Newsletter #48: my Liquid Weekly interview, Gil Greenberg, and a food for thought

Hi there,

I hope you're feeling good.

Last week, I wrote about David Goggins and the learnings I take away from him. One thing I didn’t share is that he believes in purposeless effort. It means that you shouldn’t need a purpose, like a 10k run or a marathon, to drive you to work hard. Your mind should be enough to push you.

When listening to David Goggins’s interviews, it’s hard to stay still. If you're walking while listening to him, chances are you’ll feel an urge to run. If you’re already running, you’ll want to accelerate.

I followed his advice: I didn’t wait for an official race to run my first 10k. I just put on my trainers, went outside, and completed my first ever 10k run in 1h09. It felt amazing! I’m already looking forward to the next one, and maybe a semi marathon after that? Who knows. One thing is sure: I’ll keep pushing.

In today’s edition, we’re discussing my Liquid Weekly interview, Gil Greenberg, and a food for thought.

Let's dive in.

Work

In edition 24, I wrote about the Liquid Weekly podcast, created by Karl Meisterheim (founder of the Liquid Weekly newsletter) and Taylor Page (Freelance Shopify Expert).

2 weeks ago, Karl and Taylor kindly invited me to join them for a chat.

We talked about the French Shopify community, freelancing, working at the mothership, experimenting with the latest tools, and inspirations such as Youness Idbakkasse and Gil Greenberg.

I had a lot of fun recording this episode with these two legends.

I hope you enjoy it!

Inspire

Huge news in the ecosystem: Shopify just acquired the application Checkout Blocks, built by Gil Greenberg.

Gil is a developer based in New-York. He is one of my main inspirations in the ecosystem. I’ve followed his journey for a while on Twitter, and have been impressed every step of the way.

Let’s go back in time, shall we?

In 2019, Gil is a front-end developer at Something Digital. On the side of this full-time job, he starts building mini Shopify applications, to learn more about the APIs. He shares his journey on Twitter, in a “build in public” kind of way.

In 2020, he takes part in the Shopify App Challenge, which invites app developers to build solutions for merchants whose businesses were affected by COVID. That’s where his new Shopify application, Checkout Promotions, is born.

He then gets accepted as 1 of 4 applications to build on Post Purchase Checkout Extensibility, which gives him a great opportunity to leverage his first mover advantage in that area. Gil builds the MVP for Checkout Promotions in 3 months and launches it on the Shopify app store.

In 2021, in the span of 6 months, Gil scales Checkout Promotions to $100K ARR. What a rocket!

In 2022, Gil sadly hits burnout. Then, he meets with Tobi Lütke and shares on Twitter that he feels re-energized about building on Shopify. That’s when things really start to align for him. He starts a new company and builds the MVP of his new application, Checkout Blocks, in 3 months.

On the side, his content strategy on Twitter changes. He stops sharing revenue numbers and future features. He now focuses his communication on all the features he recently shipped, and shows an impressive attention to details in each of these features. He also shares his ambition and vision for Checkout Blocks.

In his recap for the year 2023, Gils shares impressive accomplishments: he unlocked the "Built for Shopify" status, grew merchants count from ~2 to ~400, scaled agency partnerships from 0 to 10+, launched a great marketing site, multiplied his revenue by 40, and much more.

His Shopify application’s product market fit is undeniable.

In February 2024, Checkout Blocks passes 500 Plus Shopify brands. Less than 2 months later, it passes 700. Every month, Gil onboards 100+ merchants.

In March 2024, after 1.5 years of building alone, it’s time to scale the team. Gil puts together a dedicated support team, using a third-party service. And, at the end of April 2024, he announces that there are now 3 developers working on Checkout Blocks. The rocketship has definitely taken off!

Checkout Blocks’s success is not an overnight one. It’s the compounded result of Gil Greenberg’s hard work, dedication, and vision.

Even though I did not see this acquisition coming, it’s not surprising to see that Shopify acquired Checkout Blocks. It’s such an amazing addition to the platform, both in terms of product and team. Indeed, Gil Greenberg just joined Shopify as a Product Lead on the Checkout Extensibility team. And Justin Henricks, who was a Senior Software Engineer at Checkout Blocks, joined Shopify as a Software Developer.

Huge congratulations to them! I’m looking forward to discovering what they’ll build inside the mothership.

Explore

Last week, I shared a question that I regularly ask myself, and I received positive feedback about it.

So here is another one: “If all jobs were paid the same, which job would you be doing?”

I came across this question a few years ago, and heard it again last week at an event organized by Keir Whitaker.

It’s a great question that makes you reflect on your true passions and interests. By removing the salary variable, it invites you to explore which kind of work you would choose based on personal fulfillment rather than financial necessity.

Many of us working in tech are passionate about our jobs, but how much of that passion is influenced by the salary? Would you still be working in tech if all jobs were paid the same?

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