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" 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. "

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" Computers add convenience to our everyday lives, but we are limited in what we can do with technology others have imagined. The ability for humans to teach machines entirely new things - coding - is nothing short of a superpower. "

Tobias Lutke

Technology

Short

Computers

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Shopify was built as a company that could be run remotely anywhere. "

" When the market turns down, a lot of people lose jobs... and that's the time people become entrepreneurs. Downturns end up being the best times to start companies. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I never cared a lot for school. "

" Commerce is a powerful, underestimated form of expression. We use it to cast a vote with every product we buy. It's a direct expression of democracy. This is why our mission at Shopify is to protect that form of expression and make it better for everyone, not just for those we agree with. "

" Our hiring is almost completely built around just going through someone's life story, and we look for moments when they had to make important decisions, and we go deep on those. "

" I never went to university. "

Tobias Lutke

University

Never

" People say Facebook connects the world. Facebook has 5,000 Ph.D.s that think about how to make you click on ads you don't want to see. Their business model is about something that most people would not perceive as making the world better. "

" Different people need different kinds of communication for it to have the same effect. That was something I had to learn. "

" To me, a great company starts with a great product and ends with a great product. "

Tobias Lutke

Company

Product

" It took about 10 years' time for Shopify to be an overnight success. "

" Growing up, I spent my time doing useless stuff looking at computers. "

" 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! "

" 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. "

" Shopify has been a perpetually underestimated company at every point of its history. "

" 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. "

" Everyone loves feeling comfortable. But it's actually completely useless. "

" 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. "

" I think I probably had to start a company, because I don't think I can work for other people. "

" Sometimes, when you're building a company, out of necessity there's just a gazillion things you have to learn and figure out. "

" A lot of people have a great business idea; they just need a little push to make it a reality. "

" Products are a form of speech, and free speech must be fiercely protected, even if we disagree with some of the voices. "

" Being part of something that's growing fast is better than being part of something that isn't growing fast because opportunities are essentially everywhere, and you're not competing for something. "

" 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. "

" Being a start-up has nothing to do with the numbers. It's that everyone who works there has the chance to do everything and have an impact. "

" I find the strongest predictor of people who do well at Shopify is whether they see opportunity as something to compete for, or do they see opportunity as essentially everywhere and unlimited? It's a rough proxy for pessimism and optimism. "