A Note Before We Begin: I wrote this because I genuinely respect what Tobias Lütke, Harley Finkelstein, and the Shopify team have built. I’ve been following their work, watching their content, studying their decisions. What they’ve accomplished is remarkable. 4.8 million merchants, millions of jobs created, billions in economic impact. That kind of scale doesn’t happen by accident.

This analysis isn’t a criticism. It’s curiosity. I’m fascinated by what makes businesses connect to identity. Why customers don’t just use products but make them part of who they are. Shopify has created that kind of gravitational pull, and I wanted to understand how.

Here’s the thing: no one can read their own label. You’re inside your business every day, making thousands of decisions, solving endless problems, fighting fires, and celebrating wins. From that vantage point, you see tactics, execution, features, and metrics. You know things I’ll never know, like customer conversations, internal debates, strategic context, and competitive dynamics.

But from outside, patterns emerge that are invisible from inside. Customers experience your business differently from how you do. The concept they associate with you might not match how you describe yourself. The mental territory you occupy might be more powerful than the product features you’re building.

I’ve done my best to be accurate. I’ve researched extensively, analyzed customer language, studied public statements, and examined patterns across markets. But I’m working from outside. If something here misrepresents your reality or intent, that’s not deliberate. I’m trying to show you what I see. Not because I’m right and you’re wrong, but because an external perspective sometimes reveals what’s hidden by proximity.

You have data I don’t have. You have context I can’t access. You’re living the complexity; I’m observing patterns. Both perspectives matter. You might read this and think, “he doesn’t understand our strategy.” You’re probably right about specifics. But patterns aren’t always visible to those creating them.

This entire piece attempts to answer one question: What business are you in?

Not what you sell. Not what you do.

What do you mean in customers’ minds?
What concept do you own?
What identity transformation do you enable?

The answer might surprise you.
It surprised me.

Let’s look at your label together.

PS: The CEO Clarity Starter Kit uncovered all the insights you’ll read in this perspective.

Part 1: The Story They Tell

Tobias Lütke explains Shopify’s success through software. A frustrated snowboarder in 2004 couldn’t find decent e-commerce tools, so he built his own in Ruby on Rails. The platform worked better than the snowboard business, so they pivoted. Simple technical origin. Accidental empire.

“Every single time we took complexity out, success went up,” Lütke says, crediting growth to better code and cleaner interfaces. His narrative centers on removing friction and making commerce as simple as adding items to a cart. He measures this through activation rates, time-to-first-sale, and merchant retention curves.

Harley Finkelstein, Shopify’s President, frames it differently but equally tactically. “Amazon is trying to build an empire, and Shopify is trying to arm the rebels.” This binary framing (empire versus rebels, dependency versus independence) sounds strategic. It positions them against Amazon’s centralized marketplace, claiming to democratize commerce tools.

Ask Shopify’s leadership what they’re selling, and they describe their commerce platform. Their unified dashboard. Payment processing. Fulfillment network. They show statistics: 30% of U.S. e-commerce, $292 billion in gross merchandise volume, 4.8 million merchants across 175 countries. They credit product decisions, the 2009 API launch that attracted developers, the mobile-first approach, and aggressive AI integration.

The Linguistic Pattern: Verbs Without Nouns

The language reveals everything. They describe what they do: “we make commerce simple,” “we provide tools,” “we enable merchants,” “we arm rebels,” “we democratize access.” Every statement is a verb. An action performed, a benefit delivered, an outcome created.

This verb-centric articulation is diagnostic. Verbs describe execution. They’re context-dependent, require proof, and compete on delivery. When companies frame themselves through verbs, they’re competing on how well they do things.

Contrast this with noun-based positioning. Nouns create mental territory ownership. “Volvo” triggers “safety” as a concept, not “makes safe cars” as an action. “Tesla” means “future,” not “builds electric vehicles.” The noun creates an instant association that transcends execution.

