Daniel Weinand quit Shopify after 12 years as an executive, deciding to leave in under 24 hours despite the financial cost. He was working 80-hour weeks, had lost passion for the work, and realized he was staying out of obligation. Telling co-founder Toby Lütke he was leaving was emotionally difficult but necessary for his sanity.
When you exited, how did you do it? Like, did you meet with the board and say, look, I'm ready to move on?
That was a really tough point in my life, I think, because at this point, I mean, I've been at Shopify for 12 years. I don't want to use the word consume me, but I did spend 80 hours plus a week. Like, I didn't really have any vacations. I didn't really do anything. I did a few things on the side, but Shopify was my life for a very long time. And it's kind of like realizing when you break up with someone in a long-term relationship, I suddenly realized that I was still trying to keep up with everything, and reading the news, and learning about commerce. And I had this epiphany that I'm doing this because I have to. I'm not doing this anymore because I want to, or I love to do this. This is no longer my passion. I think I'm pretty good at what I'm doing, but at the same time, this wasn't my heart. And then, so from, from knowing this to talking to Toby about it was less than 24 hours.
Wow.
I wanted to sleep on it one night, and then when I, you know, the next day I still felt the same. I was like, you know what, I walked into office and I said this is how I feel. I can probably not tell you this, and I can coast for another few years and no one would know. Yes, I would do not as good of a job. It wouldn't be good for the company. It wouldn't be good for me, for my sanity. I would get a big paycheck. I would vest all my options because I had a ton of options, right? I left a lot of money on the table.
Wow.
And I talked to him and he You know, obviously he didn't want me to leave, and I can't blame him.
And Toby, how did he take it? He just understood because you guys are friends. I mean, right?
It's, it's, it's tough if you work with a friend, right? Because as a friend, yes, he understood. As a CEO, he didn't want it to be true. I think it's really challenging because I was the one person that's been there from the beginning.
Yes.
Right. Losing that and him staying behind, um, I can see how that feels.
