AI-First Company Memos
Shopify. Tobi Lutke. April 7, 2025. Lutke learned his internal memo was being leaked and decided to publish it himself. Given that this memo is being shared already let me do it properly.— Tobi Lutke (@tobi) April 7, 2025 The memo required teams to demonstrate why AI couldn’t do a job before requesting headcount. AI proficiency would be built into performance reviews. Prototyping should be “dominated by AI exploration.” The line everyone quoted: “Stagnation is slow-motion failure.” Reflexive AI usage is now a baseline expectation at Shopify.— Tobi Lutke (@tobi) April 7, 2025 Digital Commerce 360 → Box. Aaron Levie. April 2025. Same month, completely different energy. Where Lutke said “prove AI can’t do it before you hire,” Levie flipped it: prove you can use AI…
