About this episode
Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahncke break down Shopify (ticker: SHOP), a leading e-commerce platform company enabling e-commerce merchants across the world to seamlessly manage nearly every part of their business in one place. Shopify has been locked in a power struggle with Amazon, as the two present distinct visions for the future of e-commerce: Amazon tries to pull merchants to its marketplace and to conform with its standardized shopping experience, while Shopify empowers merchants to manage their own websites that go direct-to-consumer.
In this episode, you’ll learn how Shopify started humbly as a snowboard website, what makes Shopify such a killer app, how Shopify and Amazon compete but also have found ways to strategically co-exist, why Shopify may have multiple moats working to its advantage, and whether Shopify is attractively valued given its compelling growth prospects, plus so much more!
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IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN
00:00 - Intro
05:30 - Why the enterprise software market was ripe for disruption.
10:50 - Shopify’s origin story as a simple snowboard website in Canada.
14:47 - How Shopify’s value proposition differs from Amazon.
36:42 - Why Shopify abandoned its logistics business just one year after making a major acquisition.
42:42 - How Shopify has responded to Amazon encroaching on its turf.
01:01:38 - What to make of Shopify’s share split and ownership structure.
01:12:28 - Why Shopify’s growth story may only be just beginning.
01:16:32 - Whether Shawn & Daniel add SHOP to The Intrinsic Value Portfolio.
And much, much more!
*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.
BOOKS AND RESOURCES
Get smarter about valuing businesses in just a few minutes each week through our newsletter, The Intrinsic Value Newsletter.
Business Breakdowns podcast on Shopify.
Quartr’s overview of Shopify.
Clayton Christensen's The Innovator’s Dilemma.
Check out our previous Intrinsic Value breakdowns: Nintendo, Airbnb,