Shopify’s entire articulation lives in verb territory: making, enabling, democratizing, arming. They’re describing execution without claiming mental territory. They’re perfecting the articulation of what they do while missing what they mean.

Even “arming the rebels” is a verb phrase describing an action against Amazon rather than a noun they own. Their mission, “make commerce better for everyone,” continues the pattern. Make. Better. For. All verbs and adjectives modifying commerce (a noun they don’t own).

They’re trying to position themselves through the improvement of someone else’s category rather than ownership of their own concept.

Part 2: The Hidden Position

Strip away what Shopify says and examine what mental territory they actually occupy. The evidence lives in customer language, not company communications.

Merchants don’t say “I use Shopify.” They say, “I’m building my business on Shopify” or “Shopify lets me finally have my own store.” The linguistic pattern repeats: “my own store,” “my own brand,” “my own customers.” The possessive “my own” appears constantly, revealing a deep psychological need being satisfied.

Liberation language dominates testimonials: “quit my 9-5 because of Shopify,” “don’t have to give Amazon 15-30% anymore,” “the platform that lets the little guy win.” Every phrase describes release from constraint. Relief. Freedom. Escape.

The transformation pattern is most revealing: “You can learn the system in minutes,” “I can figure it out,” “Let me quit my job.” The linguistic shift from “can’t” to “can” (from impossibility to possibility) reveals what Shopify actually provides.

The First Layer: Sovereignty

Initial analysis suggests they own sovereignty.

Sovereignty isn’t independence (which describes a relationship, independent from something). Sovereignty is absolute ownership and self-determination. The divine right of self-rule. When merchants choose Shopify, they’re declaring sovereignty over their commercial existence.

The evidence:

• “My own” appears constantly → sovereignty language
• “Don’t let anyone stop you” (Lütke) → sovereignty over choices
• “Products are speech” (Lütke) → sovereign expression
• “More voices, not fewer” (Finkelstein) → distributed sovereignty
• The entire “arm the rebels” narrative → granting sovereignty to fight empires

But sovereignty is a state you achieve. It’s something you claim. So, naturally, I dug deeper.

The Second Layer: Existence

Sovereignty requires existence first. You can’t be sovereign over what doesn’t exist. This reveals the deeper noun: existence.

Lütke captures it: “If you believe something needs to exist.” The transformation merchants describe isn’t just from constraint to freedom, but from non-being to being. From idea to actual business. From dreaming to doing.

“Before Shopify, I had an idea. After Shopify, I had a business.” This isn’t metaphorical. It’s ontological. Shopify brings businesses into existence that otherwise wouldn’t be.

But existence is binary. You exist or you don’t. It’s a threshold you cross, a moment of creation. The customer’s language reveals something deeper still.

The Deepest Layer: Becoming

Customer language gives it away:

• “Shopify helped me become an entrepreneur”
• “I’m becoming the business owner I wanted to be”
• “We’re becoming a real company”
• “Building my business” (continuous action, not completed state)
• “Growing with Shopify” (ongoing transformation)

The single noun Shopify owns is ‘becoming’.

Not sovereignty (a state). Not existence (a threshold). But becoming. The continuous transformation from idea to business to empire. The journey, not the destination.

Becoming is deeper than sovereignty because sovereignty assumes you’ve arrived at self-rule. Becoming is deeper than existence because existence is the moment of creation. Becoming is the continuous process of transformation that never ends.

This mirrors life itself. You’re never done becoming. You’re always in the process. The person you are today is becoming the person you’ll be tomorrow. The business you start today is becoming the business you’ll build over the years.

Becoming encompasses both sovereignty and existence:

• You’re becoming sovereign (moving toward self-determination)
• You’re becoming existent (bringing something into being)
• You’re becoming successful (transforming potential into reality)

But becoming never completes. There’s no arrival point. You don’t become and then stop. You’re always becoming something more.

Why Becoming Is The Strongest Position

Becoming is the most defensible noun because it’s never finished. Competitors can’t say “we’re better at becoming” because becoming isn’t a feature or capability; it’s a state of continuous transformation that customers experience with you over time.

