6 ms·

Shopify raises $7 Million Series A

58 points by faramarz 16y ago

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
navyrain 16y ago
I was thinking about writing a few apps for Shopify, so this might just push me over the edge. Any ideas/hints on how they'll expand the API? There are a few different calls I wish were there.
- xal 16y ago
  edward@shopify.com is the right person to talk to. We add new API's constantly as it's by far our biggest development focus. I'd also love to hear your thoughts, you can reach me at tobi@shopify.com
steveklabnik 16y ago
So much for "Bootstrapped, profitable, and proud," eh? http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2378-profitable-proud-shopify http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2378-profitable-proud-shopify That said, congrats to Shopify. You guys do great stuff, and your open source contributions are top-knotch!
- faramarz 16y ago
  What I was thinking. I'm sure 37signal guys have something to say. But you know what, I bet they got an amazing deal because of their leverage. how can you not take the money?
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    Actually, re-reading my link, apparently they had angel money before, so they already weren't technically bootstrapped.
    - faramarz 16y ago
      I found an interesting bit of info by Tobias on Quora "...it took about 3 years to reach positive cashflow and we financed this by not taking salaries as founders, angel investors and grants (canadian government) all at once." http://www.quora.com/How-long-does-it-take-for-a-web-startup-to-become-profitable http://www.quora.com/How-long-does-it-take-for-a-web-startup...
- cal5k 16y ago
  They've already proven their business model, have tons of customers, are making a profit, and have a plan for scaling their business. This is the perfect time to take investment - regardless of whether they were bootstrapped to this point. I don't think anything in the so-called "lean startup" philosophy runs counter to the idea of taking Series A financing when appropriate. Hell, even 37Signals took money from Jeff Bezos...
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    Oh totally. Just commenting on the change, that's all. I certainly don't think 'lean' means 'never take money,' but it also does demonstrate that Shopify is a 'startup' and not a 'lifestyle business.' Maybe they always were, and I just didn't notice.
- xal 16y ago
  Well as you can see, the post was taken out of the Profitable & Proud series and was renamed to a QA right after posting. I guess we are not technically bootstrapped by some incredibly demanding definition of the term. To me all those things - Bootstrapping, Angel money, Grants, VCs, etc - are just tangential tools in a pretty large toolbox that we as entrepreneurs can draw upon. There is no secret bootstrap society that you get to join if you do that just like there is no secret hammer society that you get to join if you only use hammers for all your carpentry jobs. In any case, use the right tool for the job. We started a risky business in a crowded space so we bootstrapped. We ran out of cash so we got Angel money. We became profitable so we increased our own spend. We got really good at this and wanted to accelerate so we take VC money to get to our goals faster. It's not rocket surgery.
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    Quite true. I've mentioned some of those things below, and I absolutely don't mean to denigrate your success, you guys are great. It's just changed the way that I see how you see yourselves, though I guess I should have been thinking that way all along. Keep up the awesome. :)
  - babeKnuth 16y ago
    It's not brain science either. :)
cal5k 16y ago
Not a single Canadian VC in the bunch. A pretty good illustration of what's wrong with Canada's VC industry... it doesn't exist! ;-)
- gawker 16y ago
  The talent's here but most leave because of these non-existing VCs. Though we are getting better!
- faramarz 16y ago
  Jevon Macdonald recently wrote a piece discussing a Deloitte study that suggests Canadian VC's arn't quite the fan of their own countrymen when it comes to startup investments compared to other nations. http://www.startupnorth.ca/2010/10/28/what-do-canadas-vcs-really-think/ http://www.startupnorth.ca/2010/10/28/what-do-canadas-vcs-re...
  - cal5k 16y ago
    Good think foreign investors are! I've seen quite a bit of interest recently actually from investors in the Middle East - a personal friend was searching for biotech funding for years and is days away from closing a major deal with a middle eastern fund (to start it in Canada). Couldn't get even a whiff from the stodgy Canadian VC industry.
- xal 16y ago
  The last Canadian VC I talked to accused me of being uninterested in growing my company after I didn't want to show up for some event with their LPs... Being insulted by a VC is almost a rite of passage up here.
  - karamdeep 16y ago
    That's horrible if true (and I have no reason to doubt that). However, methinks you've been talking to the wrong Canadian VCs...we're doing our best @iNovia to change those perceptions. I think the reality is VCs who act like jerks are going feel it in their pocketbooks when their deal flow and returns dry up. That being said, congrats on the round - great syndicate, great team and a great product. Between Well.ca, Shopify and Beyond the Rack, Canadian E-Commerce companies seem to be on the cusp of big things...exciting times indeed.
markbao 16y ago
Curious to see if the founders retained control of the company after their Series A or not. There was a discussion earlier about this.
- xal 16y ago
  yep we only sold a small minority.
  - markbao 16y ago
    Baller status. Congratulations, Tobi and team :)
3dFlatLander 16y ago
I've set up a number of shopping carts on shopify. It's been one of the best things that's happened to my freelancing life in a long time. Their documentation is a pleasure to read, and you can do some really nifty stuff without having to worry nearly as much about security (looking at you OSCommerce).
- subpixel 16y ago
  I'm working on some Shopify projects and have found the documentation lacking (i.e. written in broken English, out-of-date regarding newest code developments, and some links point to missing documents). I have tons of respect for the company and the team, but the documentation isn't given first-class status in my experience.
  - xal 16y ago
    Totally agreed. We will get much better at this in the future. Unfortunately 2/3 of the funding team (me included) are english-second-language.
- ROFISH 16y ago
  Maybe it's our own experience, but the "nifty stuff" is quite limiting. We've been trying to get combo pack support (ala Amazon's buy this + that together and get $5 off), and it's been a total NIGHTMARE. For a basic general cart, it's great. But especially for an e-commerce system that you rely on your store for 100% of your income, the second you want to try anything nifty, such as combo packs, flat rate box shipping (mostly calculations involving if a cart can fit in the flat rate box), coupon codes for only specific products, and random general issues (such as 100 variants per product max, which is annoying when trying to hand-create combo packs with 200-300 variants), I'd suggest something else.
  - josefresco 16y ago
    I've had great results from FoxyCart, even with custom code.
cromulent 16y ago
Good on them, they have a fine product and contribute back. I hope they all make a ton of money. My wife is an e-commerce trader and she's never written a line of code, and she uses Shopify. And I am not support, and that's good for everyone under this roof.
lionheart 16y ago
Congratulations! Shopify is a big inspiration for me. My current project is a similar platform for selling digital subscription products and I'm hoping to one day get it to the level Shopify is at right now. Plus, their support is amazing. I have no idea how they can manage to keep it on this level with so many people.
- callmeed 16y ago
  Keep at it. One of our products basically a shopify for photographers and does really well.
- xal 16y ago
  Great field, this is a very common request we are getting but it's not a true market fit for Shopify. Consider building it as a Shopify app so that you can market it to our customer base and through our sales.
code_duck 16y ago
Shopify certainly has a good deal going for themselves, with that they take a monthly fee AND a percentage of revenue. Nobody else in this market has been gutsy enough to ask for both!

