Tobi Lütke (Shopify Founder & CEO), Kaz Nejatian (Shopify COO), and Balaji review how Shopify rose from tiny startup to $180B+ global economy, with an annual GMV on par with the GDP of New Zealand. In the process they touch on Hayek, the Hanseatic League, merchant cavemen, the history of the corporation, and the optimal level of platform decentralization.

OUTLINE

00:00 - Introduction

02:39 - Shopify has the scale of a small country

08:49 - Lifestyle businesses take up your whole life

20:52 - SMBs can be harder than startups

27:13 - Shopify could invest in its merchants

32:23 - Shopify's economy is on par with Greece or New Zealand

38:40 - Money, time, risk, attention

39:55 - Is all retail a form of arbitrage?

47:14 - The history of the corporation informs the development of smart contracts

56:57 - Founders start as lead engineer, end up as chief psychiatrist

1:00:27 - Shopify is not just technology but community

1:06:26 - The concept of computational context

1:14:34 - Shopify as a dashboard for the global economy

1:22:48 - Atoms are so much more complex than bits

1:28:41 - Balancing centralized vs decentralized at Shopify

1:43:26 - If they could start a new country, what would Tobi and Kaz build?

2:03:28 - Kaz on working at Shopify

2:04:31 - Tobi's parting thoughts

LINKS

1) 100 true fans: kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/

2) Gobekli Tepe: smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665

3) Shopify active merchant: github.com/activemerchant/active_merchant

4) Fall of Civilizations: youtube.com/@FallofCivilizations

5) Founding vs Inheriting: thenetworkstate.com/founding-vs-inheriting

6) Shopify careers: shopify.com/careers

VIDEO

YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=DfrhCGpRCPI

CREDITS

Editing: twitter.com/DholakiaJaydeep

Images: twitter.com/elijah10T

SOCIAL

twitter.com/tobi

twitter.com/CanadaKaz

twitter.com/balajis

thenetworkstate.com