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" It took about 10 years' time for Shopify to be an overnight success. "
Tobias Lutke
Years
Overnight Success
Success
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" I never went to university. "
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University
Never
" What could be more Canadian than working hard to figure out something new and sharing it with the world? The world wants to hear from us! "
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New
World
Working Hard
" One of the most important tasks as a leader in a startup is to pick the right metric to track. This is often referred to as the 'compass metric' because it will be your compass for growth. It's important to note that 'compass metrics' will likely change over the lifetime of a business. "
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Leader
" I spent my time, growing up, essentially between two things: technology and retail. I was fascinated by selling and loved the idea of making a profit, but I also spent a lot of time on technology. "
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Two
Technology
Time
" Shopify was built as a company that could be run remotely anywhere. "
Tobias Lutke
Anywhere
Built
Run
" I'm ridiculously lucky. "
Tobias Lutke
Ridiculously
Lucky
" My early interactions with VCs were really, really poor. "
Tobias Lutke
Poor
Interactions
Really
" I got my first computer at the age of 6. To me, it was magic. By the time I was 12, I wanted to know the secrets behind the wizardry, and that started my journey toward computer programming. This was the early 1990s, when computers weren't built for the mass market. "
Tobias Lutke
Age
Journey
Know
" A lot of the best technologists live and work in Canada, and every once in a while, they are aggregated by a Canadian company, and then suddenly, they're not anymore. But the people are still here - they're just working for American companies to the benefit of American bottom lines. "
Tobias Lutke
People
American
Here
" We have a lot of really great companies in Canada, and I think there's always been this fear that 'great' in Canada doesn't mean great on a world stage. We need more self-confidence. We are building incredibly good businesses with incredibly good people, being loyal, dedicating themselves to solving important problems. "
Tobias Lutke
Fear
Great
Good
" We are at our best when we are at our proudest. Canadians need to harness that confidence in every arena, not just the ice rink. The Maple Leaf stands for quality, thoughtfulness, and innovation, so let's brand it proudly on the things that we've invented, created, and figured out. "
Tobias Lutke
Confidence
Leaf
Need
" I have serious, serious problems with personas - with unauthentic individuals. "
Tobias Lutke
Serious
Problems
Individuals
" It is my strong belief that computer literacy should be part of our educational system's core curriculum. "
Tobias Lutke
Core
System
Strong
" It's this concept of 'just fill up a building of smart people.' It sounds so basic, but honestly it might just be the secret behind Shopify's success. We just do that and get out of the way. "
Tobias Lutke
Way
Building
Success
" I'm against exclusion of any kind - whether that's restricting people from Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S. or kicking merchants off our platform if they're operating within the law. "
Tobias Lutke
Law
People
Kind
" I never cared a lot for school. "
Tobias Lutke
Lot
Never
School
" Our mantra has been, 'We will not buy a company unless we think the people that make up the company have a better job the day after the acquisition than before.' "
Tobias Lutke
Think
Better
Job
" I got my first computer when I was 6, and I was part of that early generation of children who grew up with computers always being around. I fell in love with them early on. "
Tobias Lutke
Children
Computers
Generation
" Shopify has been a perpetually underestimated company at every point of its history. "
Tobias Lutke
Point
Every
Company
" In my worldview, time is energy that you can invest in things, and money is energy that you can invest. Time has significantly more leverage than money in terms of how much energy you get out of time. "
Tobias Lutke
Energy
Things
Time
" If you go into business school and suggest firing a customer, they'll kick you out of the building. But it's so true in my experience. It allows you to identify the customers you really want to work with. "
Tobias Lutke
You
Work
Experience
" At Shopify, we are trying to make things as simple as possible, but for the business owner, it's not unlike starting your own little shop along Main Street somewhere. "
Tobias Lutke
Business
Street
Own
" If you believe something needs to exist, if it's something you want to use yourself, don't let anyone ever stop you from doing it. "
Tobias Lutke
Use
Stop
Doing
" I'm always trying to think of ways to make something more efficient. If I have to do something once, that's fine. If I have to do it twice, I'm kind of annoyed. And if I have to do it three times, I'm going to try to automate it. "
Tobias Lutke
Try
Trying
Always
" Sometimes, when you're building a company, out of necessity there's just a gazillion things you have to learn and figure out. "
Tobias Lutke
Learn
Building
Company
" I always loved retail. I love the ideas behind it. I think small-business retail is one of the areas where capitalism works so wonderfully well. "
Tobias Lutke
Think
Capitalism
Ideas
" Growing up, I spent my time doing useless stuff looking at computers. "
Tobias Lutke
Time
Looking
Growing Up
" Different people need different kinds of communication for it to have the same effect. That was something I had to learn. "
Tobias Lutke
Same
People
Need
" Products are a form of speech, and free speech must be fiercely protected, even if we disagree with some of the voices. "
Tobias Lutke
Free
Disagree
Free Speech
" I'm a liberally minded immigrant, leading a predominantly liberal workforce hailing from predominantly liberal cities and countries. "
Tobias Lutke
Workforce
Immigrant
Leading