58 points by faramarz 16y ago

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

I was thinking about writing a few apps for Shopify, so this might just push me over the edge. Any ideas/hints on how they'll expand the API? There are a few different calls I wish were there.

xal 16y ago
edward@shopify.com is the right person to talk to. We add new API's constantly as it's by far our biggest development focus. I'd also love to hear your thoughts, you can reach me at tobi@shopify.com

steveklabnik 16y ago

So much for "Bootstrapped, profitable, and proud," eh? http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2378-profitable-proud-shopify http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2378-profitable-proud-shopify That said, congrats to Shopify. You guys do great stuff, and your open source contributions are top-knotch!

faramarz 16y ago
What I was thinking. I'm sure 37signal guys have something to say. But you know what, I bet they got an amazing deal because of their leverage. how can you not take the money?
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  Actually, re-reading my link, apparently they had angel money before, so they already weren't technically bootstrapped.
  - faramarz 16y ago
    I found an interesting bit of info by Tobias on Quora "...it took about 3 years to reach positive cashflow and we financed this by not taking salaries as founders, angel investors and grants (canadian government) all at once." http://www.quora.com/How-long-does-it-take-for-a-web-startup-to-become-profitable http://www.quora.com/How-long-does-it-take-for-a-web-startup...
cal5k 16y ago
They've already proven their business model, have tons of customers, are making a profit, and have a plan for scaling their business. This is the perfect time to take investment - regardless of whether they were bootstrapped to this point. I don't think anything in the so-called "lean startup" philosophy runs counter to the idea of taking Series A financing when appropriate. Hell, even 37Signals took money from Jeff Bezos...
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  Oh totally. Just commenting on the change, that's all. I certainly don't think 'lean' means 'never take money,' but it also does demonstrate that Shopify is a 'startup' and not a 'lifestyle business.' Maybe they always were, and I just didn't notice.
xal 16y ago
Well as you can see, the post was taken out of the Profitable & Proud series and was renamed to a QA right after posting. I guess we are not technically bootstrapped by some incredibly demanding definition of the term. To me all those things - Bootstrapping, Angel money, Grants, VCs, etc - are just tangential tools in a pretty large toolbox that we as entrepreneurs can draw upon. There is no secret bootstrap society that you get to join if you do that just like there is no secret hammer society that you get to join if you only use hammers for all your carpentry jobs. In any case, use the right tool for the job. We started a risky business in a crowded space so we bootstrapped. We ran out of cash so we got Angel money. We became profitable so we increased our own spend. We got really good at this and wanted to accelerate so we take VC money to get to our goals faster. It's not rocket surgery.
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  Quite true. I've mentioned some of those things below, and I absolutely don't mean to denigrate your success, you guys are great. It's just changed the way that I see how you see yourselves, though I guess I should have been thinking that way all along. Keep up the awesome. :)
- babeKnuth 16y ago
  It's not brain science either. :)

