Explore how Shopify has revolutionized its internal structure with industry-specific pods. This innovative approach aligns sales, engineering, and marketing teams towards shared customer goals. Learn from Bobby Morrison how these pods enhance collaboration and reduce internal friction, leading to greater efficiency and accountability. The discussion also highlights the shift from siloed roles, showcasing how this model fosters seamless execution and improves customer satisfaction.
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insights INSIGHT
Shopify's Industry-Specific Pods
Shopify created 16 industry-specific pods to integrate cross-functional teams close to the customer.
These pods align all roles around a single objective: helping customers succeed.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Microsoft's Coordination Overload
At Microsoft, sales reps had to coordinate with up to 87 different internal people, spending 70% of their time orchestrating.
This inefficiency inspired designing centralized pod structures to reduce internal complexity.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Design Roles and Align Incentives
Define primary, secondary, and tertiary roles within pods with clear responsibilities and technical-sales acumen.
Align all pod members to the same customer cohort to improve continuity and reduce disruption from turnover.
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In this short segment of the Revenue Builders Podcast, we revisit the discussion with Shopify's CRO Bobby Morrison. We dive into the transformational "pod structure" they've adopted to align cross-functional teams more closely with customer outcomes. Drawing on lessons from his tenure at Microsoft, Morrison explains how Shopify’s industry-specific pods streamline collaboration across sales, solution engineers, marketing, and customer success—leading to improved speed, accountability, and customer satisfaction. He also reveals how aligning incentives within these pods reduces internal friction and creates scalable, enterprise-grade execution. This episode is packed with strategic insight for CROs, sales leaders, and go-to-market operators aiming to drive operational efficiency and growth.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
[00:00:28] Shopify’s shift to 16 industry-specific pods was designed to bring cross-functional teams closer to the customer. [00:01:00] Each pod includes sales, solution engineering, launch engineers, and partners all aligned around a single outcome. [00:02:00] At Microsoft, the team spent 70% of their time on internal orchestration, highlighting the inefficiency of siloed roles. [00:03:00] Shopify’s pod structure includes defined primary and secondary roles with centralized responsibility and incentives. [00:03:49] All roles in a pod are measured against the same customer cohort, improving continuity and reducing disruption. [00:04:12] Morrison explains how aligning marketing with outcomes (not just MQLs) is helping Shopify eliminate interdepartmental friction. [00:05:00] Shopify is close to assigning at-risk compensation to marketing teams based on segment performance—creating real ownership. [00:05:49] The pod model drives faster decisions, stronger accountability, and less tug-of-war between siloed departments.
QUOTES
[00:01:00] "All aligned around a single outcome, which is helping our customers win." [00:02:39] "A sales rep could have as many as 87 different people they're working with internally to hit their objective." [00:03:49] "Now the pods are incentivized off of the same customer cohort." [00:04:59] "We're very close to assigning at-risk targets to our marketing team." [00:05:49] "Less tug-of-war that happens between siloed parts of the organization that have different KPIs."
Revenue Builders