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E-commerce platform <keyword id="1715801" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="shopify" source="Orion">Shopify</keyword> on Tuesday announced to cut 10 per cent of its workforce -- around 1,000 <keyword id="6357081" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="employees" source="Orion">employees</keyword> across verticals -- as it failed to predict that the e-commerce industry would continue to grow beyond the pandemic at the same pace it did during the two-year period. The company CEO <keyword id="5695811" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="tobi-lutke" source="Orion">Tobi Lutke</keyword> said in a statement that Shopify has to go through a reduction in workforce that will see about 10 per cent leave by the end of the day. "Most of the impacted roles are in recruiting, support, and sales, and across the company we're also eliminating over-specialized and duplicate roles, as well as some groups that were convenient to have but too far removed from building products," he informed. The company was sending emails to those affected and they will "have a meeting with a lead in their team". <keyword id="14565887" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="lutke" source="Orion">Lutke</keyword> said that before the pandemic, <keyword id="436047" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ecommerce" source="Orion">ecommerce</keyword> growth had been steady and predictable. "Was this surge to be a temporary effect or a new normal? And so, given what we saw, we placed another bet: We bet that the channel mix - the share of dollars that travel through ecommerce rather than physical retail - would permanently leap ahead by 5 or even 10 years", he mentioned. Shopify's workforce jumped from 1,900 in 2016 to around 10,000 in 2021 to meet the expected growth. However, Lutke said that it is now clear that bet didn't pay off. "What we see now is the mix reverting to roughly where pre-Covid data would have suggested it should be at this point. Still growing steadily, but it wasn't a meaningful 5-year leap ahead," he informed. Those affected in the layoff will get 16 weeks of severance pay, plus an additional week for every year of tenure at Shopify. "We'll remove any equity cliff, and extend any medical benefits. Knowing that Shopify is just one stop on a career journey, we'd also like to help set everyone up for success as they take their next steps," said the CEO., adding that the company will offer outplacement services with access to career coaching, interviewing support, resume crafting, etc. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/there-is-an-exodus-of-games-from-web2-to-web3-says-this-blockchain-adoption-entity/articleshow/93139457.cms">There is an exodus of games from Web2 to Web3, says this blockchain adoption entity</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/rapido-ceo-unicorn-india-invest-in-windo-that-is-helping-small-businesses-take-their-business-online/articleshow/93139058.cms">Rapido CEO, Unicorn India Ventures invest in social commerce startup Windo</a>

E-commerce platform Shopify lays off 1,000 employees

<ul class="summary-list"><li>CEO Tobi Lütke has experimented with chaos engineering at <keyword id="11949117" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="shopify" source="Orion">Shopify</keyword> in some unconventional ways.</li><li>Lütke told Bloomberg he'd sometimes enter "god mode" on staff calendars to wipe recurring <keyword id="11937118" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="meetings" source="Orion">meetings</keyword>.</li></ul>Everyone hates meetings that could have been emails, and Shopify's CEO, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-tobias-lutke-founded-shopify-leadership-tips-2021-11">Tobi Lütke</a>, is no exception. In an interview published on Thursday, Lütke told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-12-23/shopify-amazon-retail-rivalry-heats-up-with-covid-sparked-online-shopping-booma">Bloomberg Businessweek</a> about his practice of occasionally scrapping unnecessary meetings as part of his attempt to test out <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gremlin-free-chaos-engineering-netflix-amazon-2019-2">chaos engineering</a> — the practice of deliberately creating issues in order to build resilience — at Shopify, which sells software that merchants can use to open <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopify-tests-search-function-shop-app-amazon-marketplace-2021-11">online stores</a>.To do this, he'd occasionally enter "god mode" on employees' calendars and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/6-ways-to-eliminate-meeting-fatigue-and-be-more-productive">wipe recurring meetings</a>."Nothing can become truly resilient when everything goes right," he said.In 2017, well before the pandemic led companies to go remote, Lütke sent Shopify's employees home to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-remote-jobs-digital-nomad-work-from-home-pay-flexibility-11">work remotely</a> for a month as an experiment. He told Businessweek the trial didn't pan out well, and that "the tools were terrible."In May 2020, Shopify <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-shopify-employees-work-from-home-employees-1000-bonus-office-2020-3">adopted a policy</a> of letting employees work from home long term, joining companies such as Twitter and Square in embracing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-asking-employees-to-work-from-home-due-to-coronavirus-2020">indefinite remote work</a>.Lütke also explained his belief in a "trust battery," a term he coined in a New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/business/tobi-lutke-of-shopify-powering-a-team-with-a-trust-battery.html">interview</a> in 2016. In the workplace, a person doesn't simply trust or not trust someone else, he explained. Instead, there's a gradient of trust. When a person is hired, the trust battery is charged to 50%, and subsequent interactions either help build or wear down that trust.

Why Shopify's CEO uses 'god mode' to delete meetings from his employees' calendars and stakes his company culture on what he calls a 'trust battery'

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11893181" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="amazon" source="Orion">Amazon</keyword> is reportedly working on a rival service to <keyword id="11949117" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="shopify" source="Orion">Shopify</keyword>. </li><li>Shopify's CEO said if Amazon's product succeeds, "I actually accomplished my mission."</li></ul>Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke knows Amazon might be coming for his business, and he's up for the competition. "I think of Amazon as a worthy rival," Lutke told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-12-23/shopify-amazon-retail-rivalry-heats-up-with-covid-sparked-online-shopping-booma?sref=LspfQlRv">Bloomberg Businessweek</a> in an interview published Thursday. "If they knock it out of the park and make it super easy to start new businesses on it, then I'm like, I actually accomplished my mission." Shopify, which sells software that helps users build independent online stores, has grown massively throughout the pandemic, hitting a $178 billion valuation. Its payment-processing, inventory-management, and other tools power a huge number of small online shops, alongside behemoths like Chipotle, Allbirds, and Staples. Lütke has defined Shopify as the anti-Amazon, an e-commerce company that gives power to sellers and simplifies starting an online business. "Amazon is trying to build an empire, and Shopify is trying to arm the rebels," Lütke told Businessweek. But Amazon is working on a similar product, insiders told Bloomberg Businessweek. Like Shopify, the Amazon tool would allow retailers to build independent online stores. Under Amazon's current system, sellers only hawk their products through the main Amazon marketplace. If Amazon's project bears fruit, Lütke told Businessweek he's up for being the underdog again. In some ways, though, Shopify is moving in Amazon's direction. The company is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopify-tests-search-function-shop-app-amazon-marketplace-2021-11">quietly testing</a> a new search feature in its Shop app that would allow buyers to browse items across many merchants at once. Shopify insiders <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopify-tests-search-function-shop-app-amazon-marketplace-2021-11">told Insider</a> the function could make Shopify more like Amazon, potentially upsetting sellers.Shopify also recently rolled out <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopify-quietly-launched-gift-shop-feature-shop-app-2021-12">Gift Shop</a>, which allows users to buy gifts from Shopify merchants and send them via text, email, or social media.

