Newsletter #51: Shopify's 20th birthday, Vacation, and the hard thing about hard things

Hi there,

I hope you're feeling good.

Exceptionally, I’m publishing this edition on a late Thursday night instead of a Thursday morning.

It’s been a very special week (in a good way!). I’ll explain why.

In this edition, we're discussing Shopify's 20th birthday, Vacation, and the hard thing about hard things.

Let's dive in.

Work

As you know, I'm currently in Toronto.

On Tuesday, there was the editions.dev event.

Hundreds of Shopify Partners flew to Toronto from all around the world to spend a magical day together. They enjoyed conferences, Summer Editions announcements, workshops and, of course, parties.

The editions.dev’s after party, especially, was a great moment. It’s almost like I’ve met my entire Twitter feed. It was so nice to finally be able to meet with all the people I had been talking to online.

However, for us working at Shopify, this week isn't only about Summer Editions and editions.dev, it's a much bigger celebration.

We are celebrating Shopify’s 20th birthday. Every day of the week is filled with events to make sure that this milestone is celebrated in the best way. What a fun time! It’s full of surprises and discoveries.

During this week, I’ve met many colleagues at Shopify for the first time: Deanna Baldwin, Mateusz Krzeszowiak, Fabian Engeln, Daniel Debow, Gil Greenberg, Justin Henricks, Peter Joynt, Samuel Path, Arnaud Tanielian, Aurélien Jabot, and many more.

I’ve also met some Shopify Partners for the first time: Simon Barnes, Rishi Samuel Patel, Kalen Jordan, Harshdeep Singh Hura, Thomas Kelly and Wiktoria Swiecicka from Archetype Themes, Jordan Finners, Patrick Jakubik, and more.

Finally, I got to reunite with friends: Aurélien Bobenrieth, Mat de Sousa, Thomas Tastet, Deborah Mecca, Dulé Stojnić, and Guillaume Faure.

So many beautiful memories.

I feel incredibly lucky to have joined Shopify just on time to be a part of this company-wide celebration. It was an unforgettable experience. Hats off to the team who organized it so brilliantly.

Happy birthday Shopify! Cheers to your 20 years and to many more years to come.

Inspire

I really enjoy browsing Shopify stores and identifying what I enjoy, what lacks clarity, and what I would change.

Very often, I send Loom videos to brands to highlight bugs or elements impairing the user experience.

On Wednesday morning, I had breakfast with my friend Simon Barnes from New Zealand. He showed me a Shopify store that I absolutely loved.

This store belongs to Vacation, an American sunscreen brand.

I scrolled the website for a good 10 minutes, happily discovering every aspect of it.

Here are several elements I enjoyed about Vacation’s store:

• The warm and positive atmosphere created using a light yellow background and warm colors reminding us of the summer.

• The old-fashioned fonts and photoshoots.

• The menu and its entertaining “vibe generator” where you can fine-tune the summer sounds that you’d like to listen to.

• The company’s page and its personalized member card generator.

• The FAQ and its funny questions such as the iconic “Is this real?”.

My experience on this store was a delight both on desktop and mobile. It’s so refreshing to see brands making a real effort into bringing something original and memorable to the world.

Discover Vacation’s online store here. How do you like it?

Explore

This week, I’m reading a really cool book: “The hard thing about hard things” by Ben Horowitz.

If you did not already read this book, you might be wondering what the title means.

It’s to be understood in the context of entrepreneurship.

In business, the hard thing about hard things is that there is no formula for dealing with them.

Ben Horowitz, an experienced entrepreneur, walks us through many challenges that he faced and explains how he dealt with them. He draws from his own experience to give us strategies and tools to help us make tough decisions.

I’m really enjoying this book. It’s very well written. When I read it, I feel like the author is talking to me. His sentences are short and sharp. I highlighted many of them and I already know that I’ll regularly come back to them.

Ben Horowitz is direct and authentic. He does not shy away from discussing his failures and struggles. In a world where we mainly see the polished side of successful companies, it’s a refreshing read.

Here are a few quotes I highlighted:

• “The hard thing isn’t dreaming big. The hard thing is waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat when the dream turns into a nightmare.”

• “The Struggle is when you wonder why you started the company in the first place. The Struggle is when people ask you why you don’t quit and you don’t know the answer. (…) The Struggle is where self-doubt become self-hatred.”

• “In any human interaction, the required amount of communication is inversely proportional to the level of trust.”

• “When a company starts to lose its major battles, the truth often becomes the first casualty. CEOs and employees work tirelessly to develop creative narratives that help them avoid dealing with the obvious facts.”

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading this edition until the end.

I'll talk to you soon.

Take good care of yourself.

Coralie