It Started in Our Own Back Office
In 2014, we didn't know anything about scaling a Shopify brand. We wanted to self-publish a book, so we created our own Kickstarter on Etsy. We printed one copy of that book for $13 at Kinko's, and when we had enough orders from friends and family, we purchased inventory and reinvested into the business.
By 2026, we scaled to over $20 million in revenue and had 70 employees at one point. We switched from Mailchimp, to Klaviyo, to HubSpot. We tried SkuVault and Deposco. We tracked our accounting on Excel spreadsheets before moving over to QuickBooks. Inventory was a constant headache, managing over 1,000 SKUs and 2,000,000 units of inventory.
We constantly found ourselves putting band-aids on problems because we couldn't afford NetSuite or SAP.
But I didn't need their 240 million lines of code. I just needed my unique problems solved. So I solved them myself, by building Eleven Elves and pricing it affordably for Shopify operators who want to scale, just like we did!
We know it works, because we use it.
The Person Behind the Elves
Eleven Elves is founder-built. I ran the back office of a real brand, got tired of the band-aids, and built what I wanted. We're serious about your books and not very stuffy about anything else.
Away from the ledger, I run and hike. I ran two marathons in 2025, Houston and Rome. I make homemade pretzel nuggets for the holidays, and most Christmases our family is somewhere in Europe, eating our way through the Christmas markets.
What We Believe
Scalable Process
A business with broken processes can't scale fast. Your SOPs live next to the work, and the elves follow them every night, so orders can double without your team doubling.
Centralized Data
Your data lives in one place, not spread across 11 platforms. So the elves see the whole business, and your morning report is tailored to it, not stuck inside one app's view.
Fair, Simple Pricing
Each seat costs less as you grow. No teaser rates, no renewal jumps, and no per-store fees.
Meet Leven
Leven is our head elf, a proper German gnome with a foil cap and a lantern. He leads the elves, the AI agents that do the work across every app while you sleep, and he signs your morning report. You'll see him in our emails and around the app, never on your financial statements.
His name is a nod to leaven, the pinch of yeast that makes a whole loaf rise. A little leaven works its way through all the dough. Leven works his way through every corner of your business, so it can grow without your team, or your tech stack, growing with it.
The founder, JJ Schmucker, was born on 11/11. In German, the word for eleven is "elf," a slight play on words for Eleven Elves (11/11).
The Schmucker family spends most Christmases traveling through Europe and eating street food at the Christmas markets, and traditional German gnomes have become a staple in our family. With a last name like Schmucker, it only felt appropriate for the company mascot to be a traditional Germanic gnome.
The lantern logo is yet another small nod to tradition. November 11 is Saint Martin's Day, and throughout Germany, children line the streets on 11/11 with their lanterns.
It was the obvious choice to start the company on November 11, 2027, my 40th birthday.
I'm glad you're here!
Let the Elves Work the Night Shift, So You Don't Have To
Launching summer 2027, with our Grand Opening on 11/11/27.