John Mark Warren

Friends call me JM. Building.

[Skylar Romines @skylarromines]

If you are making everyone happy, you’re inauthentic

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

Startups badly need to apply this wisdom.

[Startup Archive @StartupArchive_]

Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke explains Goodhart’s law and why he doesn’t like KPIs or OKRs

“Goodhart’s law is real. The moment a metric becomes a goal, it’s no longer a useful metric… No metric by itself is a complete heuristic for a complex business. There’s a million different tensions in a company, and you can’t keep all of them in harmony by optimizing for one thing.”

For this reason, Shopify doesn’t use KPIs or OKRs. But as Tobi explains, this doesn’t mean they don’t value data and metrics.

“We are extremely data informed. We have invested enormous amounts of money and time into systems that give us basically everything at our fingertips… But what Shopify attempts to do is just not over-fit for what’s quantifiable.”

People love optimizing for highly-quantifiable things because there’s immediate gratification that comes from seeing a number go up. But Tobi thinks that the most important aspects of a product are rarely quantifiable:

“The overlap of the most valuable things you can do with a product and the things that happen to be fully quantifiable are like maybe 20%. Which leaves 80% of a value space unaddressable by the people who only look at quantifiable things.”

He continues:

“Shopify is comfortable with unquantifiable things like taste, quality, passion, love, hate… The sort of deep satisfaction that a craftsperson feels when they’ve done a job well is actually a better proxy if you allow it to be.”

They then have robust analytics systems that tell the company if something’s wrong or a new rollout breaks something.

“We think about it as a cockpit for a pilot. The decisions are still made by pilots, and we think this leads to better results… I think there needs to be more acceptance in business of unquantifiable things… And then metrics take a support function.”

Video source: @lennysan (2025)

[Jash Dholani @oldbooksguy]

This little line from a 1665 book lives rent free in my mind

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@skylarromines Really? I was fat most of mine. Reckon it’s still 30% of my identity even though it’s no longer true.

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@heyalexfriedman That’s how you know it’s good!

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

Insane to think about even the first paragraph of page 1,001.

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

“Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge.”

― Carl Jung

[Boring_Business @BoringBiz_]

This is easily my favorite clip of Bill Ackman

> His fund was down 30%+
> Being sued by Valeant Pharma investors
> Going through divorce with his wife
> Elliot, an activist firm, trying to take over his fund

Here is his advice on how to deal with the tough moments in life

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@FitFounder CrossFit + stop eating after dinner

[Jay Yang @Jayyanginspires]

If you think the price of risk is expensive, wait until the bill for regret arrives.

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@heyalexfriedman Same

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@CarlisleDiana Wine, cigar, dog, front porch, music. Basically the same thing.

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@CarlisleDiana 2 out of 3.

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@SahilBloom It also gives you a deep sense of agency, which has massive carry over into other areas of your life, particularly those where you may feel stuck.

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

Lots of things are hard about divorce.

But it also is an amazing filter to see who in your life is nice vs kind.

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@buridansridge Hell yeah Lauren.

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@skylarromines @Theholisticpsyc @KDimitratos This is true.

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@Codie_Sanchez Yes

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@Gena_I_Gorlin Don’t meet your heroes…

[John Mark Warren @JohnMar_k]

@skylarromines @bethanyjbabcock Create vs consume is such a great idea instead of tech/no tech. Love that!