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☆ Shopify embraced a 'new shape' after a post-pandemic slump and has charted an 18-month comeback
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Read previewIn October 2022, Shopify's once high-flying stock hit its lowest price since before the Covid pandemic. AdvertisementNow, after two rounds of layoffs and a divestment of its fulfillment and logistics business, the picture looks a bit different for Shopify. Shedding a "money-losing logistics business"Dropping logistics and fulfillment is a major part of Shopify's stock comeback story. In May 2023, Shopify announced it would be selling the logistics business entirely to Flexport. In May 2023, Shopify cut another 20% of its workforce as it sold its logistics business to Flexport.

Persons: —, Shopify's, Shopify, Oppenheimer, Ken Wong, Wong, D.A, Davidson, Gil Luria, Tobi Lütke, Lütke, Luria, Morgan Stanley, Jeff Hoffmeister, Bhavin Shah, GMV, We've, Shah Organizations: Service, Business, Systems, Investors, SEC, Deutsche Bank Locations: Salesforce, mstone@businessinsider.com

☆ Mark Cuban says this common leadership style is a toxic trait: 'Trust the process or fix what's broken'
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-22 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The 65-year-old billionaire entrepreneur weighed in on the common leadership style in a recent post on social media network X. If you find yourself constantly micromanaging the people around you, something's wrong, Cuban noted. Trust the process or fix what's broken if you always have to micromanage," Cuban wrote in his March 11 post. Cuban's post was a response to a thread about counterintuitive leadership principles written by Ofek Lavian, CEO of financial tech company Forage. In that thread, Lavian referenced a 20VC podcast episode from last year featuring Shopify CEO and co-founder Tobi Lütke, who embraced micromanaging.

Persons: Mark Cuban, Cuban, Ofek Lavian, Tobi Lütke, Lütke, It's, they'd Organizations: Trust Locations: Cuban

☆ In Shopify's app store, 'people are fighting it out on the margins' as the market becomes oversaturated and merchants cut costs
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Its S-1 filing mentions the word "Shopify" 198 times, and it said that about 77.6% of its annual recurring revenue came from Shopify merchants. About a third of the deals FE International facilitates are for businesses within the Shopify ecosystem, Smale said. Smale said that lately, he has worked with a "wider variety of acquirers" quietly looking to scoop up Shopify apps. He said that Shopify apps make good acquisition targets because they tend to be profitable and not venture-backed. "I always say Shopify SaaS applications are so great to build because they're kind of like building a SaaS on training wheels," Gazdecki said.

Persons: Shopify, Rachael Jones, Brent Murri, They've, Murri, Andrew Bialecki, Klaviyo, Dennis Hegstad, there's, Hegstad, Andy Cloyd, it's, We're, Thomas Smale, Smale, Andrew Gazdecki, Acquire.com, Gazdecki, Tobi Lütke, Lucas Jackson, wouldn't Organizations: Shopify's, Business, Boston Globe, FE International, Reuters Locations: Shopify, Klaviyo

☆ Shopify Fulfillment Network is back — sort of. Here's why it's different this time around.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The new app has a familiar name: Shopify Fulfillment Network. With the new Shopify Fulfillment Network , merchants can sign up to use Flexport's services through Shopify's app. The newly named Shopify Fulfillment Network is not merchants' only option for fulfillment. Wong said the company had also indicated Flexport would not be the exclusive provider for Shopify Fulfillment Network. "They've definitely given themselves more choices than there were before when it was just Shopify Fulfillment Network or bust," he said.

Persons: Shopify, Tobi Lütke, Oppenheimer, Ken Wong, Wong, It's, Flexport, They've Organizations: Shopify Logistics, Business, Shopify, Flexport, Amazon Locations: Flexport, mlstone@protonmail.com

☆ Shopify reveals new custom workplace software as it pushes for efficiency, a top priority since its mass layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-11 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Shopify has been doubling down on software to make it easier for its engineers to build software. CEO Tobi Lütke said during the investor day presentation that the goal was to bring "product thinking to everything in the business." Shopify executives showed several screenshots of GSD during the investor day presentation. "We build software. We spend a lot of our time building software to build software."

Persons: Shopify, Tobi Lütke, Lütke, Kaz Nejatian, Glen Coates, Nejatian, Tesla Organizations: Business

☆ Leak: Shopify clarifies its stance on employee side hustles in new internal guidance one day after CEO memo said Shopify requires 'unshared attention'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Shopify on Thursday released additional internal guidance around employee side hustles, one day after a company-wide memo from CEO Tobi Lütke caused confusion among workers. Lütke continued: "You should run a Shopify store to learn our product. Shopify's guidance on Thursday clarified the company's stance. And when it comes to starting a Shopify store, we encourage it. Shopify employees can use the company's software to launch their own stores for free.

