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  • #41 Tobi Lütke: The Trust Battery

    #41 Tobi Lütke: The Trust Battery
    #41 Tobi Lütke: The Trust Battery

    Today, I interview fellow Ottawan and the founder and CEO of Shopify, Tobi Lütke. In case you’re still new to the internet, Shopify is the largest ecommerce platform that allows people to easily set up online storefronts to sell everything from jewelry to surfing lessons.

    Shopify began as a simple two man operation selling snowboards online, but it became clear rather quickly that it had the potential to grow into much more. Now Shopify employs more than 4,000 people and supports more than 600,000 businesses online. It’s a remarkable story, with a remarkable leader at the helm.

    There was so much I wanted to talk to Tobi about that we hop around quite a bit. Here are a few of the topics we discuss:

    • Tobi’s thoughts on how video games helped him prepare to run a company
    • How selling snowboards online slowly transitioned to the creation of one of the biggest tech companies in the world
    • Why Tobi intentionally headquartered Shopify outside of Silicon Valley and how that fits into his overall growth strategy
    • One of the most underrated resources Tobi leans on to mine nuggets of wisdom when trying to get insight or solve a problem
    • The hard and valuable lessons Tobi learned as they scaled from a 2 employee company to a 4,000 employee company
    • What the “Tobi test” is, and how it helps Shopify team members become more adaptable, unified and prepared when things go haywire
    • How employees use the “trust battery” and how it fosters better teamwork, communication, and productivity throughout the company
    • The benefits of hiring employees in a “secondary market” as opposed to a “primary market” and how that contributes to the unique culture at Shopify
    • Tobi’s decision-making process and his philosophy on making quick vs analytic decisions
    • Tobi’s unusual morning routine that gets him in the right mindset to tackle the day
    • His optimistic view of AI and machine learning and how they will impact the way we do things in the future

    And more…

    Whether you’re building a business of your own, want to create a more dynamic and unified culture at work, or just like hearing entrepreneur war stories, this episode will not disappoint.

    Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/

     

    Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/

     

    Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish

     

  • 300: 5 Listeners Who Took Action and Are Seeing Awesome Results

    300: 5 Listeners Who Took Action and Are Seeing Awesome Results
    300: 5 Listeners Who Took Action and Are Seeing Awesome Results

    300!

    In this special 300th edition of The Side Hustle Show, I’m excited to feature 5 listeners who took action on specific ideas they heard on the show or read on the Side Hustle Nation blog — and turned that action into concrete results.

    Those results range from their first $1000 on the side, up to a $700k e-commerce empire, but the point is they made something happen.

    Tune in to hear how they got it done, and check the text summary below.

    Full Show Notes: 5 Listeners Who Took Action and Are Seeing Awesome Results

  • 349. How Sports Became Us

    349. How Sports Became Us
    349. How Sports Became Us

    Dollar-wise, the sports industry is surprisingly small, about the same size as the cardboard-box industry. So why does it make so much noise? Because it reflects — and often amplifies — just about every political, economic, and social issue of the day. Introducing a new series, “The Hidden Side of Sports.”

  • 299: Trading Up: From $8.65 an Hour to Retired at 25, Plus the Next 10 Years

    299: Trading Up: From $8.65 an Hour to Retired at 25, Plus the Next 10 Years
    299: Trading Up: From $8.65 an Hour to Retired at 25, Plus the Next 10 Years

    Remember the Red Paperclip Guy from a few years ago? In 2005, an out-of-work Kyle MacDonald started with a single red paperclip and traded his way up to a house in Kipling, Saskatchewan.

    Remarkably, this barter adventure took only 14 trades and was completed in less than a year. Kyle started out small, each time seeking something “bigger and better” in exchange.

    For example, his first trade was the red paperclip for a pen shaped like a fish. Then he traded the fish pen for a doorknob, and on and on up the ladder.

    The story certainly has some feel-good elements to it, and after a while the media attention definitely helped speed the process along, but I think it’s worthwhile to revisit because we’re all trying to “trade up.”

    By “trading up”, it’s important to note I’m not necessarily talking about acquiring a bigger house or a better car, but more along the lines of making bigger impacts and living better stories.

    I was reminded of the red paperclip story by last week’s episode with Rob “The Flea Market Flipper” Stephenson. He talked about a challenge inside his community to start with something small and keep flipping the profits into bigger deals to see how much you could trade up over the course of a year.

    I think we all have a red paperclip story. Like Kyle, even starting with almost nothing, you can make big things happen with a little initiative and a little help from others along the way.

    This episode is about connecting the events that got you to where you are today, and thinking about where you want to go tomorrow.

    What’s the next trade you’d like to make?

    In the spirit of the red paperclip story, I’m going to use my own entrepreneurial journey to illustrate this; and similar to Kyle, I’ll use a series of 14 key decisions or trade points. But unlike Kyle, this took me a lot longer than a year!

    Full Show Notes: Trading Up: From $8.65 an Hour to Retired at 25, Plus the Next 10 Years

  • 348. Is the Government More Entrepreneurial Than You Think?

    348. Is the Government More Entrepreneurial Than You Think?
    348. Is the Government More Entrepreneurial Than You Think?

    We all know the standard story: our economy would be more dynamic if only the government would get out of the way. The economist Mariana Mazzucato says we’ve got that story backward. She argues that the government, by funding so much early-stage research, is hugely responsible for big successes in tech, pharma, energy, and more. But the government also does a terrible job in claiming credit — and, more important, getting a return on its investment.

