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AcquiredAugust 6, 2019
The Shopify IPO
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Mentions
Ben and David head north of the border to Ottawa, Canada to cover perhaps one of the greatest IPO success stories of the past 5 years, Shopify. From humble beginnings as a “lifestyle business” hawking hipster snowboard gear online to now routinely mentioned in the same breath as Amazon, the tale of Shopify and its incredible CEO Tobi Lütke’s ascent is not one to miss! Editor's note: Shopify actually powered $41b of sales, not $14b, in 2018, as discussed toward the end of the episode. $14b was the fourth-quarter number. While this changes the analysis of value captured at the end of the episode (Shopify only captures 2.5% of merchant sales as their own revenue, not 7%, which is admittedly very different), it doesn’t change overall sentiment on the company discussed in the episode.
2 book mentions in this episode.
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Books Mentioned
Freemium
Chris Anderson
“The mention refers to Chris Anderson's book on the freemium business model, which was influential in the Internet communities at the time.”
Sentiment: Passing Reference
Trigger: business model for software
For: Entrepreneurs and software developers
Key quote: “I think Chris Anderson from Wired hadn't yet written the book on freemium.”
The host mentions Chris Anderson's book 'Freemium' to highlight the evolving business models in the software industry. They discuss how the concept of freemium was gaining traction around the time Shopify was being developed.
ASIN: B00DOYWYC6
Buy on AmazonClick the book cover image to open the affiliate link.
“The speaker mentions reading a book about Bill Gates at 16, where Gates discusses the concept of platforms and their value.”
Sentiment: Passing Reference
Trigger: platform business models
For: Entrepreneurs and business strategists
Key quote: “I read a book about Bill Gates pretty early in life when I was like 16 or so.”
The host mentions a book about Bill Gates to highlight his perspective on platforms and their ecosystems. This insight is used to explain the dynamics of Shopify's business model in relation to value creation and capture.
ASIN: B0D5KHFN6C
Buy on AmazonClick the book cover image to open the affiliate link.