Unlocking growth: Rethinking the CRO-CFO partnership

In the corporate world, there's a tale as old as commerce itself: Sales says yes, Finance says no. It's a story of friction and both sides believing that the other has their priorities misaligned. It’s a dynamic that’s pervasive across most professionally run businesses. 

But what if I told you there's a different path available? One where the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) aren't just aligned, but are two hands on the same launch key. Collaboratively charting a path towards sustainable growth and profitability while accelerating each other’s team initiatives.

This isn't just wishful thinking. It's happening right now at Shopify, and it's changing the game of profitable growth.

Recently, I came across a Heidrick & Struggles article emphasizing the critical relationship between CROs and CFOs. It got me thinking about my own experiences, past and present. I've seen the traditional dynamic play out countless times - that natural tension between revenue generation and financial prudence. But at Shopify, I’ve experienced something different. Something at the edge of what that article describes.

The relationship I have with @JeffHoffmeister would appear to some as unorthodox. It’s a partnership where roles blur.  Where we’re both deeply involved in key decisions, roadmaps, go-to-market initiatives and investment planning. We wear the same principled glasses and march to the same drumbeat. Tension is replaced with mutual trust and deep understanding of each other's priorities, and we solve problems and think through tradeoffs together. This deep alignment allows us and our teams to move much quicker and use speed as a differentiator.

“Our partnership approach and strong alignment on what matters are a key point of differentiation. We are united in our goal to propel our merchants’ success and take a long-term perspective. This alignment means that we can use jointly-held first principles to assess opportunities and make great decisions quickly,”  Jeff

Redefining the CRO-CFO Relationship

The Shopify CRO-CFO partnership is built on a few core principles. Let me break them down for you:

1. Crystal Clear Priorities and Alignment on Those Priorities: At Shopify, we live by three rules: 1) Build amazing products for our merchants. 2) Make money so that we can do more of 1. 3) Never reverse rules 1 and 2. 

Simple? Yes. Transformative? Absolutely. 

Our R&D team is the best on the planet, and is singularly focused on Priority 1, while Jeff and I spend a lot of our time on Priorities 2 and 3. I’m not just chasing revenue, and Jeff isn’t just controlling costs. We're working together to identify value-creating opportunities and determine where we direct resources to fuel sustainable growth, whether it’s investing in partners to help customers migrate to Shopify, or reviewing our launch and Total Cost of Ownership to ensure customers get to value on Shopify as quickly as possible. Together, we ensure a constant progression towards our north star (while never forgetting rule #3!), with scale and speed. 

2. Building for the long term: While most CROs and CFOs get caught in a never ending tug-of-war between immediate profits and growth, ours is a different game. Where we’re most focused is ensuring sustainable growth and our customers' success. At Shopify, we want to build a 100 year company, and we never let a quarterly target distract us from that aim.   

This long term focus, guided by our three rules 👆, frees us from the tyranny of short-term thinking and allows us to make bold, collaborative decisions that might not pay off immediately but set us up for lasting success. 

A recent example is the slow but relentless buildout of our Financial Services and Advertising capabilities for our customers – aimed at their success rather than our short-term results. We can think beyond the next earnings call to ensure our product roadmap and GTM approach aren't dictated by quarterly pressures, but by our mission to make commerce better for everyone.

3. Chasing the Global Maxima: In mathematics, the 'global maxima' is the highest possible point on a curve. In mountaineering, it’s getting to the true peak of a mountain, rather than the top of a hill. In business, it's about finding the best possible solution, not leaping to the most obvious answer or the path of least resistance. 

At Shopify, we love what’s both unobvious and true and we aim for the global maxima, giving us uncapped space to innovate and transform. Jeff and I are no exception. We encourage experimentation, debate, and intellectual discourse. For example, evolving and diversifying our paid marketing spending to better establish and estimate ROI by channel and spend category. In other words, we're not afraid to subtract, pivot, or radically change course if it drives growth and helps us build for the long-term. 

Shopify is one of the only organizations I’ve seen where the goal across the company is to compress and optimize, while simultaneously driving sustainable growth. There’s no empire building here. We do the opposite. And because of that, we’ve been able to drive material ROI in the business.

4. Deep Integration and Personal Collaboration: Here, the line between CRO and CFO roles often blurs, creating a synergy that accelerates decision-making and drives our mission forward, with full understanding of the trade-offs.

Jeff and I often step into each other's traditional domains. I spend time with investors, helping them understand the long-term value and financial importance of key growth initiatives. For example, at a recent retail conference, Jeff and I met with some investors where I talked through Shopify's growing success in serving enterprise customers and how smart investments pave the way for multi-year, sustained growth. Similarly, Jeff spends time with current and prospective customers and partners, helping them appreciate how working together can fuel their success. This interchange of roles not only broadens our perspectives but strengthens our collective ability to drive Shopify's mission forward.

This integration extends beyond us. Our teams are deeply integrated too. This allows us to move with speed and agility, making informed decisions that consider both revenue growth and financial prudence. In the corporate world, this level of integration is a rarity. For us, it’s a key differentiator—enabling bold moves, quick pivots, and consistent value delivery to our merchants and shareholders alike.

The Venn of Success

The result of this partnership? A Venn diagram where Jeff and I occupy the same space, jointly executing across operating discipline, commercial ambition, and fiscal responsibility. With Jeff deeply involved in commercial deals, bringing his financial acumen to the table. And me approaching all commercial efforts with P&L at the top of every conversation. 

Don’t get me wrong—we don’t always see eye to eye. But through respectful challenge, debate, and a mutual desire to push the boundaries of what’s possible, we always get to a better place.

This alignment isn't just feel-good corporate speak. It's real and it’s driving results. We’re seeing consistent quarterly GMV and top-line revenue growth at scale that delivered over 20% growth in every quarter throughout 2024. These results were built on a robust 2023, where GMV was up 20% and revenue up 26%. Our operating discipline is strong. And across it all we’ve stayed focused on our mission of making commerce better for everyone.

Driving sustainable growth in today's business environment is tough. Really tough. But no matter what your company story is, I now know that the CRO and CFO shouldn’t be antagonists. They should be co-protagonists, working together to write a narrative of success. That's the Shopify way, and I can assure you it's transformative. It’s a story that’s not just worth telling, it’s worth doing.