AI is shrinking the time for new merchants to make their first sale from months to hours, forcing Shopify to rebuild its infrastructure layer for an agentic commerce future. Shopify COO Jess Hertz reveals how the company powers 14% of U.S. e-commerce while building the operating system that lets AI agents discover and purchase products—and why complexity, not simplicity, is becoming their competitive moat. 10% of new Shopify merchants now make their first sale within 24 hours of signup, compressing the business launch timeline from months to days due to AI infrastructure.