Shopify CEO says he'd be fine with Amazon launching a direct rival to his company

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Photo By David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty ImagesLütke described his interactions with Shopify's investors as "very helpful."</div></div></div><ul><li style="list-style-type: none;"><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tobi-lutke">Tobi Lütke</a>, the billionaire CEO of e-commerce platform <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/shopify">Shopify</a>, said on an episode of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/02/747660923/shopify-tobias-l-tke">NPR's "How I Built This with Guy Raz"</a> that setting expectations upfront helped him build strong relationships with the venture capitalists who supported his company.</li><li>Lütke told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/02/747660923/shopify-tobias-l-tke">NPR</a> that two of Shopify's investors were so in tune with the company's performance "that they basically saved me from having to do a fundraising round."</li><li>The e-commerce platform's success has made Lütke a billionaire: He has a net worth of $3.2 billion, according to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2019/08/20/shopify-cracks-the-e-commerce-code-and-its-billionaire-ceos-fortune-doubles-in-just-six-months/#413e4d3d7f57">Forbes</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul></li></ul>Before e-commerce giant Shopify <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/is-shopify-stock-canadas-best-tech-star-1028457730">went public</a> in February 2015, CEO and cofounder Tobi Lütke had to answer to the venture capitalists and angel investors who supported the company. The key to doing this successfully, as Lütke said on an August episode of NPR's <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/02/747660923/shopify-tobias-l-tke">"How I Built This with Guy Raz,"</a> is outlining your expectations for the relationship at the start."I've always had a fantastic relationship with all the people who invested in the company, partly because I told them straight off the bat, saying, 'I'm not going to pretend to know things I don't know and I really hope you're going to help me in this journey,'" Lütke <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/02/747660923/shopify-tobias-l-tke">said</a> on the episode. "I think our relationship has always been, we were always on the same side of the table trying to build this thing."Lütke told NPR that Shopify's investors were so in tune with the company's performance "that they basically saved me from having to do a fundraising round.""Ten months after the Series A, Jeremy and Trevor from Bessemer came to me and said, 'You are still massively constrained by money, how about instead of you spending a bunch of months of fundraising, we'll just quadruple the evaluation of the company and put much more money into this because you can grow this way faster,'" Lütke told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/02/747660923/shopify-tobias-l-tke">Raz</a>.Lütke founded the e-commerce platform in 2004 after trying to launch his own small online business selling snowboards, according to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2019/08/20/shopify-cracks-the-e-commerce-code-and-its-billionaire-ceos-fortune-doubles-in-just-six-months/#413e4d3d7f57">Forbes</a>. Fifteen years later, the company's $42.3 billion market cap makes it worth more than <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/twitter">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/snap">Snap</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/square">Square</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/lyft">Lyft</a>, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2019/08/20/shopify-cracks-the-e-commerce-code-and-its-billionaire-ceos-fortune-doubles-in-just-six-months/#413e4d3d7f57">Forbes</a> reported. Kylie Cosmetics and Allbirds both <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2019/08/20/shopify-cracks-the-e-commerce-code-and-its-billionaire-ceos-fortune-doubles-in-just-six-months/#18309f6d7f57">launched</a> their online <keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="retail">retail</keyword> businesses using Shopify.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-uniqlo-ceo-says-woman-would-be-better-at-job-2019-9" data-analytics-position="10">The billionaire CEO of Uniqlo - and the richest person in Japan - says a woman would be the best person to take over his job</a>Interpersonal issues - including those between founders and investors - are the leading cause of startup death, Yeshiva University Sy Syms School of Business dean Noam Wasserman previously told <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-businesses-fail-how-to-avoid-startup-death-founders-investors-2019-8">Business Insider</a>'s Shana Lebowitz and Sherin Shibu. Wasserman has studied 6,000 startups and 16,000 founders since the year 2000. He now advises founders and investors to set their expectations for their professional relationship early on, especially when it comes to tough issues - like how to divide equity - that often get pushed to the backburner.For Lütke, Shopify's success has already paid off: <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/tobi-lutke/#67d2bc2e2df6">Forbes</a> currently puts his net worth at $2.8 billion. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-mars-starship-spacex-starhopper-rocket-moon-2019-6">Elon Musk's multibillion-dollar Starship rocket could one day take people to the moon and Mars</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Tobias Lutke, the billionaire founder of Shopify, says the key to building a 'fantastic relationship' with investors was being totally upfront about what he did not know

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Mark Zuckerberg won praise from CEOs for open-sourcing Meta's AI model, Llama 3.1.</li><li>Zuckerberg's popularity seems to be on the rise as tech leaders applaud his open-source approach.</li></ul>If there were a Big Tech CEO popularity contest, Zuck might well be taking the crown right now.The Meta chief is winning the admiration of CEOs of companies including Shopify and Perplexity. Even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-finally-found-something-agree-with-mark-zuckerberg-on-2024-7">Elon Musk gave Zuck a rare nod of approval</a>.What's sparking this praise? Meta's move to open source its biggest AI model yet: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://llama.meta.com">Llama 3.1</a>, which was released on Tuesday."It is impressive and Zuck does deserve credit for open-sourcing," Musk said in response to an <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1815842994479653194">X post</a>. Meanwhile, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/tobi/status/1815782408593043811">applauded</a> Zuck and said Llama 3.1 is an "incredible gift."Meta says Llama 3.1 outperforms rivals, including OpenAI, on certain benchmarks. Alongside the reveal, Zuck laid his cards on the table about why Meta is pursuing an open-source approach in a <a target="_blank" href="https://about.fb.com/news/2024/07/open-source-ai-is-the-path-forward/">manifesto</a> published Tuesday that Paul Graham, cofounder of startup accelerator Y Combinator, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/paulg/status/1815790529298452814">called</a> "eloquent." Perplexity chief Aravind Srinivas <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/AravSrinivas/status/1815826820371300365">praised</a> Zuck's "well articulated" reasoning about not fearing the loss of a technical edge, noting that Meta can gain by letting developers use and improve its models.As Grammarly CEO Rahul Roy-Chowdhury <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/12/ai-regulation-open-source/">pointed out</a> in December, open-sourcing AI models can benefit developers because it reduces the time and resources needed to develop new applications, making AI accessible beyond large tech companies. It also increases transparency, as third parties can audit and verify the datasets and codes of the models and, in theory, make products safer.It's the opposite tactic of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-chatgpt-openai-ceo-career-net-worth-ycombinator-prepper-2023-1">Sam Altman's OpenAI</a>. Zuck made a quip about its closed-source approach in a recent Bloomberg TV interview: "It's a somewhat ironic thing to have an organization that's named OpenAI but is sort of the leader in building closed AI models. It's not necessarily bad, but it's kind of a little funny."Zuckerberg also admitted there's a real possibility that Big Tech firms might be "over-building" and overspending in the AI arms race, but suggested this might be rational considering where the technology is headed. But Zuck's plaudits aren't just for open-sourcing. He's been doing other cool things lately that have scored him some serious internet points, like posting a video of him <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-celebrates-july-4th-surfing-tuxedo-beer-flag-springsteen-2024-7">surfing whilst wearing a tux </a>on Independence Day, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-leaning-into-his-version-of-mob-chic-2024-4">rocking a chain</a>, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerbergs-style-evolution-in-photos-2024-6">showing off his newfound drip</a>.Zuck is definitely having a moment right now.

