Article: “Why Your Geography Does Not Control Your Destiny”
Via TechCrunch: “Now more than ever, geography no longer controls your destiny in the tech world. While fashion centers around cities like Paris and New York, oil and gas around Calgary and Houston, and cars in Detroit and Tokyo, good software and hardware companies are sprouting up everywhere. When I look at how we built our business, the three essential building blocks – funding, talent, and users – are all more geographically agnostic than ever before.” Full article here.
Shopify’s 4th Build-a-Business Competition [Winner’s Day]
Shopify’s “Makers Market”
Lang/O’Leary Show: Interview with Harley Finkelstein
500 Startups: Harley Finkelstein’s Talk from Commercism Conference
Fast Company: “Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein On Asking For Forgiveness Instead Of Permission”
The BOB Awards: Harley Finkelstein’s Keynote Speech
“The Future of Retail” (Feat. Shopify, Holstee, Frank & Oak)
Introducing the 4th Annual Shopify Build-A-Business Competition
Startup Festival Presents: “Startup Stories”
Creative Mornings Talk w/ Harley Finkelstein (“The Future of Retail”)
#Popify: A Retail Experiment
#Inspire2013: DJs + Graffiti Artists + Entrepreneurs
Two years ago, I struck up a friendship with a well known DJ & music producer named DJ Illo. Despite very different career paths, one thing that Illo and I shared was a strong passion to learn everything there was to know about our unique areas of interest – music for him and startups for me. After many long conversations about topics like ‘success’ and ‘ambition’, we found a larger connection to one another; both Illo and I started DJ’ing when we were 13 years old. We both agreed that the lesson of learning how to DJ wasn’t about the technical side of mixing music, it was actually about developing an interest in something complex (especially for 13 year olds), and making a commitment to spend the time and attention needed to learn that skill. We decided that we wanted to give others a chance to have the same experience we had. So last week, in collaboration with YouthNet, we organized an event called #Inspire2013, where 80 teenagers came to Shopify to meet with accomplished musicians, artists, and entrepreneurs. The objective was simple: ‘inspire them to relentlessly pursue the things they are most interested in’. The event was amazing! Here are the details from the Citizen.
Daily Rant: “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die”
When I first heard the Peter Tosh lyric, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die”, it really resonated with me. Ever since I was a child, I had noticed that as a society we embrace the idea of going to ‘heaven’ (a post-mortem destination that purports to be majestic, peaceful and cathartic), despite the fact that most of us seem petrified of death. Ironic. It seems like we’re excited about the destination, but loathe the journey. Recently, I’ve been feeling the same way about parts of the ‘startup’ scene. Each day I receive a dozen or so emails from wide-eyed entrepreneurs that want to build startups. Most of them have great ideas, strong passion, and real conviction; however only a handful of them end up executing. They all want to be successful, but most of them don’t want to seriously invest the time and effort required. “Everybody wants to launch a startup, but few want to put in the work” – HF. #Hustle
Mixergy: “Agile Biz Dev” Part 2 (cheat sheet)
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of doing another interview with Andrew Warner on Mixergy, one of my favorite podcasts. Here’s the ‘cheat sheet‘ and summary of that session, titled ‘Agile BD, Part 2’.
Harley @ Pinterest
I have been using Pinterest for about 3 months now, and have been really enjoying the UI / UX and its functionality. Here are my boards & my pins.
Shopify Named by Fast Company as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Retail
Really humbled and excited that Shopify has been named as one of the world’s most innovative companies in retail. See full article here.
TechCrunch: ‘eCommerce Platform Shopify Acquires Mobile App Development Studio Select Start’
TechCrunch News: “Shopify, which provides a turnkey e-commerce technology that lets anyone create a storefront online, has acquired mobile app and game studio Select Start Studios.” See full article here.
Fast Company Article: ‘Strive For A Meritocracy, And Never Settle For Mediocrity’, by: Harley Finkelstein
Quoted: “I believe that we should all endeavor to produce our best work, and managers and entrepreneurs alike should look at the merit of their employees and partners as the most important and most relevant criteria for evaluation.” See my full article in Fast Company here.
National Post Article: “Shopify rings up US$15-million funding round”.
QUOTED: “On Monday, Jaded Pixel Technologies Inc. — better known by its online name, Shopify— will announce it has closed a $15-million round of venture capital financing from a group of Canadian and American investors.” See full article HERE
Interview: ‘CTV TechNow’ w/ Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein.
Article: ‘Innovators on Seasonality’ w/ Harley Finkelstein & Practical eCommerce.
This is the first article for a new series that I am working on w/ Practical eCommerce. The series is called ‘Innovators & Trendsetters‘, and will focus on emerging and unique – strategies being implemented by successful online shops. This instalment revolves around ‘seasonality‘ and capitalizing on seasonal trends. See full article here.
[UPDATE] New Post: ‘3 Unusual eCommerce Models‘
Mentoring at FounderFuel.
I am excited to announce that I will be doing some mentoring @ FounderFuel. FounderFuel is a killer accelerator program that is focused on developing tech startups – within an ecosystem of experienced entrepreneurs, top executives, VCs, and Angels. If you know any entrepreneurs / startups that could thrive via a unique & intensive acceleration, apply here.
E-Commerce News: ‘Have E-Commerce Your Way’ – Article by Harley Finkelstein, Shopify.com
E-Commerce Times Article: ‘Have E-Commerce Your Way’
By: Harley Finkelstein – Part of the ‘Expert Advice’ Series
Click HERE of logo for full article