Newsletter #44: Shopify news, the Chinese Business Club, and an acoustic performance

Hi there,

I hope you're feeling good.

Last week, I wrote about running. I’m quite happy because my running journey is becoming more and more enjoyable.

After years of only running at the gym, I made a change: this weekend, I ran my first official 5k race, in a beautiful park in London.

I completed this race in 31min17, which is a bit longer than my personal record (29min49). I had such a great experience!

I liked the joyful atmosphere, with people of all ages, cheering one another and enjoying the beautiful weather.

The sun is with us this week, in London. What a delight! It makes life sweeter.

Another thing that makes life sweeter? Your support!

I recently told you about Substack’s “like” button and invited you to smash it if you enjoyed an edition. And you did! Edition 43 got a total of 15 likes, which is more than I ever had. Thank you very much.

In today’s edition, we’re discussing Shopify news, the Chinese Business Club, and an acoustic performance.

Let's dive in.

Work

What has the Shopify ecosystem been up to this week?

• Archetype Themes just released Archetype Devkit

Archetype Devkit is described as a public, community-backed standard for advanced theme design and development.

What is it exactly?

I’ve spent several hours exploring the public GitHub repository, and I can say one thing: it’s super rich!

First, Archetype crafted a Figma file, containing a full design system dedicated to themes/stores design. It’s a library of components, which comes with guidance around styles (colors, effects, radius, spacing, typography).

Second, they built several tools for developers, including a Shopify CLI plugin, and a shared locales folder. I’m looking forward to giving them a try and exploring more.

Finally, Archetype released a theme boilerplate, called “Reference Theme”, which was built using this devkit, and consists of a complete buyer purchase flow.

This open source release is quite a big move from Archetype. I can’t wait to see how the ecosystem receives this initiative.

Discover more on the GitHub repository.

• Shopify announced its first-quarter 2024 financial results

In edition 33, I wrote about Shopify’s full-year 2023 financial results. It was great to be able to dive into the company’s numbers and get a clear understanding of its business model.

Now that we are four months into 2024, it’s time to put our glasses on and discover the first quarter’s results.

How is 2024 comparing to 2023 so far?

Here are some key figures:

• Gross merchandise volume (GMV) increased 23% to $60.9 billion, which is an increase of $11.3 billion over the first quarter of 2023.

• Revenue increased 23% to $1.9 billion compared to the prior year, which translates into year-over-year growth of 29% after adjusting for the sale of Shopify’s logistics businesses.

• Gross profit dollars grew 33% to $957 million compared to the prior year.

Discover more by reading the full report.

Inspire

If you enjoy reading about personal development, you probably know this sentence.

It’s the title of a book written by Porter Gale and published in 2013.

The idea behind this quote is simple: the connections you have are very important in determining your opportunities and eventually your success. Cultivating a strong and diverse network can open doors, and help you navigate challenges, ultimately contributing to your overall “net worth”.

Some people take this quote very seriously and advocate for people to invest in expanding and strengthening their network.

One of them is Harold Parisot.

Harold founded the Chinese Business Club, in 2012.

The original idea behind this club was to gather people interested in Chinese business, culture, and networking.

After COVID, the Chinese Business Club turned into more of a “Franco-French” club, with 90% of French members.

The club describes itself as France’s number 1 business network, with over 100 member companies and 12 events a year in Paris.

The Chinese Business Club’s strength is definitely its events. They take the form of monthly business lunches, where members gather and get to meet with prestigious guests of honors (entrepreneurs from French unicorns, political figures, CAC40 executives).

I believe this business is super interesting. Here is why:

• Each of the 100+ members pays an annual subscription of between 9K€ and 75K€.

• The club has an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of between 1M€ and 2M€.

• Harold Parisot, is a solo founder. He does not have any business partners or employees. He only works with freelancers, for specific tasks such as event filming.

• The club has a high retention rate: each year, 90% of member companies renew their subscriptions.

• The event’s format is well thought out: members are first standing up, then sitting down for lunch, then standing up again to make sure that everyone gets a chance to meet.

• High-paying members can choose who they sit next to.

• Harold goes above and beyond to find prestigious guests of honor. For instance, he recently had Tony Parker.

By belonging to the Chinese Business School, the directors of member companies are improving their network and attracting deals that they wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise.

It seems to be a win-win situation for everyone involved, and a lucrative business.

Explore

I recently found myself going back to one of my favorite videos on the internet: the official acoustic video of singers Anne-Marie and Ed Sheeran performing their song “2002”.

This video was released on YouTube six years ago.

I’ve stopped counting the times I’ve watched it.

It’s such a wonderful gem.

Enjoy.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading this edition until the end.

I'll talk to you soon.

Take good care of yourself.

Coralie