Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke wrote a company-wide memo Wednesday discouraging employees from having side hustles.
“I recently learned our offer letters and some Vault pages have been suggesting side gigs,” Lütke wrote in a post on Shopify’s workplace page that was viewed by Insider. “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. It isn’t the first time Lütke has referred to Shopify’s workforce as a sports team. In 2020, he wrote a widely shared memo that asserted that “Shopify is a team, not a family,” and “that like any other competitive (sports) team, it matters how you show up every day and contribute to the team’s success.”
Wednesday’s message came as a surprise to many employees, some of whom said it contradicted Shopify’s long-term policies. Shopify often refers to itself as “the entrepreneurship company,” and company representatives have said it actively promotes “a spirit of entrepreneurship internally and encourages our employees to pursue their passions and side projects.”
Even the company’s president, Harley Finkelstein, has had his own Shopify store, Firebelly Tea, which he co-founded with the DavidsTea creator David Segal in 2021. In a comment in response to Lütke’s note on Wednesday, Finkelstein wrote that Segal started running Firebelly Tea as CEO full-time once it was “up and running,” a fact that Finkelstein acknowledged “might not be well known.”
“He was someone who could devote his full attention and time to that quest,” Finkelstein wrote. “When you’re at Shopify, we are building the entrepreneurship company for millions of entrepreneurs around the world, and that is our main quest.”
“We all need to solve problems like an entrepreneur: Think and act like founders,” he continued. “And build Shopify as if it is our own.”
Lütke said Wednesday that employees should start their own Shopify stores because it helps them to stay familiar with the platform.
He also said that potential conflicts of interest are another reason why employees should not be pursuing side gigs.
“Occasional side hustles like teaching a yoga class on the weekend or coaching your kid’s soccer team once or twice a week aren’t what I’m talking about. And open source contributions are welcome, but give yourself an out – don’t commit to big maintenance burden or letting them become a substantial workload,” he wrote. “Any role you take on ought not to conflict with your primary craft’s output accruing to Shopify’s mission. Because our merchants need us, and your colleagues rely on you.”
Shopify General Counsel Jess Hertz responded to Lütke’s post saying that all employees would receive an email with more details on how they can disclose side projects or other outside work.
“Everyone will need to complete this form if it triggers the type of work that could involve conflicts with employment at Shopify,” she wrote.
A Shopify representative declined to comment on the memo.
Read Lütke’s full memo:
Shopify’s mission requires your unshared attention I recently learned our offer letters and some Vault pages have been suggesting side gigs. 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. We’re building world-class software for millions of merchants who depend on us every second. This is not a part time job, in the same way premier league teams don’t have part time players. You should run a Shopify store to learn our product. If it grows, hire help or do the thing we celebrate most: ascent to be a full-time entrepreneur. Any other commitments that drain and subtract from the creative energy that you would bring to work is not good. Another angle is potential conflicts of interest – side jobs, board work, secondary employment – need to be disclosed and reviewed. Jess and Tia will firm up the guidelines here. Occasional side hustles like teaching a yoga class on the weekend or coaching your kid’s soccer team once or twice a week aren’t what I’m talking about. And open source contributions are welcome, but give yourself an out – don’t commit to big maintenance burden or letting them become a substantial workload. Key is that any role you take on ought not to conflict with your primary craft’s output accruing to Shopify’s mission. Because our merchants need us, and your colleagues rely on you. This isn’t a change. I’m trying to root cause why this was ever in our offer letters/on Vault. I seriously thought I was stuck in the Truman show for a moment when I found this one out.
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