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☆ 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 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.

☆ 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."

Approximately 0.5% of Etsy's active sellers -or around 2,700 merchants- had their payments delayed on Friday related to SVB's collapse, according to Etsy. The payments Etsy sellers received is unrelated to the Federal Reserve's Sunday announcement, which ensured that SVB's customers would have access to their funds on Monday. Shopify has temporarily paused payments to its merchants who receive payments to SVB accounts. These online sellers must update their bank accounts that have no connections with SVB to resume getting payments. Switching bank accounts can pose a problem for sellers whose sole business account was with SVB.

☆ Blame the CEO for Tech Layoffs at Google, Facebook, Salesforce, Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Ed Zitron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

CEOs made mistakes, workers bear the bruntIn their layoff announcements, pretty much every tech company placed the blame for the cuts on the economy. While they may protect the CEO's reputation or placate investors, layoffs are immensely damaging for workers, even well-paid tech employees. With great power comes no responsibilityThe blame-shifting of these tech companies and their CEOs is not unprecedented, or even that uncommon. CEO pay skyrocketed by 1,460% from 1978 to 2021, and the ratio of average-worker pay to CEO pay ballooned from 20-to-1 in 1965 to 399-to-1 in 2021. Instead, tech CEOs have passed the pain off to people who in many cases were performing well in their roles.

☆ In leaked memo, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke announces CTO departure and other engineering shakeups
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Shopify CTO Allan Leinwand is leaving the company, CEO Tobi Lütke announced on Friday. Shopify CTO Allan Leinwand is set to depart the Canadian e-commerce company after 15 months in the role. In addition to his job as CEO, Lütke has also performed the tasks of chief product officer since Craig Miller departed Shopify in September 2020. Today Allan Leinwand shared that he will be saying goodbye to Shopify in the coming weeks. With Allan's departure, I'm retiring the CTO jersey.

☆ Shopify laid off 2 engineering VPs earlier in January as fears of more layoffs circulate
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Shopify laid off at least two engineering vice presidents earlier in January. Shopify laid off at least two high-ranking engineering leaders this month, according to people familiar with the matter. The two employees were VP of Infrastructure Mike Lents and VP of Engineering Ravi Byakod. A Shopify spokesperson confirmed the departures. Shopify laid off about 10% of its workforce, which included more than 1,000 people, in July 2022.

It came after Amazon said in November it was looking to cut staff, including in its devices and recruiting organizations. The company had 2,450 employees, according to PitchBook data, suggesting around 490 employees were laid off. In a letter to employees, CEO Logan Green and President John Zimmer pointed to "a probable recession sometime in the next year" and rising ride-share insurance costs. Shopify: 1,000 jobs cutIn July, Shopify announced it laid off 1,000 employees, which equals 10% of its global workforce. Tesla: 6,000 jobs cut

☆ Shopify employees are shocked and worried after an abrupt shutdown of public Slack channels and wiped data. Here's why they think Shopify did it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The decision was announced Tuesday as part of a plan called "Chaos Monkey 2023." The company said that Tuesday's "chaos monkey" changes were primarily intended to improve employees' ability to focus on their work. Two employees said they worried that the Slack changes in particular would reduce transparency and make their jobs more difficult. Shopify previously had dozens of public channels for special interests like photography and cryptocurrency. "And removing the public channels that are not directly work-related is another measure to weed out people, control narratives and people's conversations, and limit their opinions."

☆ Shopify abruptly shuts down Slack channels and cancels meetings in a move it's calling 'Chaos Monkey 2023'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It shut down public Slack channels and deleted all meetings with more than two people. Shopify removed each employee from every existing public channel on the company's Slack workspace, deleted the message history from those public channels, and capped each channel at 150 members. Shopify previously had dozens of public channels for these special interests. Employees logged on to work Tuesday to see that they had been removed from all public Slack channels. But the company said that Tuesday's "chaos monkey" changes were primarily intended to improve employees' ability to focus on their work.

☆ Shopify had a bumpy 2022, with a stock split, layoffs, and more. These are the biggest stories about the e-commerce company.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

After seeing explosive sales and revenue growth during the earlier days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Canadian e-commerce company saw its business come back down to earth this year. Shopify employees are granted restricted stock units, or RSUs, in addition to their base salaries. MayOn May 2, Shopify announced plans to acquire e-commerce fulfillment startup Deliverr for more than $2 billion. The acquisition was intended to help Shopify merchants offer one and two-day shipping to their customers. On December 15, Shopify announced that it was doubling down on its sustainability efforts by investing $11 million in carbon removal projects.

☆ Shopify told employees not to engage with tweets about its hosting of the controversial Libs of TikTok store, leaked messages show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Shopify told employees not to engage with tweets about its business ties with Libs of TikTok. They were told not to engage with tweets about the Libs of TikTok store or discuss details of any store except with the owner of that store. CEO Tobi Lütke also appeared to block people who posted or engaged with tweets about the Libs of TikTok store and its use of Shopify's platform. "I personally don't condone this business making a profit by using the Shopify platform," another employee said. Lucas Jackson/ReutersShopify's policies have been criticized beforeIt's not the first time that Shopify's acceptable-use policy has been a topic of intense discussion.

