Today’s callers: Whitney in Utah wonders how to bridge the gap between pre-seed and institutional investment for her fitness/retail combo space. Then Chloe in the U.K. considers which markets to target for her at-home crafting kits. And Christy in Washington wants to convert gifters into repeat customers for her coffee flavoring brand.

Plus, Christina’s take on why Milk Bar is better served with her as Chief Experimenter rather than Chief Executive.

Thank you to the founders of The Beau Collective, Cotton Clara, and Vashon Island Coffee Dust.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode—where Guy and former show guests take questions from early-stage founders—leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to the story of how Christina founded Milk Bar from our episode back in 2019.

This episode was produced by J.C. Howard with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.

You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com and on Substack.

In 2004, German programmer Tobias Lütke was living in Ottawa with his girlfriend.

An avid snowboarder, he wanted to launch an online snowboard shop, but found the e-commerce software available at the time to be clunky and expensive.

So he decided to write his own e-commerce software.

After he launched his online snowboard business, called Snowdevil, other online merchants were so impressed with what he built that they started asking to license Tobi's software to run their own stores.

Tobi and his co-founder realized that software had more potential than snowboards, so they launched the e-commerce platform Shopify in 2006.

Since then, it has grown into a publicly-traded company with over 7,000 employees and $11 billion in revenue.

Timestamps:

• 04:55 - Tobi discovers snowboarding–and meets his future wife–on vacation in Canada
• 09:00 - Building a new kind of snowboarding company
• 24:55 - Pivot point: skateboards or software?
• 29:45 - The night before Tobi’s wedding, Shopify switches business models
• 39:15 - The 2008 financial crisis hits… revealing a huge opportunity
• 52:45 - After a decade, Shopify goes public

This episode was produced by Casey Herman with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant. This archive episode was produced by Katherine Sypher.

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Entrepreneur, author, and podcaster Tim Ferriss joins Guy on the Advice Line to answer questions from three early-stage founders. Plus, Tim shares the inspiration behind his latest venture, Coyote—a 10-minute card game that encourages time spent with friends and family.

First, Lauryn from San Francisco asks about the best way to scale her biodegradable ear plugs in two very different directions. Then Emily from Kansas City weighs whether DTC or wholesale is where to focus her accessory brand after Taylor Swift wore one of her rings and sales exploded. And finally, Kimberly in Woolwich, Maine wonders how to incentivize her customers to pre-order her high-quality, sustainable, clothing.

Thank you to the founders of GOB, EB & Co, and K. Becker Designs for being a part of our show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to Tim Ferriss’s founding story as told by Tim on the show in 2020.

This episode was produced by Noor Gill with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Andrea Bruce. Our audio engineer was Cena Loffredo.

You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com and on Substack.

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