Tobi Lütke Turned a Snowboard Shop Into Shopify
Tobi Lütke has been chief executive of Shopify since April 2008 and is also chair of its board. He was born in Koblenz, Germany, is 45 and lives in Ontario. Shopify grew out of Snowdevil, an online snowboard store he started in 2004 with Scott Lake and Daniel Weinand.
| Role | Chief Executive Officer |
|---|---|
| Company | Shopify Inc. |
| Headquarters | Ottawa, Canada |
| Industry | Technology |
| In role since | 2008 |
| Born | 1980, Koblenz, Germany |
| Education | Computer programmer apprenticeship, Carl-Benz-Schule, Koblenz |
| Company website | www.shopify.com |
A Programming Apprenticeship and Snowdevil
- Left school after tenth grade for a programming apprenticeship at the Carl-Benz-Schule in Koblenz
- 2004: started Snowdevil, an online snowboard shop
- 2006: launched Shopify as the founders moved into e-commerce software
- April 2008: CEO of Shopify
In March 2025 he told staff that teams must show why AI cannot do a job before asking for more people. The same memo added questions on AI use to performance and peer reviews. The rules applied to everyone, Lütke and his executive team included, and staff were asked to share prompts and findings on Slack and the internal wiki Vault.
Shopify’s Revenue and Merchant Sales in 2025
Shopify sells software that merchants use to run online stores, point-of-sale systems and payments. It launched in 2006, two years before Lütke became CEO. In 2025 its revenue was about $11.56 billion, up 30.1% from $8.88 billion in 2024.
Gross merchandise volume on the platform reached $378.44 billion in 2025, up about 29.5%. Fourth-quarter revenue was $3.67 billion, up about 30.6%, GMV for the quarter was $123.84 billion, and operating income was $631 million.
