felt like going slower,” he said. “But it took me a long time to realize that’s actually how you go fast, by giving people the autonomy to do the work and make mistakes sometimes.”
As a marketer at heart, Pierce continues to stay close to the product. “I’m still building the product I wish I had as a marketer,” he said. “I spend a lot of time with our product team.”
Thriving in Uncertainty
Pierce’s career has been defined by change. From acquisitions to global shifts in technology, he has learned to find stability in motion. “Uncertainty in tech is just a constant variable,” he said. “Whether it’s the pandemic, hiring challenges, the capital market, or companies cutting back on tech spend, it never ends. And now with AI, everything has changed again.”
His approach is pragmatic. “I just assume things are going to change all the time,” he said. “I focus on what I can control, try to learn, gather data, and make the best decisions for the company.”
That mindset also means staying flexible. “You can always pivot or make a new decision,” he said. “I try not to get too high or too low because it’s such a roller coaster. The key is to consistently show up, make decisions, and get used to the chaos.”
It’s a philosophy that suits him. “Honestly, I enjoy change because it keeps things interesting.”
Embracing and Shaping the Future of AI
Though Pierce has always been an early adopter of technology, AI was a different story. “I was skeptical at first,” he said. “I’d been underwhelmed by earlier iterations of AI that felt like a lot of hype without real results. I really had to force myself to get interested in it.”
Once he dove in, his perspective shifted. “I went from being skeptical, to fearful, to now not being able to live without it,” he said. “It’s opened so many doors that we didn’t have before.”
At Knak, AI is transforming how marketing content is created. “When I started, everything had to be hand-coded,” he said. “Then we moved to point-and-click with Knak. Now, we’re moving to a prompt-based future.”
Despite the rapid evolution of tools, Pierce believes one thing will never change. “People have been saying email marketing is dying for years,” he said. “But it’s not going anywhere. AI has opened the door to make it a lot easier to create great, personalized emails in ways that would have been totally unscalable before.”
For him, the goal isn’t replacement, it’s amplification. “AI won’t replace marketers entirely,” he said. “The most important thing in marketing is creativity, and humans will always connect best with other humans. What we want to do is make marketers more creative by giving them the best collaborator they’ve ever had.”
Authentic, adaptable, and grounded in experience, Pierce Ujjainwalla’s journey reflects the mindset of a modern leader: one who embraces change, builds with purpose, and leads with trust in both people and possibility.