Sovereignty can be challenged (“we offer more sovereignty”). Existence can be copied (“we also bring businesses into being”). But becoming is a journey customers take with you, accumulating over months and years. The longer merchants are on Shopify, the more they’ve become. That history, that transformation, that journey can’t be recreated by switching platforms.

This explains the stickiness that transcends switching costs. Merchants don’t leave because leaving means abandoning who they’ve become. Their identity has been shaped through the journey of becoming on Shopify. To leave is to sever the narrative of their own transformation.

The Disconnect

Here’s what makes this extraordinary and fragile: Shopify owns becoming, the continuous transformation of merchants from ideas to businesses to empires, without recognizing it.

Customers experience becoming. But Shopify describes enabling, democratizing, and simplifying, which are verbs describing what they do, not the noun they own.

They own the journey.
They articulate the tools.

They own transformation over time.
They articulate features and benefits.

They own becoming.

The single most powerful noun in entrepreneurship. And they don’t know it.

Understanding my 4-Level Positioning Framework

Before we diagnose where Shopify operates, you need to understand how positioning actually works across four distinct levels:

Level 4: OWNING
The concept becomes synonymous with you in customers’ minds. Remove your name, and customers still associate the concept exclusively with you. Volvo owns “safety.” Tesla owns “future.” This is mental territory ownership. The strongest competitive moat. Takes 24-48 months to reach, decades to maintain. Nearly impossible to copy.

Level 1: CLAIMING
You articulate your positioning through language and framing. “Your AI copilot.” “The everything store.” This is how you express what you stand for. Takes 3-6 months to refine. Weak barrier, and anyone can copy words.

Level 2: PROVING
You deliver measurable outcomes that validate your claims. Specific KPIs, verified ROI, demonstrable improvements. You can specify what changes, by how much, verified how. Takes 6-12 months to establish. Moderate barrier, and requires work and proof.

Level 3: LIVING
You embed positioning into organizational DNA. Resource allocation, processes, incentives, and culture all reinforce the position. Amazon’s fulfillment network lives “convenience.” Takes 12-24 months. Hard barrier, expensive and complex to copy.

Most companies operate only at Level 1 (claiming through articulation) and wonder why they can’t reach Level 4 (owning mental territory). You can’t skip levels. Each builds on the previous. And most dangerously, you can own territory at Level 4 without recognizing it, while claiming the wrong things at Level 1.

Let’s see where Shopify actually operates.

Part 3: The Level They’re Actually Operating At

Shopify believes it operates at Level 4. Owning entrepreneurship in customers’ minds. Their internal narrative suggests perceptual monopoly. But the diagnosis reveals dangerous gaps.

Level 4 Assessment (Owning):

Strong. Remove Shopify’s name from conversations about starting online businesses, and customers still think of them. When BigCommerce or WooCommerce pitch, they frame “like Shopify, but more open” or “like Shopify, but free.” This proves ownership because others define themselves relative to your mental territory.

The concept Shopify owns isn’t “commerce platform” (category) or even “entrepreneurship” (too broad). It’s sovereignty/existence/becoming, the psychological permission and practical infrastructure for commercial self-determination.

This is genuine Level 4 ownership. The noun exists in customers’ minds. But, critically, they don’t recognize what concept they possess. They think they own “simplified commerce” or “rebel infrastructure,” both verb-based articulations of execution, not noun-based ownership of concepts.

Level 1 Assessment (Claiming):

Confused and misaligned. Shopify’s articulation focuses on verbs describing actions, not the noun they own. They claim to “arm rebels” and “democratize commerce,” both actions performed on behalf of someone else. They frame success in terms of “making commerce better” (outcomes), not “granting sovereignty” or “enabling existence” (concepts).

This is the classic noun/verb error: perfecting articulation of execution (what they do) while missing positioning (what they mean). They’re claiming the wrong things — verbs instead of nouns, actions instead of concepts.