Everybody seems to love Zuck right now

E-commerce platform <keyword id="1715801" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shopify" source="Orion">Shopify</keyword> has announced to lay off 20 per cent of its workforce which will impact more than 2,000 people. The company also announced that American multinational corporation Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics. "Shopify will be smaller by about 20 per cent and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics; this means some of you will leave Shopify today. I recognise the crushing impact this decision has on some of you, and did not make this decision lightly," said the company's CEO Tobi Lutke. The impacted employees will receive a minimum of 16 weeks severance plus a week for every year of tenure at Shopify. "Medical benefits and access to our employee assistance program (EAP) will be covered through this same period. We'll also offer outplacement services if you want them, all office furniture we provided is yours to keep," the CEO said in a blog post late on Thursday. "We legally need the work laptop back, but we'll help pay for a new one to replace it. You'll have continued free access to the advanced Shopify plan should you opt to take an entrepreneurial path in future," he added. In July last year, Shopify announced to cut 10 per cent of its workforce -- around 1,000 employees across verticals -- as it failed to predict that the e-commerce industry would continue to grow beyond the pandemic at the same pace it did during the two-year period. Shopify's workforce jumped from 1,900 in 2016 to around 10,000 in 2021 to meet the expected growth. However, Lutke had said that it was now clear that the bet didn't pay off. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/adani-enterprises-q4-net-profit-more-than-doubles-yoy-to-722-crore/articleshow/99990510.cms">Adani Enterprises Q4 net profit more than doubles YoY to ₹722 crore as airports and roads businesses pick up pace</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/hero-motocorp-q4-net-profit-beats-estimates-rises-37-yoy-to-859-crore/articleshow/99989966.cms">Hero MotoCorp Q4 net profit beats estimates, rises 37% YoY to ₹859 crore</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/hiring-in-it-companies-like-tcs-wipro-infosys-hcl-tech-plunges-by-66-in-fy23/articleshow/99960690.cms">Hiring in the IT sector plunges by 66% in FY23</a>

Shopify lays off 20% of its workforce, sells logistics biz

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Shopify founder CEO Tobi Lutke has a holiday message for you: you don't need to work 80 hours a week to be successful. He's living proof, he explained in a Twitter thread on Thursday.</li><li>Shopify is expected to report $1.55 billion in revenue for 2019, according to analysts polled by <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SHOP/earnings/estimates">Seeking Alpha</a>, and its stock has soared over 200% in 2019 to $407 per share.</li><li>All of it done with a reasonable workweek, Lutke says.</li><li>"I've never worked through a night. The only times I worked more than 40 hours in a week was when I had the burning desire to do so. I need 8ish hours of sleep a night. Same with everybody else, whether we admit it or not.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>Tobi Lutke, the founder and CEO of $48 billion ecommerce cloud software company Shopify, has a message for you this holiday: you don't need to work 80 hours a week to be successful.And he's living proof, he explained <a href="https://twitter.com/tobi/status/1210242184341000192">in a Twitter thread on Thursday</a>, the day after the Christmas holiday - in response to a <a href="https://twitter.com/TheLexTimes/status/1210022450433527808?s=20">debate over work/life balance and the 40-hour work week</a> sweeping the venture capital and startup community on Twitter. That debate, <a href="https://twitter.com/jasonfried/status/1209115637148274690?s=20">apparently sparked by Basecamp CEO Jason Fried</a>, has many sharing their own perspectives."I realize everyone's twitter feed looks different. But I'll go ahead and subtweet two conversations that I see going by right now: a) How the heck did Shopify get so big this decade and b) You have to work 80 hours a week to be successful," he tweeted. He says he and his cofounders have grown this company from a profitable bootstrap to its current multi-billion status without him ever sleeping under his desk."I've never worked through a night. The only times I worked more than 40 hours in a week was when I had the burning desire to do so. I need 8ish hours of sleep a night. Same with everybody else, whether we admit it or not," <a href="https://twitter.com/tobi/status/1210242187759378432">he tweeted.</a>Shopify has had a spectacular few years. Its revenues have doubled since 2017, solidly beating Wall Street estimates quarter after quarter, growing from $171.46 million in Q3 September, 2017, to $390.55 million in Q3 September 2019, its latest complete quarter. It's expected to finish the year at $1.55 billion in revenues.And Wall Street has noticed. Shopify went public in 2015. In the past year, the stock has soared over 200% from around $134 to around $407 giving the company a $47.6 billion market cap.But even at the scale of its current operations, he says he doesn't let his job overshadow the rest of his life."I'm home at 5:30pm every evening. I don't travel on the weekend. I play video games alone, with my friends, and increasingly with my kids. My job is incredible, but it's also just a job. Family and personal health rank higher in my priority list," he tweeted.<h2>The Canada factor</h2>He believes one reason Shopify grew without giving up work/life balance is because its based in Ottawa, Canada, far from Silicon Valley and its worship of workaholism. The tech industry is famous for CEOs who sleep at work, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-employee-stories-elon-musk-sleeping-at-work-2018-8">from Elon Musk sleeping on Tesla's factory floor</a> to Jack Dorsey who runs Twitter and Square <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/successful-ceo-sleep-schedules-2017-1#jack-dorsey-twitter-founder-and-square-ceo-1">and has said he's </a>worked up to 20 hours a day at times.The myth of sleeplessness as a key factor to success has become so widespread that <a href="http://ariannahuffington.com/thrive">Arianna Huffington even wrote a book</a> and launched a lifestyle blog called "Thrive" to convince workers they need sleep. Lutke apparently agrees. His philosophy is, "For creative work, you can't cheat. My belief is that there are five creative hours in everyone's day. All I ask of people at Shopify is that four of those are channeled into the company," he wrote. Instead of looking for 10x workers or rockstar engineers - or brilliant jerks - he hires for people who can make great teams."What's even better than people are teams," he wrote. "We don't burn out people. We give people space. We love real teams with real friendship forming."And he notes, "None of that is even about product, or market fit, or timing. Its all about people. Treating everyone with dignity."<h2>Research supports it</h2>There's plenty of research that backs up Lutke's viewpoint. In 2014, Stanford professor John Pencave published <a href="http://ftp.iza.org/dp8129.pdf">a famous paper </a> in which he described a productivity cliff when people work over 50 hours a week.Erin Reid, a professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, also <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/04/why-some-men-pretend-to-work-80-hour-weeks">published a study</a> that said that managers could not differentiate between those who logged a true 80 hours a week and those who faked it. "The research is clear: long hours backfire for people and for companies," wrote Sarah Green Carmichael for <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/08/the-research-is-clear-long-hours-backfire-for-people-and-for-companies">the Harvard Business Review.</a>Or, as Lutke put it: "We are not moist robots. We are people and people are awesome."Are you an insider with insight to share? Contact Julie Bort on encrypted chat app Signal at (970) 430-6112 using a non-work phone (no PR inquiries, please), or email at <a href="mailto:jbort@businessinsider.com">jbort@businessinsider.com</a>. Open DMs on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Julie188">@Julie188.</a> <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Now read:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-cto-open-source-opentech-hyperledger-quantum-artificial-intelligence-2019-12">An IBM CTO tells us about three open source projects with the power to change the world</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marissa-mayer-new-startup-lumi-holiday-helper-2019-12">Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's new startup is deliberately targeting 'mundane' tasks, and the first one is a holiday app that organizes addresses</a></li></ul>

