Tobias Lütke is CEO and co-founder of Shopify, the marquee shopping cart system of the e-commerce industry. As a programmer Tobi has served on the core team of the Ruby on Rails framework and has created many popular open source libraries such as the Typo weblog engine, Liquid and Active Merchant. He owns nearly 7% of Shopify, which went public in 2015.
In 2004, Tobias Lütke launched Snowdevil, an online snowboard shop from his garage with his partners, Daniel Weinand and Scott Lake. Lütke, a programmer by trade, had decided to build his own e-commerce platform in Ruby on Rails. Soon after, the Snowdevil founders decided to shift their focus from snowboards to e-commerce and Shopify, the e-commerce platform, was officially launched in 2006. In 2012, Profit included Lütke on its “The Fabulous 30” list. The Globe and Mail named Lütke “CEO of the Year” in November 2014. By September 2016, more than 300,000 merchants utilized Shopify and over $20 billion worth of gross merchandise on the company’s platforms since 2006.
Lütke grew up in Germany, where he learned to code by age 12 and left school at 16 to enter a computer programming apprenticeship. He began developing the e-commerce platform after he and a friend tried to open an online snowboard shop but couldn’t find decent software.
Discover the best artificial intelligence speakers for cybersecurity conferences, curated for CISOs, security leaders, and event planners seeking real-world AI insights.
Read More
Learn practical communication strategies from expert Sarita Maybin that transform difficult workplace conversations into productive dialogue.
Read More
Stop negotiating with your potential in 2026: discover five keynote speakers who create momentum, courage, and transformation at your events.
Read More
Discover the Best Artificial Intelligence Speakers for Technology (SaaS) Conferences helping teams ship AI, scale responsibly, and drive real product and growth outcomes.
Read More
Resilience keynote speaker Jon Dorenbos shares how to turn adversity into action through mindset, forgiveness, and authentic leadership strategies.
Read More
2026 event planning starts now: discover the keynote speakers and themes that transform audiences through AI ethics, psychological safety, and leadership.
Read More