My conversation with Tobi Lütke (@tobi), co-founder and CEO of Shopify. 0:00 Companies as Social Technology 5:27 The Value of Reading Books: Cheat Codes for Life 7:28 Post-IPO Crisis: Cosplaying as a CEO 7:54 Competition vs Rivalry: The Power of Healthy Competition 16:02 COVID as a Turning Point: Rebuilding the Executive Team 18:21 Hiring Founders: Building a Team of High-Agency People 26:49 Shopify OS: Engineering the Company from First Principles 36:48 Compensation Innovation: Giving Employees Full Agency 40:41 The Psychology of Identity and Affirmations 48:43 Differentiation Over Perfection: Making It Your Own 50:31 Context Podcast: Documenting Decision-Making 1:26:36 The IPO Decision: Going Against Silicon Valley Orthodoxy 1:35:08 Building a Company Worth Working For 1:41:50 Hiring for Spikiness: Finding Non-Conformists 1:48:28 Office Design Philosophy: Creating Space for Excellence 1:58:54 Video Games as Business Training: StarCraft Lessons 2:07:06 AI Revolution: 2026 and Beyond 2:11:44 Focus on Craft: The Unquantifiable Elements of Excellence 2:21:08 Survivorship Bias: The Importance of Entrepreneurial Exposure 2:23:22 Closing Includes paid partnerships.