Tobi Lütke & Kaz Nejatian on Shopify's Country-Sized Economy | Network State Podcast with Balaji #2

Tobi Lütke (Shopify Founder & CEO), Kaz Nejatian (Shopify COO), and Balaji review how Shopify rose from tiny startup to $180B+ global economy, with an annual GMV on par with the GDP of New Zealand. In the process they touch on Hayek, the Hanseatic League, merchant cavemen, the history of the corporation, and the optimal level of platform decentralization. If you're interested in these topics, you'll be interested in Network School. Apply online at https://ns.com. OUTLINE 0:00 - Introduction 2:39 - Shopify has the scale of a small country 8:49 - Lifestyle businesses take up your whole life 20:52 - SMBs can be harder than startups 27:13 - Shopify could invest in its merchants 32:23 - Shopify's economy is on par with Greece or New Zealand 38:40 - Money, time, risk, attention 39:55 - Is all retail a form of arbitrage? 47:14 - The history of the corporation informs the development of smart contracts 56:57 - Founders start as lead engineer, end up as chief psychiatrist 1:00:27 - Shopify is not just technology but community 1:06:26 - The concept of computational context 1:14:34 - Shopify as a dashboard for the global economy 1:22:48 - Atoms are so much more complex than bits 1:28:41 - Balancing centralized vs decentralized at Shopify 1:43:26 - If they could start a new country, what would Tobi and Kaz build? 2:03:28 - Kaz on working at Shopify 2:04:31 - Tobi's parting thoughts LINKS 1) 100 true fans: https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-... 2) Gobekli Tepe: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor... 3) Shopify active merchant: https://github.com/activemerchant/act... 4) Fall of Civilizations:    / @fallofcivilizations   5) Founding vs Inheriting: https://thenetworkstate.com/founding-... 6) Shopify careers: https://www.shopify.com/careers AUDIO 1) Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 2) Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/10yi2HX... CREDITS Editing:   / dholakiajaydeep   Images:   / elijah10t   SOCIAL   / tobi     / canadakaz     / balajis   https://thenetworkstate.com https://ns.com