Their mission statement, messaging, and founder communications describe what they do without claiming what they mean. Framing without foundation. They’re articulating tactics while owning territory they don’t recognize.

The risk: competitors could recognize and claim the actual territory Shopify owns but doesn’t defend. Someone could explicitly position as “true sovereignty” or “exit platform dependency” and attack the concept Shopify owns but hasn’t protected.

Level 2 Assessment (Proving):

Weak on the concept that matters. Shopify struggles to specify what changes, by how much, and how to verify them, especially regarding sovereignty outcomes.

They show merchant count (4.8 million) and GMV ($292 billion), but these numbers prove the volume of commerce, not the quality of sovereignty. These are activity metrics, not success rates for sovereignty.

Can they prove sovereignty delivers better outcomes? Their merchant success rates aren’t dramatically different from historical small business failure rates. They prove they enable commerce (verb execution) but not that sovereignty works better than dependency (noun ownership validation).

This matters because proving sovereignty requires demonstrating that merchants succeed because they have sovereignty, not just that many merchants exist. The gap between owning the concept (Level 4) and proving it delivers (Level 2) creates vulnerability.

The noun/verb gap appears here too: they measure verb execution (GMV processed, stores launched, transactions completed) instead of noun ownership outcomes (businesses surviving because of sovereignty, duration of merchant independence versus marketplace dependency).

Level 3 Assessment (Living):

Mixed signals reveal ownership without full structural alignment.

Positive signals that prove sovereignty:

• No commission on sub-$1 million app developers (ecosystem sovereignty)
• Refusal to compete with merchants through private label (respecting merchant sovereignty)
• Direct payment processing, avoiding platform rent-seeking (maintaining sovereignty)
• Remote-first culture enabling global access (democratizing sovereignty access)

These structural choices align with sovereignty even though Shopify doesn’t explicitly recognize sovereignty as its position. They’re living it through instinct, not designing for it through strategy.

But cracks reveal misalignment:

• Customer service automation treats merchants as subjects, not sovereigns
• Fraud protection prioritizing platform over merchant sovereignty
• Billing surprises violate sovereignty (surprises remove control)
• Support loops make merchants feel powerless (the opposite of sovereign)

Every automated interaction that doesn’t help says, “You’re a subject, not sovereign.” Every pricing increase without notice violates sovereignty. Every unresolved fraud incident erodes the promise of existence.

The diagnosis: Shopify lives sovereignty in some structures (payment model, ecosystem economics, merchant non-competition) but breaks it in others (support, fraud, billing). They’re living the position accidentally in areas aligned with founder instincts, but violating it in areas optimized for platform efficiency.

The Complete Picture:

Shopify operates at Level 4 (owns sovereignty/existence in the customer’s mind) while simultaneously operating at Level 1 (claims the wrong things through verb-based articulation). They have moments of Level 3 (structural alignment) but lack Level 2 (proving sovereignty delivers better outcomes).

They own the right concept (Level 4) while claiming wrong concepts (Level 1). They live and breathe sovereignty in some areas (Level 3) while violating it in others. They lack proof that sovereignty works better (Level 2).

They need to: recognize what they own (sovereignty/existence/becoming), prove it works better than dependency, design all structures to reinforce it, while continuing to let customers discover it through experience rather than marketing claims.

Part 4: The Identity Layer

The genius of Shopify’s accidental position is how perfectly it addresses identity needs. Using Shopify doesn’t just enable commerce. It confers the identity of “business owner.” This identity transformation is what customers actually buy.

The Identity Architecture:

Shopify enables specific identity journeys:

• From “person with idea” → “founder”
• From “employee” → “entrepreneur”
• From “creative” → “CEO”
• From “hobbyist” → “business owner”

These aren’t product features. They’re identity state changes. The platform creates what anthropologists call a “liminal space,” a threshold between identities where transformation happens. Shopify is the permission slip allowing someone to cross from one identity to another.

