Shopify not only encourages entrepreneurship in aspiring business owners but also in its own employees. The Canada-based company which provides infrastructures to merchants to launch online stores motivates its employees to have a side hustle. Shopify leaders even allows employees to spend up to $1,000 annually in business-related costs, according to businessinsider.in. Below we have listed seven side hustle stories by Shopify employees including its President Harley Finkelstein:
1. Firebelly Tea by Harley Finkelstein
Shopify encourages side hustle, and its biggest proof is Harley Finkelstein, Shopify President, who owns a tea brand Firebelly Tea. Finkelstein operates this Shopify-powered DTC tea brand along with David Segal, founder of DavidsTea. Launched in November 2021, the idea took shape during COVID-19 lockdown. In a long LinkedIn post, Shopify President narrated how he transformed from a heavy coffee drinker to tea lover.
“When I wanted to stock up my own tea collection, we looked at the market and saw that artificial flavourings and un-listed preservatives were pervasive in most of the tea brands available. AKA = there was a gap in the market for high-quality tea. It was time to start a business,” he wrote. Previously, Finkelstein had told Business Insider that a side hustle helps him have empathy for Shopify’s merchant base. “I talk a lot about the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur in my role at Shopify. Firebelly allows me to experience that firsthand,” he had said.
Firebelly Tea claims that its products are manufactured from 100 percent real ingredients with no added artificial sweeteners, flavouring or sugar. The brand boasts of speedy delivery and sustainable packaging as its resealable pouches are home-compostable. As per the website of the company, pouches will degrade in the compost area within one year.
2. Pika Layers by Atlee Clark
After working with Shopify for 8 years, Atlee Clark resigned from her post of Director of operations for Shop to focus on her own brand Pika Layers. The apparel brand, co-founded by Marie and Sophie makes products for kids and women. Clark founded the clothing company while working full-time with the e-commerce platform.
Pika Layers sells “soft, breathable and temperature regulating bamboo lounge,” for women besides providing Bamboo PJ’s, UPF/sun blankets and bamboo sleepers for toddlers and infants. PIKA also aims at minimising waste by providing fully compostable garment bags and mailers. PIKA claims that its products are skin-friendly as they have chemical free UPF 50+ protection and hypo-allergenic properties.
3. Bathorium by Gregory Macdonald
Gregory Macdonald already owned a Shopify store when he joined the company in 2016 to serve at the position of merchant-success manager. Bathorium, founded in January 2014, grew incessantly during his tenure at Shopify from 2016 to 2021. Eventually, he quit the company to focus full-time on Bathrorium. The company was “founded on the concept of benefits based on bathing,” states its website.
Bathorium provides bath soaks, bath bombs, bubble oils and other bath accompaniments. The brand claims that it doesn’t contain artificial fragrances, colorants and other toxic ingredients usually found in bath products today. At present, Bathorium is not only sold online but also over 500 retail locations globally besides Holt Renfew, Four Seasons Hotels, Anthropologie, The Detox Market and Shangri La Hotel.
4. Bull And Cleaver by Daniel Patricio
Daniel Patricio was working as Product Lead at Shopify when he launched Bull and Cleaver. It is a Shopify store that sells authentic South African product biltong. Patricio worked at Shopify for 8 years before quitting the company in 2021. However, he had already founded Bull and Cleaver in 2014 with his wife Jessica.
For the unversed, biltong is a tender beef product packed with protein. Free from additives, GMOs, gluten, nitrates and sugar, Bull and Cleaver claims that its “spiced biltong is made fresh in small batches with premium beef and simple ingredients”.
5. Ghlee by Arati Sharma
Arati Sharma launched a ghee-based lip care product, Ghlee, in Toronto. Sharma worked for 7 years at Shopify from 2013 to 2021 and meanwhile launched Ghlee in November 2019. “We’re a modern-day beauty brand aimed at keeping our ancestors close. Rooted in tradition and guided by intention, our mission is to create effective solutions with a simple ingredient list,” the brand mentions on its website. The skincare brand aims at crafting skin care that “ancestors would be proud of”.
Sharma started in Shopify as a community development manager and went on to become Director of Marketing, Offline & Experiential. At the time when she quit the company, she was serving as Director of Product Marketing. “Though I’ve had the opportunity to build from scratch inside of Shopify, being in the founder seat is a whole new ballgame,” she said as quoted by techcrunch.com. At Shopify, she observed, “how culture and commerce intersect so deeply.” She also said that “whether you join [Shopify] as a former founder or you catch the entrepreneurial bug while working there, it’s remarkable how many employees run their own businesses.”
6. Tease by Sheena Brady
Sheena Brady quit her role at Shopify to boost the growth of her wellness tea brand Tease. The brand founded in December 2013 create “natural, tea + botanical based products” that doesn’t compromise “convenience, sustainability, or impact”. “Tease is a Certified B-corp, meeting the highest standards of audited social and environmental sustainability,” mentions Brady’s LinkedIn page. “Every order supports programs dedicated to supporting women founders through our Founders Fund program,” it adds.
As far as Brady’s Shopify journey is concerned, she joined the e-commerce platform in 2015 as customer support specialist. When she quit the e-commerce platform in September 2022, she was serving as a merchant success team lead. Recalling her journey at Shopify, Brady wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I’ve had the privilege of being one of the first few hundred employees at Shopify in Canada as it grew to over 10,000 employees around the planet. As of this date, 98.75% of the company has started after me. (This is a fun + nerdy metric we have access to internally)”.
“Thank you, Shopify, it’s been privilege to get to wake up everyday and work for one of the best companies in the world for as long as I have while supporting our mission to make commerce better for everyone,” Brady wrote in the post.
7. Rhenti by Erin Chan
Erin Chan worked on her brand, Rhenti, a rental marketing platform while working as a product manager at Shopify. Chan worked at Shopify from 2018 to 2020 as a Senior Product Manager. Meanwhile, she co-founded her own company in 2017.
Rhenti develops tools that make the process of renting easier, quicker, without any hassles and more transparent. “Our leasing platform provides renters and DIY property owners a centralized hub of powerful features that simplify the rental experience and remove the strain from traditionally burdensome tasks from lead to lease,” Chan mentions on her LinkedIn profile.
