A decade later, Alex Ferrara looks back on how Shopify has changed and shares the backstory on his Series A bet on this Canadian startup.
十年后，亚历克斯·费拉拉回顾了Shopify的变化，并分享了他对这家加拿大初创公司的系列A赌注的背景故事。
To: BVP Group
致：BVP集团
From: Alex Ferrara, Trevor Oelschig
出发地：亚历克斯·费拉拉，特雷弗·奥尔希格
Date: October 12, 2010
日期：2010年10月12日
Re: Shopify
Re： Shopify
https://x5d9vzm7z6.feishu.cn/space/api/box/stream/download/asynccode/?code=ZGYwMzU2OTk5MDM3ZTZmZDNhZmMyNzdiZjFiODFhZGZfdnFQNHZ5aU94cVh5SGtHamRhNTFHeG9zZVU4U0txTnZfVG9rZW46Ym94Y25uSjYycmIybzR1emVXYjh2Nkt5RlRjXzE2MjEwNTEyOTU6MTYyMTA1NDg5NV9WNA
We seek approval for BVP to invest up to $7mm in the Series A financing of Shopify, a provider of e-commerce software to SMBs. Shopify sells a simple SaaS solution that enables a business to quickly setup and run an online retail store. A typical customer signs up using their credit card and is up and running in a few hours with no long-term contract. Shopify targets SMBs and at-home capitalists (e.g., eBay and Etsy sellers) who pay an average of $45 per month, with the goal of servicing these customers as they scale to become larger customers with more sophisticated needs. Shopify has also managed to sign-up a number of large businesses like Pixar, Amnesty International and Tesla Motors (selling Tesla accessories, not the cars) at higher price points.
我们寻求批准BVP向中小企业电子商务软件提供商Shopify的系列融资投资7百万美元。Shopify销售一个简单的SaaS解决方案，使企业能够快速设置和运营在线零售店。一个典型的客户使用他们的信用卡注册，几个小时后就可以启动并运行，没有长期合同。Shopify的目标是每月平均支付45美元的中小企业和国内资本家（如eBay和Etsy卖家），目标是为这些客户提供服务，让他们扩大规模，成为拥有更复杂需求的更大客户。Shopify还设法以更高的价格签约了皮克斯、大赦国际和特斯拉汽车（销售特斯拉配件，而不是汽车）等许多大型企业。
Shopify was my first lead investment as a partner, so I was incredibly nervous. It took me three roundtrip flights to Ottawa before I finally decided to present Tobi a term sheet. Why? Very few VCs believed that software businesses targeting SMBs were good investments, let alone ones that could deliver venture returns.
Shopify是我作为合伙人的第一笔主要投资，所以我非常紧张。我花了三次往返渥太华的航班，才最终决定向托比提交一份条款表。为什么？很少有风投认为针对中小企业的软件企业是好的投资，更不用说能够带来风险回报的企业了。
Shopify has grown at an impressive rate. With limited marketing, customers have increased from 5,500 a year ago to nearly 10,000 today (+81% Y/Y). Over the same period, monthly recurring revenue has grown from $164K to $438K (+151% Y/Y). Across all Shopify-powered stores, the annualized gross merchandise value transacted is roughly $132mm. The business is profitable and largely bootstrapped, having raised just $1mm to date and having $1.3m of cash on its balance sheet with no debt.
Shopify的增长速度令人印象深刻。由于营销有限，客户从一年前的5500人增加到今天的近1万人（同比增长81%）。同期，每月经常性收入从16.4万美元增加到43.8万美元（同比增长151%）。在所有由Shopify驱动的商店中，年化商品交易总值约为132亿美元。该业务盈利，基本上是自力更生的，迄今为止仅筹集了100万美元，资产负债表上有130万美元现金，没有债务。