The CEO of $48 billion Shopify says long hours aren't necessary for success: 'I'm home at 5:30pm every evening'

<div type="image" title="GettyImages 1149030074" height="4888" width="6517" msid="77617336" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>As more businesses consider operating remotely for the foreseeable future, they're also looking for new skillsets in job candidates. </li><li>Business Insider spoke with <keyword id="177739" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="recruiting">recruiting</keyword> executives on what hiring managers are looking for in <keyword id="52833" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Remote">remote</keyword> candidates, and what candidates can do to excel in a remote interview. </li><li>Some of their best advice? Get familiar with online conferencing platforms, show initiative in communicating remotely, and don't shy away from talking about the circumstances brought about by the pandemic. </li></ul>The novel coronavirus pandemic has brought major changes to the future of work as we know it, starting with the hiring process. As interviews shift from office buildings to online conferencing applications, it's not only the interview platform that has changed since the pandemic shut down office buildings across the country in March. Recruiters are also beginning to seek out new skills in remote candidates. "The whole process of hiring and finding candidates reflects a whole new evaluation of the world that we're living in right now," Laura Sapp, head of talent at American holding company IAC, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-iacs-head-of-talent-is-recruiting-during-a-pandemic-2020-8">previously told Business Insider.</a> While you won't have to worry about a limp handshake in an online interview, you might have to consider the intricacies of making "eye contact" with your computer camera — a skill that, while awkward to master, can help improve your odds of making a good first impression with prospective employers. And these aren't just makeshift interview measures to consider — for many companies, remote hiring and working practices will be here to stay after 2020. In July, Google announced that its workforce would be working from home <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-employees-working-from-home-summer-2021-report-2020-7">until July 2021</a>. Tobi Lutke, Shopify's founder and CEO, announced that the Canadian e-commerce company is keeping offices closed until 2021, at which point most of the company's staff will continue to work remotely. "Office centricity is over," Lutke <a href="https://twitter.com/tobi/status/1263483496087064579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1263483496087064579%7Ctwgr%5E&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Ftype%3Dtext2Fhtmlkey%3Dcfc0fb0733504c77aa4a6ac07caaffc7schema%3Dtwitterurl%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Ftobi%2Fstatus%2F1263483496087064579image%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Fi.embed.ly%2F1%2Fimage3Furl3Dhttps253A252F252Fpbs.twimg.com252Fprofile_images252F1245084664244699140252Ftk5QtiZx_400x400.png26key3D8804248494c144f5b4765c41f66c6ed56ed5">tweeted in May</a>. As other companies follow suit and hiring goes remote in the long term, the way job candidates approach the hiring process will also have to undergo major changes. Business Insider spoke with recruiting executives on the qualities that can help remote job candidates stand out to hiring managers in the age of remote recruiting. <h2>Familiarity with online conferencing platforms</h2>It may seem like obvious advice, but when a 13-inch screen is the only thing connecting you and the hiring manager, it's crucial to make sure you've mastered the art of presenting yourself over remote interviewing platforms. "They are absolutely a necessity in today's day and age," Claudia Johnson, vice president of internal recruiting at professional service Addison Group, said. "Whether we come back to full capacity at the office or not, we still need to have the ability to reach out and communicate virtually." Look for a quiet, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-a-job-covid-quarantine-recession-pandemic-experts-2020-8#acing-video-or-phone-interviews">well-lit space</a>, ideally with natural lighting and a background that won't distract from yourself. If you've never used the call platform before, it can also help to run a test call with the help of a friend or family member. And while you might not have to dress as formally as you would for an in-person interview, it never hurts to attend to your appearance. "You don't want to show up with your hair disheveled, or in pajamas," Johnson said. "People tend to think that's acceptable because of the pandemic, but it's not appropriate when you're interviewing for a position." <h2>Communication skills </h2>Active communication skills are important for any working team, but it's especially important to get the hang of remote communication when it's not possible to meet face to face. Arran Stewart, CEO of recruiting platform Job.com, said that some members of his team might be shy over virtual meetings, but that he still expects them to take the initiative to stay in touch throughout the day. "I'm expecting to see a volume of updates or questions coming through to me. It's impossible to just not communicate and manage to get everything done," Stewart said. There are ways that job candidates can make strong remote communication skills apparent through the interview process, too. Sapp recommended that job candidates continue to reach out to people at the company for virtual conversations to learn more about the position they are interviewing for. This way, you can develop authentic connections at the company early on, and learn more about what the company values. <h2>Acknowledging the moment</h2>These are, as the opening sentence of every business email reminds us, unprecedented times — so it's fine, even encouraged, to acknowledge that. Don't be afraid to bring up the pandemic and ask your hiring manager about how they are faring during these times. In fact, according to Johnson, candidates who maintained a human element in the interview actually stood out from their counterparts when interviewing for roles. "At the end of the day, we're all people. I've been very impressed with candidates who are even just starting out in their <keyword id="6354910" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="careers">careers</keyword> and really understand the importance of asking how I'm doing," Johnson said. "If you're not comfortable interviewing, you may not think that's appropriate, but it absolutely is in this day and age." Similarly, Sapp encouraged candidates asking questions about what it might mean to join the company they are interviewing, and how they can be successful in a remote role. "We want to be able to have open conversations and be honest about what the actual job is going to look like," Sapp said. "Parents are saying, can I split up my workday? The answer is absolutely. Let's make it work and over-communicate about our needs."