Persons: Tobi Lütke, Lütke, I've, Shopify, We're, you'll Organizations: Employees Locations: mstone@insider.com

☆ In a leaked memo, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke discourages employees from having side hustles, saying Shopify requires 'unshared attention'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke wrote a company-wide memo Wednesday discouraging employees from having side hustles. "This surprises me because it directly contradicts the countless times I've said Shopify is like a professional sports team that requires our unshared attention." The Vault is a set of internal web pages where Shopify employees can access information about company policies. "He was someone who could devote his full attention and time to that quest," Finkelstein wrote. Lütke said Wednesday that employees should start their own Shopify stores because it helps them to stay familiar with the platform.

Persons: Tobi Lütke, Lütke, I've, Shopify, Harley Finkelstein, David Segal, Finkelstein, Segal, Jess Hertz, Read, Jess, Tia, Truman Locations: Shopify, mstone@insider.com

☆ Flexport had an executive exodus days before Dave Clark's surprise departure as three ex-Deliverr leaders left
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The exodus came before former CEO Dave Clark announced his departure on Wednesday. Flexport was experiencing an exodus of executives before former CEO Dave Clark announced his sudden resignation on Wednesday. Clark, who was Amazon's worldwide consumer CEO before joining Flexport last September, announced his departure on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday. In his post, Clark cited the desire of Flexport founder and former CEO Ryan Petersen to return to his role leading the company. During a company town hall on Thursday, Flexport executives told employees that cost-cutting measures were on the way , possibly including job cuts, multiple sources said.

Persons: Flexport, Dave Clark, — Artur Rivilis, Flynn Fishman, Stephanie New —, Rivilis, Fishman, Slack, Shopify, Clark, Ryan Petersen, Freightwaves, Petersen, Tobi Lütke Organizations: Flexport, Shopify Logistics Locations: Deliverr, ,, Flexport, San Francisco , Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, Amazon, mstone@insider.com

☆ Inside the clash between Amazon and Shopify over Buy with Prime
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Amazon and Shopify announced a new Buy with Prime app for Shopify on Wednesday. Buy with Prime let merchants offer Prime benefits, such as fast shipping and free delivery, on websites beyond Amazon.com. Amazon had no choice but to let Shopify merchants view Buy with Prime-related metrics on its own backend console, not within the unified Shopify Admin tool, according to the internal Amazon document from April. If Buy with Prime data wasn't smoothly integrated into Shopify Admin, Shopify merchants might not use the Amazon feature much. Constant delaysThe internal Amazon document described a Shopify-native Buy with Prime app as a "flagship" goal for Amazon's top leadership because it would make Buy with Prime more appealing to Shopify merchants.

Persons: Shopify, Santos Jeff Bezos Kevin Mazur, Jeff Bezos, Tobi Lütke David Fitzgerald, Sportsfile, Harley Finkelstein, Finkelstein, Mark William Lewis, Andy Jassy, they've Organizations: Amazon, Amazon.com, Prime, Project Santos, Getty, Amazon Logistics, Netalico Commerce, Web, Associated

☆ Shopify took a $437 million loss when it sold its robotics division 6 River Systems, Ocado financial docs show
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Shopify paid $450 million for 6 River Systems in 2019. The 6 River Systems sale was part of a major pivot away from logistics by Shopify. UK grocery giant Ocado paid just $12.7 million to acquire 6 River Systems from Shopify in May, according to Ocado's mid-year financial report released July 18. Ocado ultimately paid less than 3% of what Shopify paid for 6 River Systems less than four years ago. The companies did not disclose the financial details of the 6 River Systems deal at the time of the announcement.

Persons: Ocado, Shopify, Ocado's, Chuck, Deliverr didn't, Tobi Lütke, Lütke Organizations: Systems, Shopify, Amazon Locations: Shopify, Massachusetts

☆ Shopify launched a new AI-powered assistant to help merchants as its support staff remains under a 'Code Yellow' for 'deteriorated' performance
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Shopify beta-launched an AI assistant for its help center. Shopify launched a beta version of an AI-powered assistant for its help center, the webpage where merchants can go to get answers to questions about running their business. In June, Shopify began asking some support staff to test a translation bot powered by OpenAI's technology. Its support staff already had the ability to use AI-generated template email responses to merchant inquiries. The bot can recommend products sold by Shopify merchants based on shoppers' answers to a series of questions.

