Shopify's 2015 IPO letter from Tobi Lütke

About this letter

Tobi Lütke, Shopify's chief executive and the chairman of its board, wrote this short letter for the Form F-1 registration statement Shopify filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 14 April 2015, ahead of its initial public offering. He signs it simply with his first name.

Lütke recounts how Shopify grew out of the founders' own online store and launched under its present name in 2006. By the time of writing, more than 165,000 stores used it and over $8 billion of goods had passed through the platform, yet he notes that the brand is deliberately almost invisible to shoppers, because its job is to make merchants look good. The letter looks ahead to merchants selling across many channels from one platform, states a hope that Shopify will see the next century, and closes on the mission to make commerce better for everyone. The prospectus shows revenue of $105.0 million in 2014, with a net loss.

What to notice

1. 1

   Shopify began as the founders' own online snowboard shop, after existing store software proved costly and inflexible.