# Shopify uses earnings to reach more than investors

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/shopify-uses-earnings-to-reach-more-than-investors/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Harley Finkelstein](https://realalpha.app/people/harley-finkelstein/) · President, Shopify · Founded his first company at 17 and co-founded Firebelly, a modern high-end tea brand.
- Host: [Ed Elson](https://realalpha.app/people/ed-elson/)
- Show: Prof G Markets
- Episode: [Zohran Mamdani Wins — Why NYC’s Mayor Race Was a Referendum on Inequality | Prof G Markets](https://realalpha.app/v/gb_Oxuqs6wU/), Nov 5, 2025
- Moment: 7:59 to 11:51 of the episode (4 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/shopify-uses-earnings-to-reach-more-than-investors/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/gb_Oxuqs6wU/?t=479

## Quote

> “there are **more people than simply just the investors** of shopify who are interested in learning how we are doing”
> — [Harley Finkelstein](https://realalpha.app/people/harley-finkelstein/) at [9:27](https://realalpha.app/v/gb_Oxuqs6wU/?t=567) · Prof G Markets

## Takeaways

1. Earnings are a quarterly checkpoint and a storytelling opportunity.
2. Shopify also speaks to merchants, partners, media and prospective hires.
3. Finkelstein says founder-led firms often communicate with more commitment.

## About this segment

Harley Finkelstein frames earnings as a chance to reach merchants, partners and future hires, not only investors. He says founder-led firms often communicate better because leaders care deeply about the mission.

From “Zohran Mamdani Wins — Why NYC’s Mayor Race Was a Referendum on Inequality | Prof G Markets”, Nov 5, 2025. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/gb_Oxuqs6wU/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[8:12](https://realalpha.app/v/gb_Oxuqs6wU/?t=492) Yeah. And then I, I have a question about investor relations. Um, sure. I've been saying for a while that, you know, traditional investor relations is kind of boring. It's outdated. The days of CNBC and, and, and webinars is coming to an end. Now's the time to lean into new media, et cetera. And I often cite you as an example of someone who is doing it right. Someone who's, you know, getting on social media, leaning into short form, going on podcasts. You've been doing it for a while. Indeed, you are now on a relatively young podcast for the first time. I'd just love to get your views on investor relations in 2025. What is your approach? What is your philosophy? And how should other public company leaders think about it moving forward? I can't tell any other public company what to do. I can tell you the way that we look at it, the way that I look at it is this

[9:03](https://realalpha.app/v/gb_Oxuqs6wU/?t=543) is a storytelling opportunity yeah it isn't the quarterly earnings are just it is um it is a bookmark every three months and it allows us to go out and talk to obviously investors but also talk to our merchants talk to our partners talk to the media talk to the general public about how shopify is doing it's a check-in and i think the traditional way of doing it which is you do your earnings call um in some cases you know you don't even take q a which i think is ridiculous we spend about half the orange call talking about the quarter then opening up for q a um and then kind of doing the media tour i mean look the reason i'm on your show now ed is because i believe that there are more people than simply just the investors of shopify who are interested in learning how we are doing if you are building if you are stefan you're the ceo of estee lauder

[9:49](https://realalpha.app/v/gb_Oxuqs6wU/?t=589) and you have carriage and the responsibility of a 40 or 50 billion dollar company and you've just selected shopify i think you care a lot about shopify's performance not just on one quarter but quarter after quarter right if you're a shopify partner if you're a great company like klavio for example or another company like a firm for example which is deeply embedded in shopify i think you're very interested in how shopify is performing quarter after quarter if you're simply just someone who is in tech um and i think you've done a great job the guys from TBPN have done a great job of this we effectively are are consumerizing to some extent this the the traditional IR function. I mean, the companies that get it, you notice it. You notice that the way they are speaking is simply different. And I think, you know, this is not necessarily across the board,

[10:34](https://realalpha.app/v/gb_Oxuqs6wU/?t=634) but I think the companies that do it better. typically are founder-led companies. The founder-led companies, call it founder energy, whatever you want to call it, founder mode, the founder-led companies tend to be better at that because they're just like, they just care more. There's a, I don't know if I can say this on the show, but there's a give-a-shit factor that I think is above those where you have a professionally managed company where the executive team are a bunch of, you know, suits and they're hired to do a job.

[11:02](https://realalpha.app/v/gb_Oxuqs6wU/?t=662) But like Shopify is a mission-driven company. Shopify may be, you know, a $200 billion market cap company, we're the entrepreneurship company. We care deeply about entrepreneurship. We care deeply about, you know, retail and commerce and where it's going. And I think the earnings call is an opportunity for that. And also from a recruiting perspective, the people that want to come to Shopify, if you are looking to come work at Shopify or any company, it behooves you to listen to the earnings call to know what is exciting about this company.

[11:28](https://realalpha.app/v/gb_Oxuqs6wU/?t=688) What are they talking about? So I think you were early also in sort of the analysis that this industry is changing and not everyone is keeping up. But the ones that do, there is alpha opportunity in that.