Persons: Shopify, chatbot, Tobi Lütke's, Harley Finkelstein, Lütke Organizations: Shopify, Help

☆ Exclusive: AppHub, a Shopify app acquirer, raises $95 million to build and buy apps as the developer ecosystem matures
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AppHub builds and acquires apps that are geared towards e-commerce merchants. AppHub, an e-commerce enablement platform launched in 2021, has raised $95 million from growth-equity firm PSG to continue building up its portfolio of apps as changes come to Shopify's app ecosystem. More than 150,000 merchants are now using AppHub apps, CEO and cofounder Kris Eng told Insider. Deciding whether to build or acquireAppHub decides whether to acquire an app or build a solution of its own on a case-by-case basis. The new funding from PSG will allow AppHub to continue to invest in its existing portfolio and look for other apps to acquire.

Persons: AppHub, Kris Eng, Eng, Tobi Lütke, Harley Finkelstein, AppHub Shopify, they've, Matt Tennenhouse, Tennenhouse, we'll, Matt Stone Organizations: PSG, Capital Partners

☆ Read the memo Shopify sent employees explaining its meeting cost calculator: 'Your calendar is a strategy.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"Your calendar is a strategy, and the Meeting Cost Calculator helps you make informed decisions for organizing or accepting meetings. He said that employees could reference a page in Shopify's internal "vault" for more information about the meeting cost calculator. The Meeting Cost Calculator is here to challenge the status quo, nudging us to reconsider meeting necessity and explore more creative collaboration methods. The meeting cost calculator is the latest in a series of experiments Shopify has launched to maximize time and efficiency in its workplace this year. Your calendar is a strategy, and the Meeting Cost Calculator helps you make informed decisions for organizing or accepting meetings.

Persons: Shopify, Kaz Nejatian, Mark Zuckerberg, Tobi Lütke

☆ Shopify gets ruthless on calendar invites by posting the price of employees' time, with a 30-minute meeting 'costing' up to $2,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Sarah Jackson | Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Shopify is trying to discourage useless meetings with a tool that estimates the cost of employees' time. The calendar tool calculates meeting costs based on employee pay data, meeting duration, and attendees. The strategy is part of Shopify's push to purge thousands of unnecessary meetings. Shopify has introduced a new tool to help employees find out — and encourage them to cut back on non-crucial meetings. "No one at Shopify would expense a $500 dinner," Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian, who built the program, told Bloomberg.

Persons: Shopify, Kaz Nejatian, Tobi Lütke, Nejatian Organizations: Service, Bloomberg Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Shopify to launch AI assistant for merchants
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 12 (Reuters) - Canadian ecommerce firm Shopify said on Wednesday it would soon launch an artificial intelligence assistant for merchants on its platform, the latest technology company to roll out such a feature. The assistant called "Sidekick" would be embedded as a button on Shopify and answer merchant queries, including details about sales trends, CEO Tobi Lutke illustrated in a video posted on Twitter. Companies such as Alibaba Group Holding , Zoom Video Communications (ZM.O) and Databricks have all launched AI assistants in the last few months following the massive jump in the use of OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT. The assistant can also help entrepreneurs update their stores on Shopify. The feature is "coming soon", the video showed, without specifying the date when it would be rolled out.

Persons: Shopify, Tobi Lutke, Chavi Mehta, Shilpi Majumdar Organizations: Twitter, Companies, Alibaba, Video Communications, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Shopify asks its customer-support staff to test new AI tools weeks after laying off thousands of employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Shopify is asking some of its customer-support team members to test a translation bot powered by OpenAI's technology, weeks after a round of layoffs in May. This move is the latest in a series of AI experiments in the support division, which troubleshoots issues for Shopify's millions of merchants. The bot can recommend products sold by Shopify merchants based on shoppers' answers to a series of questions. It also recently launched a tool called Shopify Magic, which uses generative AI to write product descriptions. Shopify's support team underwent several changes this year.

Persons: Shopify, Jen Bebb, Shopify's, Harley Finkelstein, Tobi Lütke, Clovis Locations: Shopify

☆ 10 things in tech: Epstein appeared to threaten Gates, Apple gets its AI cut, and a Twitter hotel
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Michael Cogley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Cupertino-based tech giant is taking its usual 30% cut from users signing up to ChatGPT Plus through the app, according to a note from Bernstein analysts. A spokesperson for Gates told the WSJ that Epstein had "tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship" to threaten the tech billionaire. Microsoft's marketing chief told staffers to bump the stock prices for raises. The tech giant has already managed to outpace the market with shares up 33% so far this year. The tech giant just launched two new Pixel phones.

☆ Shopify is reopening its offices for in-person work for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Shopify will open some of its offices for daily work beginning this summer. Shopify plans to allow its employees to come into its offices to work several days a month, CEO Tobi Lütke told workers at an internal town hall earlier in May. "Shopify continues to value in-person time to build trust and create connections outside of dedicated team events," a Shopify spokesperson said. The company refers to its dedication to remote work as "digital by design." Most recently, Amazon began requiring employees to work in its offices at least three days a week starting this month.