The $29 monthly fee isn’t a transaction cost. It’s identity subscription pricing. Paying it each month reinforces “I am a business owner” in a way free tools can’t. The graduated pricing tiers ($29 Basic, $299 Advanced, $2,000+ Plus) mirror the identity journey from new entrepreneur to established business.

Once crossed, the emotional investment makes switching platforms feel like identity betrayal, not vendor change. This explains why merchants tolerate higher costs, limited customization, and degraded support. They’re not paying for software features; they’re protecting their identity as sovereign business owners.

What Makes Identity Grant Powerful:

Shopify doesn’t tell merchants, “You are now a business owner.” The platform structure grants that identity through experience:

• Getting a custom domain → “this is a real business”
• Processing first payment → “customers validate your existence”
• Viewing analytics dashboard → “you control business intelligence”
• Managing inventory → “you have sovereign operations”

Each interaction reinforces sovereignty without claiming to grant it. Merchants feel sovereign because the structure treats them as sovereign, not because messaging tells them they are.

This experiential identity grant is more powerful than marketing claims. If Shopify ran ads saying “We make you a real business owner,” it would weaken the position. The power comes from merchants discovering their sovereignty through use, not being told about it.

Founder Identity Projection:

Lütke’s identity powerfully shaped this position. A dropout with ADHD and dyslexia who taught himself programming, moved countries, and failed at selling snowboards. His story embodies “barriers shouldn’t stop you.” This isn’t marketing. It’s an identity proof. If Lütke could build a $130 billion company despite everything, maybe you can build your business despite your barriers.

Finkelstein adds complementary identity proof. A lawyer who sold t-shirts to pay for law school embodies the idea that “traditional paths aren’t the only paths.” Together, they project the possibility of identity: outsiders can build empires.

But identity tension emerges as Shopify succeeds. How long can you grant sovereignty while building an empire? The enterprise expansion, market dominance, and $2.68 billion quarterly revenue create identity dissonance between position (sovereignty enabler) and reality (platform empire).

Identity Misalignment:

The clearest identity fracture appears in support degradation. Merchants chose Shopify for sovereignty and empowerment. They encounter AI chatbots and circular help loops. One Reddit thread captures the betrayal: complaints aren’t about poor service quality, they’re about feeling abandoned by the entity that granted them permission to start.

This isn’t just poor service. It’s identity betrayal. The platform that granted sovereignty removes it when merchants need help. The structure that made them feel like “real business owners” reveals them to be dependent subjects.

One merchant: “I thought I owned my business, but Shopify owns me.” The sovereignty grant becomes dependency revelation.

This explains the bimodal response pattern: passionate advocates and bitter detractors, with little middle ground. It’s not about product satisfaction. It’s about whether the identity promise was kept or betrayed.

The B2B Identity Protection:

In enterprise contexts, the identity dynamic operates differently. Corporate executives choosing Shopify aren’t claiming to be entrepreneurial. They’re protecting professional identity as someone who “gets” modern commerce.

Shopify becomes identity insurance: choosing them signals (without saying) “I think like a founder even inside a corporation.” This signalling is more powerful than explicit claims. No executive says, “I chose Shopify to show I’m innovative.” They chose Shopify, and that choice signals innovation.

This is why Shopify Plus succeeds despite higher costs and feature parity with cheaper alternatives. Enterprise buyers aren’t paying for capabilities. They’re buying identity validation.

Part 5: The Success Mechanics

What’s Actually Working:

The position of sovereignty/existence/becoming creates a gravitational pull that makes certain successes feel inevitable while hiding critical weaknesses.

The Ecosystem Flywheel:

The 16,000-app ecosystem isn’t strategic planning but a position mechanic. Because Shopify owns sovereignty, developers build apps not just for revenue but for identity participation. Creating a successful Shopify app makes you “an entrepreneur enabling other entrepreneurs.”

This recursive identity loop emerged without orchestration. Shopify didn’t need to market “build apps to be part of the entrepreneurial movement.” Developers felt the sovereignty position and wanted to participate. The ecosystem is position physics, not strategy.

