Before I started building for clients, I ran a Shopify store of my own.
I'm Hynek Kraus, a Shopify developer and consultant based in Central Europe. I design, build and launch stores for brands across Europe – from the first sketch to the first orders. I work with people opening their first store and with brands already shipping to dozens of countries.
I started out as a graphic designer. Then I built my own Shopify store – and with it a brand, the ads and the customer support. It grew past €30,000 a month, I ran it for three years and sold it in 2024.
Those years taught me things you cannot learn from the supplier side of the table: Black Friday with real cash flow on the line, negotiating with Chinese suppliers, Meta Ads dying in the middle of the Christmas season, and nights spent fixing things – because every hour of downtime cost me my own money.
That is why I build stores the way I built my own. Strategy, design and development stay in one pair of hands. On larger branding and marketing work I bring in specialists I have worked with for years, and I say so when I do.
- Based in
- Central Europe (CET)
- In person
- By arrangement, anywhere in Europe
- Remote
- Default. Everything in writing.
- With Shopify since
- 2021
Weighing up a store and not sure where to start? Write to me, I reply in writing within 24 hours
Who actually works on your store.
A store touches several crafts – design, development, custom code, ads and copy. Here is how a project runs with me and who does the work.
What I design, I also build
Strategy, design, Shopify development and custom code are all mine – I do not hand them on. On the largest projects I bring in people I know personally and have worked with for years.
You talk to me
No account manager forwarding messages. You ask the person building your store, so a decision lands immediately rather than after three rounds of email.
Rather fewer projects, done properly
I have no interest in running a store factory. I take on as much as I can do at the highest level, and every project gets the time it needs.
You can see exactly what is being worked on
Code, briefs and decisions are documented, not kept in my head. When you come back a year later with another change, I pick up where we left off instead of starting over.
The best proof is work that keeps going.
A portfolio shows I can build something. Whether it was worth it shows up later, in whether the client stays. Here are four projects and what happened next.
- Continental LabComplete store
From the first sketch to a store selling into more than 40 countries, including automated shipping and invoicing.
A full build taken all the way into operation - Töpfer BabyweltCustom sections and pages
A German brand trading since 1911. I came into a running operation as an external developer and I am still building – new sections and pages land as they are needed.
Ongoing work, not a one-off job - AniballProduct pages, cart, cross-sell
I started with a single product page for the flagship product. Today every product page, the cart and the cross-sell are mine.
The engagement kept expanding - Minimalistick × Soulbabes2 complete stores
After the first store the same owner came back for a second. I built both from zero and both are trading.
Repeat business
Beyond the projects I can show, a number of others are covered by NDAs.
See the workThe principles I build by.
I judge a store by its revenue, not its looks
A beautiful store that does not sell is an expensive business card. For every decision I ask whether it moves the customer closer to ordering, and tune it accordingly.
The code, the data and the access stay yours
Everything is built on standard Shopify and under your account, so I am holding nothing hostage. You stay because you want to, not because you cannot leave.
I will tell you the inconvenient part too
Where Shopify does not make sense, I say so. What I cannot guarantee, I do not guarantee. An uncomfortable truth beats a nice promise I cannot keep.
Let's talk it through
Tell me what you are dealing with. I will come back within 24 hours with a specific read, not a template.
Would rather not fill anything in? Write straight to ahoj@hynekkraus.cz
- 01You fill in a short form. It takes two minutes.
- 02Within 24 hours I reply with a first written read on it. Free.
- 03What happens next is your call. I will not chase you.