☆ Why CEOs are changing directions faster than ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Rebecca Knight | Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

CEOs are changing their corporate strategies more frequently for many reasons. Some CEOs didn't do the necessary medium- and long-term planning when they made their original decisions, and now they're being forced to backtrack. A new, lightning-fast pace of businessThe rapidly changing business environment makes one thing clear: For CEOs, the day-to-day marathon of running a company feels much more like a sprint. The average compensation in 2021 for CEOs of the top US companies was 399 times that of the average worker. Changing a strategy is one thing, but how a CEO communicates that change is another — particularly because these pivots are likely to happen more frequently.

☆ Shopify's president on why he prefers paying micro-influencers to grow his own side hustle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But Finklestein also had another side business on his mind last week in an interview that had been pre-taped for CNBC's Small Business Playbook event, the loose-leaf tea side hustle, Firebelly Tea, that he co-founded as an independent entrepreneur. Finkelstein said it will be cheaper and also likely a more effective way to grow a new business. The creator economy is changing the way business success is generated, Finkelstein said, with the old "Field of Dreams" model — "If you build, it, they will come" — no longer enough. But that does not mean every small business owner with a great product should be chasing MrBeast or Emma Chamberlain for product endorsements. He cited the TikTok hashtag "TikTok Made Me Buy It" which has 50 billion impressions.

☆ Shopify president says he has never 'felt more sure about the future of this company' in leaked internal audio shared after company conducts layoffs and sells its logistics business
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In a two-minute video shared with Shopify employees Thursday morning, company president Harley Finkelstein reiterated his belief that the e-commerce firm is well-positioned for the future. In his video message to employees, Finkelstein said that difficult times are what define "the character of a company." "Making a series of popular decisions makes a popular company," he said. 6 River Systems, a warehouse automation and robotics company Shopify purchased in 2019 for $450 million, is being sold to the UK grocery firm Ocado for an undisclosed sum. Making a series of popular decisions makes a popular company.

☆ Shopify cuts 20% of its workforce; shares surge on earnings beat
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Shopify on Thursday announced it's cutting 20% of its workforce. The news came as it reported first-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines. CEO Tobi Lütke announced the job cuts in a memo to employees posted to the company's website. The cuts mark the second round of layoffs for the Canadian e-commerce company. The company reported revenue of $1.51 billion, which exceeded projections of $1.43 billion, according to Refinitiv.

☆ Shopify tried to challenge Amazon in logistics. It never came within 100 miles. Was it all a waste?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Shopify is selling most of its logistics business to freight unicorn Flexport in an all stock deal. Though Shopify's logistics journey began in 2019 as Shopify Fulfillment Network, the current iteration is less than a year old, and investors had become wary of the level of investment that getting the outfit into competitive shape would take. The acquisition was previously considered key to Shopify's fulfillment ambitions, and its team has been involved in the company's efforts to develop fulfillment software. Derek Lossing, an Amazon Logistics alum-turned investment advisor with Cirrus Global Advisors, said an acquisition-driven strategy may have been the right course — especially when the alternative involved contracting with legacy logistics players, which can take months. To some, the question of whether Shopify's layover into logistics was a waste of talent, time, and resources, can't be answered until Flexport takes hold and Clark flexes the muscles he gained building Amazon Logistics.

Shopify announced Thursday that it is cutting 20% of staff and selling off its logistics business. Shopify's CEO Tobi Lütke announced early Thursday that the company is cutting 20% of its workforce and selling the majority of its logistics business to supply chain technology company Flexport. It's the right thing for Shopify but it negatively affects many team members who we admire and love working with. Analysts and insiders had also been expecting a major change to Shopify's logistics division, Insider reported Wednesday. But 6 River Systems, a warehouse automation and robotics company Shopify purchased in 2019 for $450 million, is being sold to UK grocery firm Ocado for an undisclosed sum.

☆ Leaked document shows Shopify's plan to use 'stealth spear-fishing' recruiting tactics as it flattens its org
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A leaked internal document detailed Shopify's plan to overhaul its recruiting strategy. It said that recruiters needed to raise the bar for the quality of candidates they were bringing on to the company. "To do this, we will exhaustively seek out world class talent, scorching the earth with thoroughness and precision," it continued. The leaked internal document from Shopify cited a January conversation with CEO Tobi Lütke where he emphasized the need to hire fewer people managers and more people who had deep technical knowledge. It also said that Lütke instructed org leaders to "avoid high drama negative talent."

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