The Pricing Model:

The pricing architecture reveals understanding without recognition:

• $29 entry point says “sovereignty is accessible”
• Transaction fees growing with success say “we share your journey”
• Enterprise tiers say “sovereignty scales without limits”

This pricing emerged from understanding the position (accessibility + shared success) without recognizing that they were pricing sovereignty, not software. They accidentally built sovereignty economics while thinking they were pricing features.

The Anti-Amazon Stance:

Finkelstein’s “arm the rebels” isn’t strategic positioning. It’s a position requirement. When you own sovereignty, you must oppose dependency. The anti-Amazon stance emerges from position logic, not marketing strategy.

This explains why Shopify refuses marketplace models, private-label products, and anything that competes with merchants. They understand these would violate sovereignty, even though they don’t recognize sovereignty as their owned concept.

The Dual Revenue Model:

The 28% subscription/72% merchant solutions split demonstrates alignment with the position. Shopify only wins when merchants succeed because sovereignty without success is a false promise. Transaction fees growing with merchant growth align incentives.

This emerged from understanding: “We should make money when merchants make money.” But they frame it as a “aligned business model,” missing the fact that they’re actually proving sovereignty works. Merchants with sovereignty succeed, and Shopify benefits from that success.

What They’re Missing

The Verb Articulation Without Noun Recognition

The fundamental error: Shopify articulates what they do (verbs: democratize, enable, simplify) without recognizing what they own (nouns: sovereignty, existence, becoming).

This verb-heavy articulation creates three problems:

1. Competitive Vulnerability: Competitors can copy verbs (we also enable, we also simplify), but can’t attack nouns they don’t recognize. If competitors understood that Shopify owns sovereignty, they’d position themselves as “true sovereignty” or “sovereignty without platform dependency.”
2. Strategic Confusion: Internal decisions optimize for verb execution (making commerce simpler) instead of noun defence (protecting sovereignty). This explains why support automation makes sense from a “simplify operations” perspective, but violates sovereignty.
3. Measurement Misalignment: They measure verb outcomes (GMV, activation rates, feature usage) instead of noun ownership strength (sovereignty perception, existence sustainability, becoming success rates).

The Ownership Without Proof

Shopify owns sovereignty but proves commerce execution. The Level 2 gap:

• They measure commerce metrics (GMV, stores launched, transactions)
• They deliver sovereignty outcomes (independence, self-determination, existence)
• They don’t prove sovereignty works better than dependency

This means they can’t defend their position with evidence. When competitors claim “we’re more open” or “true ownership,” Shopify can’t counter with sovereignty proof because they don’t measure it.

The Structural Violations

Most dangerous: operational decisions violate position ownership:

• Support automation: Optimizes platform efficiency, destroys the sovereignty experience
• Billing surprises: Captures revenue, violates financial sovereignty
• Fraud resolution: Protects the platform, abandons the merchant’s existence

Each violation happens because they don’t recognize sovereignty as the noun to defend. They optimize for operational goals (efficiency, revenue, platform protection) that destroy what they own.

The Enterprise Dilution

Expanding to Fortune 500 captures revenue but dilutes the sovereignty positioning. How do you own “sovereignty” while serving empires?

This works only if framed correctly: “We give large organizations sovereignty to innovate” or “Enterprise sovereignty from legacy constraints.” But they don’t recognize sovereignty ownership, so they position the enterprise as “Shopify for big companies” (category expansion) instead of “sovereignty at scale” (position extension).

Part 6: The Coaching Moment

The Fundamental Reframe:

Shopify, you don’t own “rebel infrastructure,” “commerce democracy,” or “simplified selling.” Those are verbs describing what you do. You don’t even own “sovereignty” or “existence,” though you grant both.

You own something deeper: becoming.

The continuous transformation from idea to business to empire. The journey merchants take with you over months and years. The process of becoming entrepreneurs, becoming business owners, and becoming successful.

