Shopify’s Tobi Lutke is giving startups a crack at becoming the next Amazon

Shopify is on a tear. The e-commerce company, which builds behind-the-scenes software for web merchants, is one of the little guys capitalizing big-time on the push toward online shopping. Shopify’s revenue grew 74 percent in the first nine months of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016, and the company has seen its stock price jump about 120 percent since January. It is now worth almost $10 billion.

At the helm is CEO Tobi Lutke, who founded the company more than a decade ago after running into obstacles trying to start an online snowboarding business. He couldn’t find good software for launching an online retail operation, so he decided to build some himself. Most impressive? Lutke’s success with Shopify comes while operating in a world dominated by Amazon and Walmart.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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