3 skills hiring managers are looking for in remote job candidates

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>The YouTube tree-planting movement that attracted the attention of donors like Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is being documented by Discovery, the company announced exclusively to Business Insider.</li><li>The movement, known as #TeamTrees, was started by YouTubers Jimmy Donaldson ⁠(MrBeast) and Mark Rober in order to celebrate Donaldson reaching 20 million subscribers on his channel. The team plans to plant 20 million trees around the world in a year. </li><li>Discovery will air its #TeamTrees special on Dec. 3 at 11 p.m. ET.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The <a href="https://teamtrees.org/">#TeamTrees</a> movement started by YouTubers Jimmy Donaldson ⁠(MrBeast) and Mark Rober has raised over $15 million in less than a month to plant trees around the world, and the Discovery Channel has been documenting the efforts for a special feature event. Discovery was given behind-the-scenes access to the tree planting campaign, the company announced exclusively to Business Insider, and will turn the footage into a feature for the channel that will air Dec. 3 at 11 p.m. ET.The special, called "#TeamTrees," features Donaldson and Rober as they begin the challenge of planting 20 million trees by the end of 2020, an initiative Donaldson took on after a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/TeamTrees/comments/dp47bi/the_post_which_started_it_all/">fan on Reddit</a> suggested he "save earth" to commemorate reaching the 20 million subscriber milestone on his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA">YouTube channel</a>. If 100,000 people tune in, Discovery will make a donation of up to $100,000 to #TeamTrees as part of the "Watch and Plant" event, the company said in a statement to Business Insider. "Discovery is an experiential brand and we're always looking for ways to give our audience opportunities to not just view, but also participate in simple ways like this," said Scott Lewers, Discovery's executive vice president of multiplatform programming and digital media.<h2>Discovery special will provide an 'inspiring' look at the behind-the-scenes work that's gone into #TeamTrees</h2>Donaldson and Rober <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teamtrees-by-youtuber-mrbeast-has-raised-millions-elon-musk-2019-10">worked with the Arbor Day Foundation</a>, a nonprofit conservation organization, to organize the campaign, and rounded up a large team of other YouTubers to support their efforts. Rober called the group - which includes <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAW-NpUFkMyCNrvRSSGIvDQ">Ninja</a>,​ ​​<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEdvpU2pFRCVqU6yIPyTpMQ">Marshmello</a>​, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkvK_5omS-42Ovgah8KRKtg">Jeffree Star</a>​, ​<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGCPAOQDZa_TTTXDr5byjww">Joey Graceffa</a>, and thousands more - "the Avengers of YouTube."Discovery has partnered with Rober in the past for his Shark Week episode "<a href="https://go.discovery.com/playlists/shark-rober" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://go.discovery.com/playlists/shark-rober&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1574356254994000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG9ecpwFUoZ0PdXvsbLIOvoafLz0Q">Shark Rober</a>," then connected the YouTubers with the Arbor Day Foundation when they first started assembling #TeamTrees, according to Lewers.Lewers said the Discovery special will showcase the hard work and creativity that's made the reforestation plan possible. "It's not easy to mass plant trees, as viewers will see in the episode, but spotlighting innovative tech solutions like seed drones and organizations like the Arbor Day Foundation are things we're happy to get behind," Lewers said.The #TeamTrees movement also attracted the attention of major donors outside of the YouTube community, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, both of whom <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-makes-massive-donation-to-tree-planting-cause-tweet-2019-10">donated $1 million each</a>. Shopify CEO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-shopify-ceo-tobias-lutke-built-good-relationships-with-investors-2019-9">Tobi Lutke</a> then topped those donations by $1, contributing 1,000,001 trees to the cause.Each dollar funds the planting of one tree, a goal that #TeamTrees hopes to achieve by the end of 2020 by using the Arbor Day Foundation's international <a href="https://www.arborday.org/programs/replanting/?Trackingid=663">reforestation program</a> network.Fundraising will last through December, and the bulk of the tree planting will kick off in January, according to Arbor Day Foundation Vice President Woody Nelson.

Discovery Channel is making a feature about YouTuber MrBeast's #TeamTrees movement, which has raised millions to plant trees