☆ An ex-Shopify employee used her severance to found a new startup after getting laid off with 1,000 others. Here's why that can be a smart move in a downturn.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Stella Alexandrova was one of 1,000 employees laid off by e-commerce giant Shopify in July. She saw the layoff and five months of severance as an opportunity to launch a business. Alexandrova was one of 1,000 employees laid off at the e-commerce giant this summer. Shopify offered her five months of severance after being laid off, effectively "paying for me to be able to start my own thing," she said. A week after being laid off, Alexandrova started her travel app Mave to help people plan trips in minutes.

☆ Here's a rundown of tech companies that have announced layoffs in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Sofia Pitt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Days after Twitter's new boss Elon Musk slashed half his company's workforce, Facebook parent Meta announced its most significant round of layoffs ever. Last month, Meta announced a second straight quarter of declining revenue and forecast another drop in the fourth quarter. The tech industry broadly has seen a string of layoffs in 2022 in the face of uncertain economic conditions. Lyft: around 700 jobs cutLyft announced last week that it cut 13% of its staff, or about 700 jobs. In a letter to employees, CEO Logan Green and President John Zimmer pointed to "a probable recession sometime in the next year" and rising rideshare insurance costs.

☆ Shopify's new C-suite: After a year of high turnover, the new leaders at Shopify include a CFO poached from Morgan Stanley and a new HR lead who is working to overhaul the e-commerce company's perform
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Here are the people leading the e-commerce company through its next phase. Leinwand was previously senior vice president of engineering at Slack, and before that he was CTO at ServiceNow. Tia Silas, chief human resources officerTia Silas, Shopify's chief talent officer. John Asante, chief information-security officerJohn Asante, Shopify's chief information-security officer. Bobby Morrison, chief revenue officerMorrison joined Shopify as chief revenue officer — a new role for Shopify, reporting to the COO — in August.

☆ Read Shopify's leaked email to staff detailing a new talent review to root out a fresh 'baseline' for performance
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Shopify announced plans to revamp its performance management tools in a company-wide email. Silas said in a company-wide email on Friday that the new performance evaluation product is a continuation of that work. At one point, Silas' email refers to Shopify as a "high-performing sports team," which could be a nod to CEO Tobi Lütke's past notes about company culture. News of the revamped performance system comes as Shopify's workforce reels from the company's July layoffs of roughly 1,000 people. Other upcoming releases leading in to 2023Launching our New Performance Management approachConsistent internal taxonomy around job titles, groups and our structure.

☆ Leaked email: Shopify's new head of HR announces plans to overhaul performance reviews after layoffs and compensation turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Shopify said in a leaked email that it would be revamping its approach to performance evaluation. Shopify told employees in a company-wide email on Friday that it would be changing its approach to evaluating their work. "We are committed to delivering a product that better reflects your true contributions to Shopify," Silas wrote (emphasis hers) in the email, which was viewed by Insider. And according to several former employees, Shopify attributed laying off several dozen workers earlier this year to performance issues. If you're a Shopify employee with a story to share, contact this reporter at mstone@insider.com or on the encrypted messaging app Signal at (646) 889-2143 using a nonwork phone.

☆ In leaked survey, Shopify probes employees on their coworkers' productivity and whether they view Amazon as a rival
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Shopify asked employees to weigh in on their work, coworkers, and managers in its semiannual survey. In a company-wide survey sent out last week, Shopify asked employees a series of 60 questions focused on its workplace culture, worker productivity, and competition in the-ecommerce world. Called "Pulse" internally, the survey is sent out twice a year, a Shopify spokesperson said. The company spokesperson said that the survey responses would be confidential and reported only in aggregate to Shopify's leadership team. But the Amazon question comes as the rivalry between Shopify and Amazon has been heating up.

☆ Why an ex-Shopify manager quit after 'explosive' career growth to focus on her $2 million tea company
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

She said that changes to Shopify's culture convinced her it was time to make the leap. For Brady, changes to Shopify's culture were a big factor in her decision to leave. Tease hit $2 million in revenue in 2021, and Brady said she has a goal of hitting $5 million this year. What she first imagined as a temporary gig led to seven years and a team leadership role at Shopify. Brady said that Shopify's leadership was very encouraging of employees like her choosing to balance entrepreneurship with their full-time jobs.

☆ Shopify's new guard: Meet the 11 people leading the company after rampant turnover wiped out most of its C-suite
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Here are the people leading the e-commerce company through its next phase. Leinwand was previously senior vice president of engineering at Slack, and before that he was CTO at ServiceNow. Tia Silas, chief talent officerTia Silas, Shopify's chief talent officer. John Asante, chief information-security officerJohn Asante, Shopify's chief information-security officer. Bobby Morrison, chief revenue officerMorrison joined Shopify as chief revenue officer — a new role for Shopify, reporting to the COO — in August.

☆ Shopify's C-suite revamp could signal more acquisitions and a focus on services over software, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Most of Shopify's C-suite has been replaced in the past two years. "There was some hope that they would reprioritize software, whether it's marketing-automation software or customer-engagement software," he added. The former chief technology officer Jean-Michel Lemieux, chief legal officer Joe Frasca, and chief talent officer Brittany Forsyth all departed in 2021. The chief product officer Craig Miller left the company a few months before that, in fall 2020. Shopify has yet to formally fill the chief product officer role, whose responsibilities Lütke said he would take on in the wake of Miller's departure.

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