ShopShops was a mess from day one. Chaos was the norm, not the exception. Employee turnover was constant, and rather than adjusting workloads or hiring replacements, management just piled the responsibilities onto whoever was left. By the time I left, I was juggling my own job and the duties of six former teammates with no extra support.
Layoffs were often handled poorly, with departing employees expected to train replacements on their way out. Many of us still documented our roles not for leadership, but out of respect for the coworkers we cared about.
The CEO was one of the biggest obstacles to getting real work done. She micromanaged everything, frequently inserted herself into systems she didn’t fully understand, and often complicated things under the pretense of efficiency. Her fixation on AI became a constant distraction from the actual problem: the business wasn’t making money. Ideas were reactive and rushed, rather than grounded in strategy or sustainability.
The company also lacked inclusivity in a major way. If you weren’t part of the dominant cultural group, the workplace could feel isolating. Communication and product decisions were often made in Mandarin with little to no translation or context for U.S. staff.
We were even told internally that the company might potentially shut down by mid-year due to financial issues. That pretty much says it all.
