Harley Finkelstein

An internal memo from Tobias Lütke to Shopify was leaked, so he shared it on his X account.

You’ve probably already seen it by now.

It’s a perfect demonstration of two things I talk about often.

1. AI is not a gimmick at Shopify.

In fact, we talk about it a lot more internally than we do externally. Not because it’s cool. Not because everyone else is. Because it’s woven into everything we do, in every team, across the company. Tobi’s memo demonstrates how seriously we take that.

It was also far less surprising to everyone inside the business than it seems to have been for everyone outside of it. Tobi shared the memo to reinforce a philosophy that has already been adopted. This is not a new practice for us.

2. We’re merchant-first, always.

The first part of the memo is dedicated to the potential of AI for entrepreneurs. 
How it will bring down the complexity curve and provide a mindblowing step function change, allowing more people to pursue entrepreneurship than ever before.

This is how Shopify works. Our starting point is always: how can we make lives easier for entrepreneurs? How can we make them more successful? And how can we create a future where anyone with a dream has the power to make it a reality?

AI is not the whole rocket ship, but it’s the jet fuel that’s going to get us there, 10x (maybe 100x) faster.

At Shopify, AI is not marketing. It’s part of our mission.

If you haven’t read it yet - here it is:

The future of ecommerce = The future of commerce.

It’s time to drop the ‘e’ from ecommerce.

If you listen to any retail conference keynote or podcast, you’ll hear the term ‘omnichannel’ or ‘multichannel’ one million times. I think that’s the wrong way to think about the future of commerce.

In the future, I’m talking about in the next 2 years, omnichannel/multichannel will be the norm. It’ll be table stakes and how everyone builds businesses.

Before, customers went to brands. Today, brands must go where their customers are. Brands would be wise to start adopting this behaviour now.

Just wrapped our Q1 2025 earnings call.

Here’s the headline: Shopify's model works. In any market. In any climate.

1️⃣ Revenue hit $2.4B dollars, up 27% from last year.
2️⃣ Free cash flow margin came in at 15%.
3️⃣ GMV hit nearly $75B.

8 straight quarters of 25% or more pro forma revenue growth.
7 straight quarters of double-digit free cash flow margins.
And 7 straight quarters of GMV growth above 20%.

That’s a durable business firing on all cylinders.

And it’s not just about what Shopify is doing. It’s about how it’s serving our merchants.

Since 2015, 38 out of 39 merchant cohorts on Shopify have outperformed the ecommerce market. They’re more resilient because we take care of the complexity. We build and ship at a pace that lets them stay focused on their customers, not their technology. They move faster. They win more often. It’s that simple.

This quarter we welcomed Kering Beauté, JW Anderson, Away, Therabody, Lilly Pulitzer, VF Corporation, FAO Schwarz, and Grand Seiko Corporation of America. Big brands. Bigger vision. All scaling with Shopify.

Our newer channels are also growing fast. International GMV was up 31%. Offline GMV rose 23% YOY. And B2B GMV saw another quarter of triple-digit growth.

This is what building for the long term looks like.

Let’s go.

Loving this morning's The Wall Street Journal cover.
https://lnkd.in/gH2n9ZV2