Entrepreneurship and Business Success Quiz with Insights from Shopify's Presiden...

Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify, on Entrepreneurship and Passion

• Harley Finkelstein is the President of Shopify, one of the largest e-commerce platforms worth over 60 billion dollars.

• He became an entrepreneur out of necessity when his father was arrested and he had to support his family.

• Finkelstein co-founded Shopify with Toby Shannan, and they did it better than their competitors.

• There is a perception that entrepreneurship is expensive, but it's less than a couple of Starbucks coffees to start a business today.

• Finkelstein wants more people to try their hand at business creation or entrepreneurship and to find their life's work.

• He believes that the world is more colorful and interesting when people commercialize their hobbies.

• Many people work at jobs they hate because they think they have no choice, but entrepreneurship is now accessible to anyone.

• Finkelstein believes that the cost of failure is close to zero, and people can try again if something doesn't work out.

• Passion and disparity or being desperate are the two catalysts for starting a business.

• Finkelstein started his first business, a DJ company, out of passion, but his T-shirt business was born out of necessity.

• He thinks that therapy is a hack to get to self-awareness faster, and entrepreneurs should seek out the right fit for coaching, mentorship, or therapy.

• Finkelstein believes that entrepreneurs and builders are the ones who matter, not the critics or spectators.The Importance of Entrepreneurship and Self-Awareness

• Entrepreneurship is about solving problems in a way that uses the least amount of resources but has the highest amount of output.

• The best way to live is to be in the arena and pursue entrepreneurship despite critics and internal doubts.

• Therapy can help with overcoming fears of failure and taking risks.

• Failure is the discovery of something that didn't work and can be used to make improvements for the future.

• Shopify releases new products and features regularly, not all of which are successful, but some become game changers for the company and its users.

• Self-awareness is crucial in career decisions, such as accepting a promotion or changing roles.

• Being spiky means focusing on one's unique skill set and becoming the best in that area, rather than trying to be well-rounded.

• Not everyone needs to become a manager to be successful, and companies should allow for upward mobility in individual contributor tracks.

• Phil Reimer, a mentor to the author, encouraged him to attend law school not to become a lawyer but to gain knowledge and sophistication to become a better entrepreneur.

• Finding an unobvious skill that is complementary to one's entrepreneurial goals can provide an alpha or arbitrage opportunity.

• Improving oneself in areas outside of one's expertise can lead to better entrepreneurship and overall success.

• Selfishness in seeking knowledge and experiences can lead to personal growth and better performance in entrepreneurship.The Importance of Skill Stacking and Pursuing Hobbies in Entrepreneurship

• Law school taught the author critical reasoning, negotiation, and writing skills that helped in entrepreneurship.

• Entrepreneurship was deeply personal for the author and he made decisions with the goal of becoming a better entrepreneur.

• Skill stacking with complementary and rare skills can make a person the best in a million people at a particular thing.

• Cristiano Ronaldo is considered the best football player in the world because he indexes high in various skills.

• Most people start companies with people just like them, but it's better to find partners with complementary skill sets.

• The author's experience as a DJ taught him the importance of building relationships with clients and reading the room, skills he applies to running a large public company today.

• Pursuing hobbies outside of one's industry can provide valuable skills and insights for entrepreneurship.

• The author's experience helping his wife start an ice cream company and starting a tea business himself made him a better leader at Shopify.

• Many people are intimidated by the expectations and barriers to starting a business, but the cost of failure is low and it's easier than ever to start a business with platforms like Shopify.

• Starting a business in school can be a good time because there are few expectations and pressures.

• Pursuing hobbies and interests can provide a perspective change and allow for stumbling forward through the process of entrepreneurship.

• Removing expectations and focusing on the process of building a business can lead to more successful ventures.Building a Successful Business: Lessons from Shopify

• Many successful businesses, including Shopify, began as an accidental idea that was explored and developed over time.

• The key to building a successful business is to focus on doing something better than the competition, rather than trying to do something completely new.

• Shopify was founded by an immigrant who started a snowboard company and then developed software to sell snowboards online.

• At the time Shopify started, there were many competitors in the e-commerce space, but the company focused on providing a better solution for merchants.

• Shopify's philosophy is to have deep empathy for merchants and focus on providing practical solutions that add value at every step of the way.

• Shopify has a strong focus on helping small businesses grow and succeed, and the company is proud of its homegrown success stories.

• Shopify's approach to innovation is to use technology to make things better and more practical for merchants.

• Shopify embraces challenges and welcomes pain and difficulty, as it believes this will make the company stronger and more resilient.

• Resilience can be taught and learned, and Shopify believes that its entrepreneurial culture helps foster resilience in its employees.

• Shopify's employees are largely entrepreneurs themselves, with many having side hustles or past experience running their own businesses.

• Shopify's focus is on building something bigger together, rather than individual success, and the company believes that one plus one equals more than two.

• Ultimately, Shopify's success comes from its focus on providing practical solutions that add value for merchants, its entrepreneurial culture, and its willingness to embrace challenges and pain in order to become stronger.