cal5k 16y ago

Not a single Canadian VC in the bunch. A pretty good illustration of what's wrong with Canada's VC industry... it doesn't exist! ;-)

gawker 16y ago
The talent's here but most leave because of these non-existing VCs. Though we are getting better!
faramarz 16y ago
Jevon Macdonald recently wrote a piece discussing a Deloitte study that suggests Canadian VC's arn't quite the fan of their own countrymen when it comes to startup investments compared to other nations. http://www.startupnorth.ca/2010/10/28/what-do-canadas-vcs-really-think/ http://www.startupnorth.ca/2010/10/28/what-do-canadas-vcs-re...
- cal5k 16y ago
  Good think foreign investors are! I've seen quite a bit of interest recently actually from investors in the Middle East - a personal friend was searching for biotech funding for years and is days away from closing a major deal with a middle eastern fund (to start it in Canada). Couldn't get even a whiff from the stodgy Canadian VC industry.
xal 16y ago
The last Canadian VC I talked to accused me of being uninterested in growing my company after I didn't want to show up for some event with their LPs... Being insulted by a VC is almost a rite of passage up here.
- karamdeep 16y ago
  That's horrible if true (and I have no reason to doubt that). However, methinks you've been talking to the wrong Canadian VCs...we're doing our best @iNovia to change those perceptions. I think the reality is VCs who act like jerks are going feel it in their pocketbooks when their deal flow and returns dry up. That being said, congrats on the round - great syndicate, great team and a great product. Between Well.ca, Shopify and Beyond the Rack, Canadian E-Commerce companies seem to be on the cusp of big things...exciting times indeed.

markbao 16y ago

Curious to see if the founders retained control of the company after their Series A or not. There was a discussion earlier about this.

xal 16y ago
yep we only sold a small minority.
- markbao 16y ago
  Baller status. Congratulations, Tobi and team :)

3dFlatLander 16y ago

I've set up a number of shopping carts on shopify. It's been one of the best things that's happened to my freelancing life in a long time. Their documentation is a pleasure to read, and you can do some really nifty stuff without having to worry nearly as much about security (looking at you OSCommerce).

subpixel 16y ago
I'm working on some Shopify projects and have found the documentation lacking (i.e. written in broken English, out-of-date regarding newest code developments, and some links point to missing documents). I have tons of respect for the company and the team, but the documentation isn't given first-class status in my experience.
- xal 16y ago
  Totally agreed. We will get much better at this in the future. Unfortunately 2/3 of the funding team (me included) are english-second-language.
ROFISH 16y ago
Maybe it's our own experience, but the "nifty stuff" is quite limiting. We've been trying to get combo pack support (ala Amazon's buy this + that together and get $5 off), and it's been a total NIGHTMARE. For a basic general cart, it's great. But especially for an e-commerce system that you rely on your store for 100% of your income, the second you want to try anything nifty, such as combo packs, flat rate box shipping (mostly calculations involving if a cart can fit in the flat rate box), coupon codes for only specific products, and random general issues (such as 100 variants per product max, which is annoying when trying to hand-create combo packs with 200-300 variants), I'd suggest something else.
- josefresco 16y ago
  I've had great results from FoxyCart, even with custom code.

cromulent 16y ago

Good on them, they have a fine product and contribute back. I hope they all make a ton of money. My wife is an e-commerce trader and she's never written a line of code, and she uses Shopify. And I am not support, and that's good for everyone under this roof.

lionheart 16y ago

Congratulations! Shopify is a big inspiration for me. My current project is a similar platform for selling digital subscription products and I'm hoping to one day get it to the level Shopify is at right now. Plus, their support is amazing. I have no idea how they can manage to keep it on this level with so many people.

callmeed 16y ago
Keep at it. One of our products basically a shopify for photographers and does really well.
xal 16y ago
Great field, this is a very common request we are getting but it's not a true market fit for Shopify. Consider building it as a Shopify app so that you can market it to our customer base and through our sales.

code_duck 16y ago

Shopify certainly has a good deal going for themselves, with that they take a monthly fee AND a percentage of revenue. Nobody else in this market has been gutsy enough to ask for both!