Hello!The remote work movement is accelerating.Mark Zuckerberg <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-could-allow-half-its-employees-to-work-remotely-2020-5">announced Thursday</a> that he expects up to 50% of <keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword>'s employees to work remotely by 2030. <keyword id="1715801" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Shopify">Shopify</keyword> boss Tobi Lutke <a href="https://twitter.com/tobi/status/1263483496087064579">tweeted</a> that the company's offices would remain closed until 2021 and that most will permanently work remotely after that. "Office centricity is over," he said. Those statements follow Twitter and Square employees being told <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-tells-employees-they-can-work-from-home-permanently-2020-5">they could work remotely permanently</a>. What does that mean for <keyword id="6357722" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword>'s status as the <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech">tech</keyword> hub?As Rob Price reported this week, a survey of thousands of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/two-thirds-tech-workers-leaving-sf-bay-area-wfh-blind-2020-5">San Francisco Bay Area techies found that two out of three would consider leaving if they could permanently work remotely</a>, suggesting a huge amount of pent up demand to leave what is an incredibly expensive city.What does it mean for compensation and staff costs? Zuckerberg said that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zuckerberg-facebook-salary-employees-moving-out-of-silicon-valley-2020-5">those who leave Silicon Valley might face pay cuts</a>, which makes business sense but could be hard to pull off without damaging morale.What does it mean for hiring and employee retention? For commercial and residential real estate in the cities the employees are leaving and moving to? Silicon Valley's rivals certainly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-bay-area-tech-workers-relocating-rival-regions-2020-5">see this moment as a growth opportunity</a>.We'll have lots more coverage on this in the coming weeks, but I'd love to get your take. What percentage of tech employees currently living and working in Silicon Valley would you expect to leave in the next five years? And where do you think they're likely to move to? Let me know.In the meantime, here's some of our best coverage on the topic from the past few days:<ul><li>The remote work boom will make it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-big-company-perks-startup-hiring-easier-2020-5">harder for big tech companies like Facebook and Google to recruit top talent</a>, according to Rob. That's a good thing, he writes.</li><li>Facebook's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-post-coronavirus-pandemic-remote-working-plan-doomed-2020-5">remote-working plan is doomed</a>, according to David Plotz, who writes the <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/insider-today">Insider Today</a> newsletter with our CEO Henry Blodget. Henry in contrast argues in the same article that some people <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-post-coronavirus-pandemic-remote-working-plan-doomed-2020-5">will be stoked to work remotely forever</a>.</li><li>Meanwhile, Facebook is eyeing offices in cities like Dallas, Atlanta, and Denver to act as "hubs" to support 50% of its workers staying remote, Dan Geiger reports. It's a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-could-allow-half-its-employees-to-work-remotely-2020-5">move that could upend Silicon Valley and NYC real estate</a>.</li><li>Long live the "dynamic" workplace, says Okta CEO Todd McKinnon, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-future-of-work-isnt-remote-its-dynamic-okta-ceo-2020-5">who's been experimenting with this new concept for a year</a> and talked to Julie Bort.</li><li>As Facebook, Twitter and others say OK to permanent remote work, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-startups-buck-a-spiraling-valuation-trend-2020-5">these 6 startups building tools to work outside the office are Silicon Valley's new darlings,</a> according to Bani Sapra.</li><li>And Rob reported that a Sam Altman-backed housebuilding startup is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-backed-housebuilding-startup-atmos-techies-leave-sf-2020-5">trying to convince tech workers to abandon the high-priced Bay Area</a>.</li></ul>Elsewhere in tech news:<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-ceo-full-email-to-employees-after-layoffs-job-cuts-2020-5">"I am truly sorry": Read the full email Uber's CEO sent employees after laying off 25% of the company's staff in 2 weeks</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-icutting-several-thousand-jobs-covid-19-2020-5">IBM is cutting "several thousand" jobs, a month after new CEO Arvind Krishna withdrew its financial outlook</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intercom-layoffs-relocating-47-roles-to-dublin-2020-5">Intercom, a $1.3 billion messaging startup backed by Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, laid off 39 employees and is relocating 47 roles to Dublin</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sofi-cut-7-percent-staff-quarterely-performance-reviews-2020-5">SoFi just cut 7% of staff based on performance reviews, and is eliminating a team by automating it away. The moves come a month after the fintech announced a $1.2 billion acquisition</a> </li></ul><h2><div type="image" title="boies schiller flexner law firm under fire 4x3" height="1501" width="2000" msid="75948526" hostid="261"></div></h2><h2>Law firm drama</h2>Casey Sullivan and Meghan Morris have the inside track on drama at elite law firm <keyword id="5200088" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Boies-Schiller">Boies Schiller</keyword>. From their story:Over the past six months, more than 30 partners have exited the firm, which was founded by superlawyer David Boies — best known for his role in cases like Bush v. Gore and the fight for same-sex marriage rights. Business Insider spoke with more than 50 people, including current and former Boies Schiller attorneys, about the key issues behind the turnover, and events that help explain the firm's shrinking.You can read the story in full here:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-a-messy-transition-at-elite-law-firm-boies-schiller-2020-5">Pay rifts, a partner divide, and a threat at the Ritz Carlton: 50 insiders reveal all on a massive shakeup at elite law firm Boies Schiller</a><div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: A sign marks the headquarters of Moderna Therapeutics, which is developing a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., May 18, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder" height="3468" width="4569" msid="75948535" hostid="261"></div><h2>The most consequential startup of all time</h2>And Andrew Dunn has the untold story of <keyword id="4912868" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="moderna">Moderna</keyword>, the biotech startup that has skyrocketed to global prominence, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moderna-startup-to-biotech-developing-coronavirus-vaccine-flagship-pioneering-2020-5">leading the world's race for a coronavirus vaccine</a>. From his story:In its short corporate history, Moderna has grown accustomed to breaking records.A $450 million funding round in 2015 was a record for the biotech industry. Moderna raised even more the next year. And its 2018 initial public offering was the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moderna-therapeutics-biotechnology-initial-public-offering-record-2018-12">largest ever for a biotech</a>.Then, this year, the coronavirus struck. Moderna lapped the drug industry in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-development-inside-the-lab-ceo-interview-2020-3?r=moderna-teaser">crafting a coronavirus vaccine</a> candidate, zooming past Big Pharma competitors that dwarf the company in size and resources.Moderna's experimental serum was the first to begin human testing in mid-March. Now, the biotech is aiming to be ready this fall for emergency use, a development timeline without precedent.His story aims to answer a key question:In taking on the coronavirus, Moderna has gone mainstream and become of the most consequential startups of all time. Is it ready for the moment? You can read his story in full here:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moderna-startup-to-biotech-developing-coronavirus-vaccine-flagship-pioneering-2020-5">The untold story of Moderna as the biotech's coronavirus vaccine faces a test that could make it one of the most consequential startups of all time</a>Below are headlines on some of the stories you might have missed from the past week. Enjoy the long weekend!-- Matt<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/student-housing-investments-outlook-with-colleges-closed-coronavirus-2020-5">Wall Street poured billions into campus housing — thinking it was an easy win. With colleges sitting empty, here are the bets that could get hit the hardest.</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-reasons-for-next-sell-off-this-year-2020-5">A Wall Street equity chief lays out 5 reasons why another 'significant drawdown' in stocks is coming right after the fastest crash in history</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-23-enterprise-vc-rising-star-investors-silicon-valley-2020-5">Meet 23 rising star investors scouting the next breakout enterprise software startups in industries like 'boring AI' and 'SMBtech'</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/magic-leap-has-secured-350-million-investment-2020-5">Magic Leap just raised a $350 million investment round as it tries to secure its future — read the email CEO Rony Abovitz sent employees</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hill-knowlton-strategies-struggles-to-turnaround-us-business-2020-5">WPP PR giant Hill + Knowlton Strategies was starting to revive its US business. Now the pandemic threatens to unwind those efforts.</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/demand-for-warehouse-space-surges-as-ecommerce-and-logistics-soar-2020-5">Warehouse properties are suddenly red-hot, with Amazon snapping up space while ailing companies sell. Here's a look at key deals and market forecasts that lay out a huge opportunity for industrial real-estate.</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/executives-consultants-transforming-management-consulting-bain-mckinsey-bcg-deloitte-accenture-2020-5">POWER PLAYERS OF CONSULTING: Meet the 38 consultancy stars disrupting the $130 billion industry and solving problems for clients in crisis</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-colleges-higher-education-financial-struggles-pandemic-online-classes-2020-5">College students don't want to return in the fall, and it could cause many universities to collapse</a>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-business-news-remote-work-boies-schiller-moderna-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

