Tobi Lutke — Founder & CEO, Shopify

**Tobi Lutke** is the founder and CEO of **Shopify**, the e-commerce platform powering over 4 million merchants globally with a market cap exceeding $100B. Born in Koblenz, Germany, he moved to Canada and taught himself to code as a teenager. He originally built Shopify's predecessor as an online snowboard shop, then realized the platform was more valuable than the store. A self-taught programmer, he maintains strong technical opinions about software architecture, developer experience, and the role of technology in democratizing commerce.\n\nTobi is known for his contrarian management style — he famously banned most meetings at Shopify, implemented a 'chaos monkey' approach to organizational design, and publicly endorsed using AI tools as a core job requirement for all employees. He thinks deeply about craft, long-term compounding, and building tools that make entrepreneurs more powerful.\n\nNo direct relationship with Josh Baer or Capital Factory documented.