Shopify teams up with 4-Hour Workweek guy to offer $100K prize
Tim Ferriss of 4-Hour Workweek fame has partnered up with Tobi Lutke of Ottawa e-commerce platform Shopify to run a pretty cool contest with a very large prize. $100K to the entrepreneur who's NEW online store has the most revenue for two consecutive months.
Why is Ferriss working with an Ottawa startup on a contest of this grand scale?
Recognizing that building an "automated businesses" like the ones he preaches in his best-selling book isn't easy with most blaming a lack of technical skills, Ferriss polled his 50,000+ Twitter users about e-commerce platforms.
The near-unanimous response was that Shopify offered the easiest-to-use full-service platform in existence. Having never heard of Shopify Ferriss searched out CEO Tobi Lutke at a conference and shortly thereafter became an advisor to the Ottawa startup.
Brainstorming ways to promote Shopify, a long-distance phone conversation between the two went something like this:
“So, do you have any ideas?”
“Well, if we’re going to do something, it should be big. It should make people sit up and say OMFG. Make people actually do something,” I responded.
The conversation continued in front of the Thai restaurant, me pacing on my cell phone in San Francisco — foregoing food in excitement — and Tobi in his offices in Ottawa, Canada.
We decided in the subsequent 10 minutes to offer $100,000 cash as a bribe to you all. The overview?
- $100,000 for the grand winner
- $120,000 total in prizes
- 6 months starting January 1 but you can (and should) get started now
- Even if you don’t win the prizes, you should end up with a viable business at the end of 6 months
Unfortunately the contest is only open to US residents but Lutke urges wanna-be entrepreneurs from around the world to give it a shot.
That being said, you can still participate in this contest wherever you are. The prize money is significant, but don’t forget the spirit of the contest: to give a kick in the pants to all those people who have wanted to start businesses but haven’t. The real prize is having a business of your own at the end of the six months. You’ll still have all the same resources and guides as everyone else: support from the Shopify team, help and guidance from Tim and other experts, and more control over your financial independence.”
Still interested? Read more details on the contest here.
