Hardware Podcasts

Shopify: Tobias Lütke. How a snowboarder built a $150 billion business (2019)

How I Built This · 8 Jun 2026 · 58m

What this episode covers

Tobias Lütke, co-founder and CEO of Shopify, explains how his 2004 attempt to launch a snowboard store called Snowdevil led to the creation of the Shopify e-commerce platform. Lütke details the pivot from selling physical goods to building software using Ruby on Rails, the critical decision to switch to a subscription pricing model the night before his wedding, and how the 2008 financial crisis unexpectedly fueled merchant adoption. He also discusses his initial reluctance to become CEO, his journey to Silicon Valley for venture capital, and Shopify's eventual IPO in 2015.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Siemens, U.S. Bank, Bessemer, Amazon, Google, Lehman Brothers
Products
Shopify, Snowdevil
Tools
Ruby on Rails, Ruby

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