Every merchant choosing Shopify begins becoming. And the longer they’re with you, the more they’ve become. That accumulated transformation is your moat. Not features. Not pricing. The journey itself.

Why?

Becoming is the journey, not the destination. It’s never complete. It mirrors life itself. We’re all always becoming, never finished becoming.

This makes it the most defensible position possible:

• Sovereignty can be challenged or copied
• Existence can be replicated or improved
• Becoming is accumulated over time and cannot be recreated by switching

When merchants leave Shopify, they’re not just switching vendors. They’re severing the narrative of their own transformation. They’re abandoning the journey of who they’ve become.

The Recognition Required:

You own becoming without knowing it. Customers experience continuous transformation with you. They’re becoming entrepreneurs, becoming successful, becoming who they want to be. But you describe what you do (enable, democratize, simplify), not what you mean (becoming).

This gap creates vulnerability. You can’t defend what you don’t recognize. You can’t design for what you don’t understand. You can’t measure what you don’t name.

Level-Specific Recommendations

Fixing Level 1 (Claiming): Recognizing The Noun

Stop describing what you do. Start recognizing what you own.

Current articulation: “We arm rebels,” “democratize commerce,” “make it simple,” all verbs describing actions.

Required shift: Internal recognition that you own becoming — the continuous transformation of merchants over time.

This doesn’t mean marketing “We help you become.” It means:

• Framing internal strategy around: “We own the journey of becoming”
• Evaluating decisions through: “Does this deepen or disrupt their becoming?”
• Measuring noun strength: “How much have merchants become with us?”
• Expressing becoming through: Structure that supports continuous transformation

Timeline: Immediate for leadership recognition, 6 months for strategic realignment.

Protecting Level 2 (Proving): Measuring Transformation Over Time

You must specify: “Becoming on Shopify delivers X% better outcomes over Y time, measured by Z.”

Current state: Measures commerce execution (GMV, stores, transactions) at points in time.

Required shift: Measure transformation over time:

• Becoming trajectory: How do merchants progress from first store to sustainable business? Baseline: Revenue growth curves over 24-36 months.
• Becoming durability: How long do merchants continue becoming (staying in business)? Baseline: Survival rates at 12, 24, 36 months vs. marketplace dependency.
• Becoming depth: How much do merchants transform? Baseline: Product expansion, market reach, and capability development over time.

Prove: “Merchants becoming on Shopify achieve 3X higher 36-month survival rates than marketplace sellers (47% vs 14%), grow revenue 2.4X faster in years 2-3, and expand into an average of 4.2 new capabilities, verified through longitudinal cohort analysis.”

This proves the journey works. Not just that you launch stores, but that merchants become more loyal over time with you than with alternatives.

Timeline: 6-12 months to establish longitudinal baselines, 18-24 months to demonstrate transformation trajectories.

Strengthening Level 3 (Living): Structure For Continuous Transformation

You must restructure to support continuous becoming, not just initial existence.

Current state: Optimized for launching (initial existence), not for becoming over time.

Required shift: Audit every structure against: “Does this support continuous transformation?”

Support as Becoming Enablement:

Current: Optimized for efficiency.

Required: Redesigned to support the following stages of becoming. When merchants encounter problems, they’re stuck in their transformation. Support should ask: “What are you becoming?” and help them get there.

Support isn’t troubleshooting; it’s an opportunity for transformational guidance. Every interaction should move merchants forward in their journey.

Features as Becoming Stages:

Current: Feature set for all merchants.

Required: Features that unlock new stages of becoming. First-time sellers need different capabilities than those becoming established brands. Structure features as transformation enablers, not universal tools.

Show merchants: “Here’s what you can become next,” not “Here’s what we offer.”

Pricing as Becoming Economics:

Current: Tiers based on features.

Required: Tiers based on becoming stages. Pricing should mirror transformation:

• Beginning ($29): Just starting to become
• Becoming ($299): Actively transforming
• Established ($2,000+): Sustained becoming at scale

Price the journey, not the features. Merchants should see pricing as recognition of how far they’ve become.

