In early 2021, at the height of Covid-driven growth, GemPages was banned from the Shopify App Store for six months (no new installs) because a Mailchimp Newsletter element didn't comply with a Shopify security regulation the team wasn't aware of.

“GemPages had a “Mailchimp Newsletter” element that didn’t comply with a Shopify security regulation we didn’t know about.”

The team simply didn't know about the specific Shopify compliance rule the element violated.

“a Shopify security regulation we didn’t know about”

After the 2021 ban, the team rewrote the page-builder editor from scratch as GemPages V7 because the old V6 codebase didn't scale and the editor lagged; the rewrite shipped full of bugs with a changed UX that alienated existing customers, and 2022 became a zero-growth year.

“V6 used old JavaScript, didn’t scale, the editor lagged. Decision: rewrite from scratch.”

The founder's own retrospective lesson: shipping a technically better product doesn't guarantee customers accept it, because they have a learning curve and workflows they don't want to abandon.

“a better product isn’t necessarily welcomed — customers have a learning curve, workflows they don’t want to abandon”

During the 2022 V7 crisis the founder hired several senior 'star' hires with big-company resumes, expecting them to help stabilize things.

“We hired a bunch of “stars” — pretty CVs, big company names, senior titles.”

The senior hires didn't mesh with the existing team and made coordination worse rather than better.

“they didn’t help much, they made the system messier. Old people couldn’t work with new people.”