A Silicon Valley exodus, law firm drama, and the most consequential startup of all time

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Shopify; Ruobing Su/Business Insider</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/shopify" data-e2e-name="category-link">Shopify</a> has a market cap of $42.3 billion - making it <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2019/08/20/shopify-cracks-the-e-commerce-code-and-its-billionaire-ceos-fortune-doubles-in-just-six-months/#413e4d3d7f57">worth more</a> than Twitter, Snap, Square, and Lyft.</li><li>But you'd never search for products on the e-commerce company's website. Instead, the company is a backend for entrepreneurs to build their own shopping website.</li><li>Kylie Cosmetics and Allbirds both use Shopify.</li><li>The approach to building an e-commerce empire is quite different from Amazon, Ebay, or other online giants, where users can easily search for what they want. </li><li>We asked Michael Perry, a product director at Shopify, why the <keyword id="6354851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="retail">retail</keyword>er prefers to stay behind the scenes as the "backbone" for retail entrepreneurs. Here's what he told us.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Rachel Premack: Just to start off, how would you say Shopify looks at retailers or sellers as part of the platform? Michael Perry: We've always played kind of a background role for sellers - to be a hub and spoke model to allow them to sell and connect with their potential customers everywhere.Shopify has quickly become home of entrepreneurship. Our philosophy and focus since <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopify-ceo-explains-his-decision-to-keep-the-company-in-canada-2018-6">Tobi</a> (Lütke), the founder, started the company, was to allow for more voices to be at the table rather than few and to drop the barrier of entry as low as possible so that everyone could chase their ambitions and dreams and be an entrepreneur.We've powered 800,000-plus entrepreneurs from around the world. We've invested very heavily in dropping that barrier of entry.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopify-ceo-explains-his-decision-to-keep-the-company-in-canada-2018-6">The CEO of a $15 billion tech giant explains his decision to keep the company in Canada when VCs told him 'move or no deal'</a>This multichannel experience allows them to reach their customers online - in the traditional way like through Instagram, all the way into the home of their brick and mortar businesses or pop-ups.And then we've been quite vocal over the last couple of years about internationalizing Shopify so that it's not just for English speaking entrepreneurs, but for entrepreneurs all around the world.<h2>A slew of Shopify tools allow small businesses to grow</h2>RP: And those entrepreneurs or sellers who don't have a big name brand or aren't immediately recognizable to customer - how can they make it on Shopify?MP: Obviously, we take it very seriously to help them develop their business and our assistance in the development of their business so that they can become a big name brand. We've become very popular for some of the B2C brands on our platform, like Allbirds and Kylie Jenner and the such. But not everyone has that instantaneous success as some of them have found.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Lucas JacksonTobi&#xa0;Lütke, founder and CEO of Shopify</div></div></div>We've made huge investments in some of our marketing technology to allow for them to run Facebook ads in a very competitive way. We partnered with Google last year to be the launch partner <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-introduces-smart-campaigns-for-small-businesses-the-first-new-solution-to-launch-under-the-google-ads-brand-301089">for smart ads</a>, which kind of helped with all the optimization and bidding so that we can partner with Google so they can run ads in a very competitive way. We recently announced a partnership with Snapchat, so they get their brand in front of a younger audience in a very competitive way.We have multiple offerings in the marketing suite to help them drive that direct to consumer relationship experience. Most recently with the launch of Shopify chat, that allows for our entrepreneurs to tell their story and to talk directly to their customers and to really leverage them.One authentic competitive advantage the entrepreneurs have is their voice and their story.<h2>Small businesses are considering expanding on Shopify over Amazon - here's why</h2>RP: I talk to Amazon third-party sellers quite a bit, and one of the things that they've been talking about recently is this concept that it's just getting too expensive to sell on Amazon, especially with the FBA cost and ads and so on.So, how does the Shopify margin look different if you're selling it through a Shopify website versus selling through the Amazon marketplace?MP: I think that the important thing for us to obviously clarify is that Amazon is a very traditional marketplace to the extent that they're taking a cut of the transactions.We are really just trying to be a Software as a Service (SaaS), the back office to all of these businesses, and we charge a monthly fee.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-sellers-organizing-anti-trust-doj-ftc-2019-8" data-analytics-position="7">'Amazon is not their friend': Amazon sellers are organizing against the retail giant as the FTC and DOJ continues their anti-trust probe</a>That is a huge advantage for sellers because you know, then they're not losing on every single sale. We want to empower people to grow their business in a very fruitful and meaningful way and that's why we've gone with a monthly subscription revenue model.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Chris WattieAn employee works at Shopify's headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.</div></div></div>RP: Does that monthly fee change based on how many sales you're driving or anything like that?MP: Not on sales. We have <a href="https://www.shopify.com/pricing">a variety of plans</a> depending on what the needs are for your business. So it starts with Basic Shopify, which is a very popular plan that a lot of our merchants are actively using.Then it goes all the way up into Shopify Plus, which is a bit of a more white-glove tailored experience. It's a premium cost and it's more common for larger brands, certainly more direct to consumer well-known names that you've probably had shopped from they're typically using Shopify Plus.<h2>'Amazon plays a very unique role in helping them acquire customers, but it doesn't help them acquire relationships'</h2>RP: Why do you think that is that sellers are moving to Shopify from Amazon?MP: I think at the end of the day, one thing that's always been really, really important for entrepreneurship and I grew up working in family businesses, and if you go all the way back to the beginning of commerce, there's one thing that's always remained true regardless of the area, regardless of technology. And that's the importance of owning the customer relationship.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Lucas JacksonThe logo of Shopify hangs behind the Canadian flag after the company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange on May 21, 2015.</div></div></div>MP: It's very, very important for entrepreneurs to be able to establish and build lifetime value with their customers and for them to drive repeat business into them, to do all of these things that help their business grow and for them to build this magical businesses they envision for themselves.I think Amazon plays a very unique role in helping them acquire customers, but it doesn't help them acquire relationships and it doesn't help them grow their business in that same meaningful way.I think there's a place for there to be some complimentary opportunities where people sell on Amazon as well as power their business on Shopify. But more importantly, I think that you see this gravitational pull because customers equally crave that relationship.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopify-unveils-fulfillment-service-2-day-shipping-2019-6" data-analytics-position="10">Shopify has a new service that can help merchants store, pack, and ship items like Amazon as 2-day shipping goes mainstream</a>As consumers, we like to be able to walk into a local business where everyone knows your name. You like to get preferential treatment. You like to have a relationship.We are all consumers at the end of the day. Shopify is the business with allowing for those relationships to happen. And that that is the special sauce. That is your secret magic.