Ecosystem as Becoming Acceleration:

Current: Apps as feature additions.

Required: Apps as becoming accelerators. Frame the ecosystem around: “What can help you become faster?” Apps should be organized by transformation stages, not categories.

Timeline: 12-24 months for structural transformation supporting continuous becoming.

Strategic Questions:

Instead of “How do we grow GMV?” ask “How do we deepen merchant becoming?”

Instead of “What features do customers request?” ask “What’s preventing their next stage of becoming?”

Instead of “How do we compete with Amazon?” ask “How do we own the transformation journey?”

Instead of “How do we monetize better?” ask “How does our success depend on their becoming?”

Instead of “Should we expand to enterprise?” ask “Can large organizations become with us?”

The Warning Signal:

You stand at an inflection point. You own becoming. The continuous transformation of millions of merchants over the years. That’s not a platform. That’s the journey itself.

But you’re treating the journey like an infrastructure project. You’re optimizing for launches (initial existence) while merchants need support for becoming (continuous transformation). You’re perfecting the articulation of what you do while owning what matters most: who they become.

If you continue this path, competitors won’t beat you on features. They’ll position themselves as “the platform for your next stage of becoming” or “where businesses become successful” and attack the journey you own but don’t defend.

The Opportunity:

But if you recognize what you own, becoming itself, and structure everything around supporting continuous transformation, you become unassailable.

Becoming can’t be copied because it accumulates over time. The merchant who’s been becoming with you for three years has a narrative, a history, a transformation story. They can’t recreate that by switching. The journey is the moat.

Recognize that you own the journey. Prove the journey works better. Structure everything to support continuous transformation. Measure how much merchants become with you over time.

Not: “Shopify helps you become” (claiming weakens position)

But: Structure, support, features, pricing are all designed so merchants continuously become over the years, while you measure transformation trajectories and defend the journey.

Finally

The noun isn’t what you sell. It’s what you mean.

You don’t sell commerce platforms. You own becoming. The continuous transformation from idea to empire, from beginner to established, from who you are to who you’re becoming.

That’s the journey. That’s the noun. That’s what 4.8 million merchants can’t leave behind.

Recognize it. Prove it. Protect it. Structure for it.

Let merchants become with you, not just launch with you.

The noun you own: Becoming.

Not a state. Not a threshold. A journey that deepens with every month, every year, every stage of transformation.

That’s the path from accidental ownership to deliberate strategy. Everything else is just execution without understanding the journey.

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Find what you own in sixty minutes.

Before you hire a messaging consultant to wordsmith your homepage, or an agency to “refresh your brand,” or someone to fix what they’ll call positioning (but is really just tactical framing), try this first.

The CEO Clarity Starter Kit

It does exactly what we just read. It helps you find and own your noun.

What you do:

• Run the Position Audit (reveals what noun you might already own without knowing it)
• Complete the 8-Question Advisor (the same questions that would surface “becoming” for Shopify)
• Feed the output into ClarityGPT (included)

What you get:

• Your noun. The concept you can actually own, not just claim
• A 4-Level Positioning Canvas showing how to move from saying it to OWNING it
• ClarityGPT translates your position into landing pages, offers, and LinkedIn profiles (written in your buyer’s voice, not consultant-speak)
• A 30-day positioning course so you can apply this method without me

Time required: About an hour (less time than reading three more case studies about tactics that won’t work without position)

Who’s used it: 200+ CEOs and founders who were tired of pushing uphill

Investment: $249 USD

Most realize they don’t need the consultant or agency after this. Or they need far less than they thought. Because once you know your noun (your position), the tactics become obvious. The distribution chooses itself. The customers explain you better than you explain yourself.

And yes, if you buy the kit, it nudges me closer to that Porsche in the photo. Thanks in advance for supporting excellent positioning and questionable life choices.

Stop competing on features. Start owning concepts.

Get your CEO Clarity Starter Kit