The 1-person billion-dollar company
Who'll be the first? And other recent Shopify goings-on.
In this roundup of Shopify’s recent goings-on, we focus on:
Who will be the first “1-person billion-dollar company”?
Lütke’s neighbour complained, so he bought her home.
Lütke’s car racing isn’t a material risk?
Risky for Shopify to lend US$1.78 billion to its merchants?
1. Who will be the first “1-person billion-dollar company”?
OpenAI’s Sam Altman and other AI gurus believe AI will make it possible for a single person to create a billion-dollar company. Could that one-person billion-dollar company be a Shopify merchant?
A newly released Shopify product makes it more likely. It’s called Tinker, “a free mobile app that enables anyone to explore and express their ideas with AI.”
In other words, it aims to be a solution to the problem of many people still not knowing where to start with AI. As President Harley Finkelstein put it: “There are too many tools, too many subscriptions, and not enough time. So [people] don’t start at all.”
But Tinker dials down the complexity to enable more people to create more AI agents that carry out more functions. Tinker is a place “to explore, play, and create with the latest AI tools.” More details at Today we’re opening up Tinker to the world
2. Lütke’s neighbour complained so he bought her home
Tobi Lütke left Ottawa in 2023 to live in Toronto. Now we know where he resides in that city, thanks to a March 26 article in ROB Magazine (a Globe & Mail pub), titled: “How tech billionaires are alienating neighbours in Toronto’s idyllic Wychwood Park.”
Yes, Tobi lives in Wychwood Park, which is northwest of Bathurst and Davenport. The grounds are “expansive and the homes stately, with massive trees.” The enclave has a “genteel majesty,” going by another description.
As the article’s title indicates, some tech bros were lined up in front of the firing squad. But the only thing mentioned about Tobi was that a resident told the reporter: “Lütke’s neighbour complained about the brightness of his outdoor lights so he bought her home.”
The bro drawing nearly all the fire was Daniel Debow, a former Shopify vice-president. It seems he is ruffling the feathers of longtime Park residents by campaigning to replace the ancient and informal methods for running the Park.
One piercing snipe was: “[Debow] was once referred to as ‘the Forrest Gump of Canadian tech.’” I’m guessing he wasn’t a fan of the coverage.
I’m also guessing Tobi didn’t like having his residential location broadcast to the world. Ironically, the article had noted that Wychwood Park was “hardly overrun by selfie-stick-brandishing hordes,” but that may now happen because of the article.
3. Lütke’s car racing isn’t a material risk?
Last week, Tobi Lütke and his racing team were in the 12-hour endurance event at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida. Hey, no reports of crashes this time!
Tobi competes in the LMP2 category, a second-tier class below the top-tier Hypercar class in endurance racing (6- to 24-hours in length). They drive vehicles subject to a maximum price cap and equipped with the 600-horsepower Gibson 4.2-liter V8 engine, capable of a top speed of 320 km/h.
It turns out other techies engage in high-risk sports too. OpenAI’s Sam Altman is also into car racing. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is into combat arts (mixed martial arts). He, Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have their pilot’s license.
But at least Zuckerberg and others have this risk mentioned in their company’s 10-K. I couldn’t find it in Shopify’s 10-K (issued in February of 2026).
As the Securities and Exchange Commission requires accurate disclosure of material risks, an omission could lead to an investigation, civil penalties and shareholder lawsuits. Or does Shopify deem it an immaterial risk for the most important Shopify guy to be racing at speeds of up to 320 km/h on a crowded race track for hours?
4. Risky for Shopify to lend US$1.78 billion to its merchants?
Shopify’s 2025 Annual Report says that it handed out US$1.78 billion in loans and cash advances to its merchants (as of 2025) so that they could build their businesses. What if the economy tanks and causes defaults to pile up? Will Shopify be in trouble?
In 2016, Shopify arranged for Export Development Canada (EDC) to insure the loans and cash advances made by Shopify Capital to its U.S. merchants. The coverage was later extended to merchants in Canada (during COVID-19) and several other countries.
But Shopify’s Annual Reports after 2023 dropped references to EDC, indicating this form of insurance is likely no longer in effect. Annual Reports for 2024 and 2025 say Shopify now reduces credit risks by selling off some of the loans and cash advances to third parties. Shopify transfers over the interest payments to them and gets a big injection of capital in return.
Shopify also sets aside, like a bank, reserves to cover defaults on the loans and advances still on its balance sheet. For banks, there is a regulatory framework to minimize the risk of a wave of loan defaults taking a bank down. Notably, they need to maintain a certain level of reserves to cover defaults. I have yet to find if a similar safety net is in place for Shopify.