Harley Finkelstein

Well, two things. This was the case then. It's still the case today. In many ways, businesses are a living thing, a living creature. And so think about biology. Think about out in nature. There's something called the law of ecology, and there's four laws of ecology.

And one of those laws of ecology says that for a species to survive in any environment, the species needs to evolve faster than the rate of change of the environment changing.

And one of those laws of ecology says that for a species to survive in any environment, the species needs to evolve faster than the rate of change of the environment changing.

I think companies are like that also. I think when you were early at a company, whether you're the first person in the room or the 10th or the 10,000th person in the room, every company has a particular beats per minute or a cadence. And that cadence is often a cadence of change.

I think companies are like that also. I think when you were early at a company, whether you're the first person in the room or the 10th or the 10,000th person in the room, every company has a particular beats per minute or a cadence. And that cadence is often a cadence of change.

And I think to be successful in any organization, again, early or even later stage, you have to figure out what the cadence of change is and make sure you are adapting rapidly enough to a degree that is equal to or greater than the change of the organization itself. That's the first thing. Second thing is, I think it's really important, especially in the early days,

And I think to be successful in any organization, again, early or even later stage, you have to figure out what the cadence of change is and make sure you are adapting rapidly enough to a degree that is equal to or greater than the change of the organization itself. That's the first thing. Second thing is, I think it's really important, especially in the early days,

to act as a bit of Swiss army knife, to say, not this is my job, this is what I'm going to do, but rather, let me look at the buffet of problems here, and let me figure out what is the most important problem to solve, and I'll do that first. And then I'll go look at the next buffet, what's the next problem to solve, and I'll go focus on that. So the early days of Shopify, we didn't have a CFO.

to act as a bit of Swiss army knife, to say, not this is my job, this is what I'm going to do, but rather, let me look at the buffet of problems here, and let me figure out what is the most important problem to solve, and I'll do that first. And then I'll go look at the next buffet, what's the next problem to solve, and I'll go focus on that. So the early days of Shopify, we didn't have a CFO.

We didn't have a chief marketing officer. We didn't have a head of sales. We didn't have very many people. It was a small handful of people. And so what I tried to do as much as possible is figure out what the teams, very small team needed from me, most importantly, and focus on that.

We didn't have a chief marketing officer. We didn't have a head of sales. We didn't have very many people. It was a small handful of people. And so what I tried to do as much as possible is figure out what the teams, very small team needed from me, most importantly, and focus on that.

And I remember in 2010, we raised our first round of financing, and we were starting to get some term sheets from some great venture capitalists in the U.S., and there were terms there. They wanted to know what our MRR was and what our CAC to LTV ratio was. Some of them had a liquidation preference, and some of them did not.

And I remember in 2010, we raised our first round of financing, and we were starting to get some term sheets from some great venture capitalists in the U.S., and there were terms there. They wanted to know what our MRR was and what our CAC to LTV ratio was. Some of them had a liquidation preference, and some of them did not.

At that point, you have no choice but to learn an incredible clip because those early days, back to the law of ecology, the rate of change of the business, of the company is so quickly that in order for you to keep up and be valuable, you just have to continue to grow so rapidly. And if you do, you then re-qualify for the next phase. And if you don't, you don't deserve to be the next phase.

At that point, you have no choice but to learn an incredible clip because those early days, back to the law of ecology, the rate of change of the business, of the company is so quickly that in order for you to keep up and be valuable, you just have to continue to grow so rapidly. And if you do, you then re-qualify for the next phase. And if you don't, you don't deserve to be the next phase.

And I always thought of it like that. But even in terms of today, we have millions of stores on Shopify. We just crossed the $1 trillion with a T, the $1 trillion mark of total GMV, of total sales on our platform, which is unbelievable. But in those early days, It was e-commerce for small businesses. And now we help power commerce in physical retail stores, on social media, on marketplaces.

And I always thought of it like that. But even in terms of today, we have millions of stores on Shopify. We just crossed the $1 trillion with a T, the $1 trillion mark of total GMV, of total sales on our platform, which is unbelievable. But in those early days, It was e-commerce for small businesses. And now we help power commerce in physical retail stores, on social media, on marketplaces.

We have merchants in 175 countries. We have very large merchants like Mattel and Procter & Gamble using us. So Even from a product perspective, the product of Shopify has changed so much that we can no longer simply just be e-commerce for small businesses. Today, we have to be commerce for everyone. And that changed the way you make decisions. It changed the way you think about the future.

We have merchants in 175 countries. We have very large merchants like Mattel and Procter & Gamble using us. So Even from a product perspective, the product of Shopify has changed so much that we can no longer simply just be e-commerce for small businesses. Today, we have to be commerce for everyone. And that changed the way you make decisions. It changed the way you think about the future.

It changes the business model of the company. But the one thing that has not changed from a tiny little company in Ottawa, Canada, to $100 billion global commerce platform is that the people that work at Shopify, to be successful, we expect that they requalify every year for their job based on what the company requires of them.