ACQ2: How to Live in Everyone Else's Future (with Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke)

Tobi is one of the most thoughtful people in the technology industry. He's also one of the very few people who started as a programmer -- just trying to solve his own problem -- and still runs his company as CEO today even as it approaches a $200B market cap. Tobi has done this in two big ways: first, a willingness throw away his past beliefs in the face of new data, growing into the leader the company needed. And second, by remaining a close observer (and participant!) in how new technology emerges that changes what is possible.

Today on ACQ2, we talk with him about both. The first half of the episode is about what has changed for him in the AI era. How he spends his time with AI throughout the day, how he thinks about what AI unlocks philosophically, and what he thinks the impact will be on all of us and what we build. The second half is more about Shopify. How he dealt mentally with the explosion in stock price in 2021 from a 20x revenue multiple to a 70x revenue multiple. And then, what he subsequently did when it all came crashing down. We also talk with him about the leadership and product principles that he's employed to steadily grow the company's revenues to an all-time high today.

Links: John Collison's Tweet: "Museum of Passion Projects"

Sponsor: Plaid: https://plaid.com

0:00 How Tobi Lütke is changing his life and habits with AI, and how he "lives in the future" to try and see what's coming next
6:41 How Abstraction Layers Shape (and Limit) Software's Potential
14:33 AI's Role in Unlocking Human Potential and Unnoticed Shifts
22:19 Why This Era is the Golden Age of Humanity and How to Engage with AI
37:46 How AI Tools Redefine Success and Empower Problem Solvers
44:25 Shopify's AI Mandate and what Tobi calls "Context Engineering"
57:26 Shopify Stock and how Leadership is like a Jazz Band
1:07:31 Video Games, Parenting, and Learning
1:13:06 The Fundamental Differences Between Founder-Led and Managerial Companies
1:32:47 Consensus is the Opposite of Leadership, and an Alternative to the Regret Minimization Principle