  • #40 Ben Thompson: Thriving in a Digital World

    #40 Ben Thompson: Thriving in a Digital World
    #40 Ben Thompson: Thriving in a Digital World

    Today’s guest is Stratechery author and founder Ben Thompson. If you’re an investor in Silicon Valley, work at a tech start-up, or just love to geek out on technology and business analysis, odds are good that Stratechery is on your short list of must-read blogs.

    What started as a side project, quickly ballooned into one of the most influential tech blogs on the web. The New York Times called Stratechery, “one of the most interesting sources of analysis on any subject.”

    I agree.

    In this interview, Ben and I cover a lot of ground. Here are a few of the things we discuss:

    • Learn once and for all how to pronounce Stratechery. 🙂
    • How Ben’s business model was developed and how he massaged it over the years to become what it is today
    • The one metric Ben looks at each day to gauge the health of his business
    • How Ben deals with people who rip off his work and pass it off as their own
    • Ben’s thoughts on pricing, free trials, content and other important aspects of online membership sites
    • How Ben structures his day to churn out such incredible content so consistently
    • How Ben handles being wrong on his site, and his process for screening his work for confirmation bias
    • How the internet has changed the traditional view of supply and demand, and what companies should do about it
    • What Ben would teach an MBA class about internet strategy (if you do any business online, you need to hear this)
    • What it would take for a start-up to overtake Google or Apple, and the vulnerabilities that all companies share, no matter how big or profitable
    • The new era of technology and how companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and Amazon are doing it right (and what you can do in your own business to take full advantage)

    This is one of the most jam-packed interviews I’ve done on the Knowledge Project. Ben’s answers are so thoughtful and informative that you’re going to want to have a notebook handy.

     

    Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/

     

    Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/

     

    Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish

     

  • 298: $100k a Year Flipping Random Items: The Return of the Flea Market Flipper

    298: $100k a Year Flipping Random Items: The Return of the Flea Market Flipper
    298: $100k a Year Flipping Random Items: The Return of the Flea Market Flipper

    Rob is a professional “money multiplier.”

    The good news, he says, is it’s a skill that can be learned.

    You might remember Rob “The Flea Market Flipper” Stephenson from episode 147 in late 2015. At that time, he was earning $30,000-$40,000 a year flipping random products on the side from his day job.

    Since then, the father of 3 has taken his buy low, sell high model and turned it into a full-time 6-figure operation.

    Rob doesn’t discriminate what the products are he’s flipping, as long as he can pick it up for a great price he’ll flip it.

    I can’t blame him, since some of these single deals are worth thousands of dollars in profit. In fact, Rob only buys items he estimates he can 10x when he flips them.

    Since we last spoke Rob has fine-tuned his processes for finding and flipping items. He still hits the flea markets weekly, but he also uses some interesting tools and apps to find more items.

    He’s also found a way to save big on shipping cost, enabling him to go after bulky items with even bigger markups.

    In this “where are they now” episode, I invited Rob back to learn how he scaled up his business, what his buying criteria or flipping process looks like today, and what he’s got cooking next.

    Full Show Notes: $100k a Year Flipping Random Items: The Return of the Flea Market Flipper

  • 347. Why You Shouldn’t Open a Restaurant

    347. Why You Shouldn’t Open a Restaurant
    347. Why You Shouldn’t Open a Restaurant

    Kenji Lopez-Alt became a rock star of the food world by bringing science into the kitchen in a way that everyday cooks can appreciate. Then he dared to start his own restaurant — and discovered problems that even science can’t solve.

  • Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind (#19)

    Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind (#19)
    Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind (#19)

    Kevin talks to Michael Pollan, author of “How to change your mind” about the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. Get the show notes here.

    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.kevinrose.com/subscribe

  • 297: Event Hosting: How to Bring Your Tribe Together and Build a 6-Figure Conference on the Side

    297: Event Hosting: How to Bring Your Tribe Together and Build a 6-Figure Conference on the Side
    297: Event Hosting: How to Bring Your Tribe Together and Build a 6-Figure Conference on the Side

    “I’m this close to firing you right now.”

    That’s what Hung Pham’s boss told him when he reached out about ways to get his team more engaged with the company’s overall mission.

    “If you want passion and purpose,” she said, “you’ve got to look somewhere else.”

    Frustrated with the internal cultures at the organizations he worked in, Hung wanted to attend a culture-building conference.

    The only problem? That event didn’t exist.

    Sensing a void in the market, Hung was inspired to create Culture Summit.

    With nothing more than a website, a few contacts booked as speakers, and a whole load of enthusiasm, Hung started emailing prospective attendees and getting the word out within the right circles.

    He had more than 200 attendees for that first event and was profitable from day one.

    By year two, Hung’s Culture Summit, at CultureSummit.co was a 6-figure business – all on the side from his day job.

    This was after Hung almost gave up and his partner left the business when they didn’t sell any tickets for the first three months.

    Tune in to hear how Hung validated his idea for his conference, how he sold his first tickets, and how he’s grown this side hustle into a full-time business with attendees from 5 continents, and where he wants to go from here.

    Full Show Notes: Event Hosting: How to Bring Your Tribe Together and Build a 6-Figure Conference on the Side