Shopify was an up and coming Ottawa startup that has skyrocketed to the top of the Canadian technology sector. Currently the software company has 142 employees, 40,000 clients and $600 million in product value. The company is currently also available in 90 countries around the world. Shopify now has another trophy with its name on it as Profit Magazine has crowned the startup “Canada’s Smartest Company”.
Boris Wertz of Vancouver’s Version One Ventures explains the Canadian firms success by saying that, “Shopify was one of the first companies to recognize that more and more small businesses are moving sales online and need an easy-to-use and inexpensive platform to do so. Being an early entrant in this space helped them initially, but they also are the company that has executed the best. They build great product, pursue aggressive sales strategies and are extremely metrics-driven.”
Profit listed the following as reasons as to why Shopify was the smartest at what it does:
Brains
The startup has a lot of intelligent people including the founding members working behind the scenes. Shopify’s first chief financial officer, Mark MacLeod, say that “[Cofounder] Tobi Lütke is just kind of off-the-charts brilliant. It’s pretty rare to see an entire founding team continue to be involved at the top level of a company that’s growing at the rate and scale of Shopify. And yet, they’re all at the top of their game and completely in charge of their functions.”
Culture
Shopify has developed a special culture and it can be seen in their offices which reflect exactly how many would think a young technology startup should look like.
Engagement
Shopify works hard at keeping its employees engaged and in the process is able to retain talent. The company has two methods of doing this. First, they have a one of a kind bonus structure where “every staffer is eligible for monthly bonuses based not on rank or job title but on how helpful they are to customers, partners and fellow workers.” They also have Hacker Days where the staff forms teams and can work on their own projects two days out of each quarter.
Build-a-Business
Is an contest that gives any new customer that uses Shopify to build a shop and then sell the most products in eight months gets a $100,000 reward.
Experts
Shopify has made a program though which third party developers and designers can become “Shopify Experts.” They not only promote the brand but do it for a reasonable flat fee.
Apps
Shopify lets outside developers create apps for their software making the ecosystem full of advanced features that customers can purchase at an extra price. App developers also get a decent deal out of the setup.
Mentorship
With the departure of Nortel and Corel Ottawa has lost a lot of experienced talent. Shopify brings back mentors like this by holding events like the 52-Hour Entrepreneur contest.
Big Dreams
Shopify is looking to go public by 2015 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Source: TechVibes
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