<h2>E-commerce is becoming less anonymous</h2>RP: It's sort of like the difference between going into a dressing room and kind of being ignored by the people running the dressing room versus, you know, someone coming back to the room and asking if you need a different size or something along those lines.MP: Totally. Exactly. I mean, I think that we all buy on Amazon. And I can't tell you a single merchant or entrepreneur I bought them from on Amazon.I don't know if I've given them repeat business or not, but the businesses that I'm buying for online, tend to be the direct to consumer experiences. I do know who they are and I do know their story and I do like feeling special.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Chris WattieA room is seen at Shopify's headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, October 22, 2018.</div></div></div>And I do like preferential treatment and emails and things of that nature because I like the relationship component. I think that more and more people are recognizing that that's a really important part of the buyer experience.You want that helper to help you with your changing room to get your size. You don't want to be ignored. So, I think that that plays a huge role in the gravitational pull and how commerce is reshaping right now.RP: So, it sounds like e-commerce was getting less anonymous overall then.MP: I think we believe in that deeply and I think that our multichannel offering, because we believe that every offline business will have an online component and vice versa potentially. I think that we're realizing and trying to scale and accelerate the abandonment of anonymous shopping and really kind of own the relationship development.<h2>Shopify isn't likely to change its course and become a front-facing player</h2>RP: Then, on the opposite end of that, why is Shopify kind of more of an invisible, background player providing the structure for these websites? Do you ever try to see a future where you can actually just go on Shopify.com and search for something?MP: You know, I can't comment on that because I don't work on Shopify.com products and I'm not familiar with the road map, but I highly, highly doubt it today.I think it's really important that we always put entrepreneurs up front and center. I think it's really, really, really important and I think that we recognize that and that's why people prefer to choose our platform because we're not putting our logos everywhere and being on everyone's face.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesShopify's headquarters.</div></div></div>We're allowing them to own the vision. We're allowing them to have the flexibility to build their business. It's our job to power that ignition.We want to be the enablers. We want to be the people that are powering the next way of great entrepreneurs. And in the process of doing that, I think we feel very comfortable on how things net out at the end of the day. So, I think it's just a matter of philosophy and I think it's just a matter of what the approaches and on what people's appetites are. Our approach and our appetite is very uniquely entrepreneurs first.<h2>Shopify is seeing significant year-over-year growth. Could it unseat Amazon as the leading online retailer? </h2>RP: So, Shopify just took over eBay as the second largest platform online selling and saw 48% year-over-year revenue growth <a href="https://investors.shopify.com/Investor-News-Details/2019/Shopify-Announces-Second-Quarter-2019-Financial-Results/default.aspx">in its most recent quarterly earnings report</a>. Given that, do you think it's possible for Shopify to take over Amazon or even edge out Amazon as the largest retailer online?MP: You know, that's not really the way that we approach or look at it. Amazon is an incredible business and incredible marketplace and we've partnered with them on a bunch of things before to help our merchants sell directly on Amazon. They are a very traditional marketplace.We operate the commerce operating system. It's allowing for businesses to sell everywhere and it's our job to power entrepreneurs.So, we want to go and build a relationship with Amazon, build relationships with Walmart and eBay and these other marketplaces because we believe that our entrepreneurs should be leveraging them to the best of their ability - the same way we've gone and built those relationships with Facebook and Google.I think Amazon's a great business. Our job, of course, is to make sure that we help not one company become great, which is Amazon, but help millions of entrepreneurs build the next Amazon; build the next great company. And that's our mission and focus.<h2>As Shopify experiences remarkable growth, Perry says it's crucial to 'preserve that magic' that's fueled Shopify from the early days</h2>RP: I think that's just about all my questions. Could you share what you think Shopify's biggest challenges or hurdles are over the next few years?MP: I've done a lot of media interviews. That's the first time anyone's asked me that question, so kudos to you.I think if I'm being 100% candid in that, I think that this is just the honest to God truth - building a business is really hard.And when I joined Shopify some time ago, it feels like a million years ago, we were a small company and we had a lot fewer merchants and we had just explosive growth over the last three or four years.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-shopify-founder-explains-how-he-handled-crushing-stress-2019-9">The billionaire cofounder of Shopify says he intentionally slowed the company's growth - and it was the key to managing the 'crushing' stress of being a CEO </a>When you're experiencing this kind of velocity, it's preserving that magic that got you here, as well as making sure that you keep everyone on board with the brand and the vision and the mission.And that's every business's challenge and I think that's what separates the great companies from the good companies. I don't even know how many employees Nike has. I think every person that works on Nike knows that they're building products for athletes.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Reuters</div></div></div>I think it's really, really important for Shopify and I think that we're doing a great job of this today, but we have to continue to double down indefinite to constantly remind us internally and externally, we're the entrepreneurship company and we're here to build things for entrepreneurs.And I think that's that balance of making sure we play that background role and knowing when we can leverage the brand and do things all the right way.Because as long as entrepreneurs maintain front and center and as long as everyone stays on board with that vision and mission, we could feel really good about who we are as a company, and I think that's the problem that we're going to continue to develop internally for years to come.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-shopify-ceo-tobias-lutke-built-good-relationships-with-investors-2019-9" data-analytics-position="1">Tobias Lutke, the billionaire founder of Shopify, says the key to building a 'fantastic relationship' with investors was being totally upfront about what he did not know</a>RP: It kind of reminds me of, I'm sure you followed like the rise of Glossier, but it's interesting to me that they won't expand to Ulta or CVS or Sephora or wherever. If Glossier did expand there, it'd make a lot more sales and be more visible and these sorts of things but they kind of lose the magic and what makes them special.It seems like it's definitely challenging kind of balancing growth as well as maintaining the ethos of the company.MP: I think we'll know that we're headed in the right direction when everyone else around the world views us as the entrepreneurship company as well.And that's what we've been trying to strive for and push towards and that helps all these things collectively.This interview was lightly edited and condensed for clarity. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-features-iphone-photo-app-darkmode-gestures-spam-calls-2019-9">Here are all the best features that just came to the iPhone</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

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