Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah Appointed to the Board of Directors of Nextdoor

Popular neighborhood app Nextdoor Holdings, Inc. has appointed Wayfair CEO, co-chairman and co-founder Niraj Shah to its board of directors along with Sunshine founder and CEO Marissa Mayer, and Glassdoor co-founder and chairman Robert Hohman. 

“We are delighted to welcome Ms. Mayer, Mr. Shah, and Mr. Hohman to Nextdoor’s board. Each of these executives has significant experience leading successful technology companies at scale,” said Nirav Tolia, Nextdoor executive chair and incoming CEO. “With proven product-centric operational expertise, we are thrilled that they have chosen to join Nextdoor’s board at this exciting time.”

Shah founded the Boston, Massachusetts-based e-commerce company that sells furniture and home goods online, in 2002. Before that, he served as CEO of Simplify Mobile Corporation, an enterprise software company he co‑founded in 2001, and entrepreneur‑in‑residence at Greylock Partners, a venture capital firm. 

He served in various roles at iXL Enterprises, Inc., including as COO, and a director, and as CEO of Spinners Incorporated, an IT consulting company he co‑founded. In addition to his roles at Wayfair, Shah currently serves on the board of directors of the Shah Charitable Foundation, the Cornell Tech Council and the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership. He received a B.S. in engineering from Cornell University.

Earlier this year, Wayfair announced plans to cut 13 percent of its global workforce or around 1,650 employees, so it could trim its structure and reduce costs. The move came after Shah told employees that the company went “overboard” with corporate hiring during the pandemic. According to CNBC, “the restructuring – the third Wayfair implemented since summer 2022 – was expected to save the company about $280 million.

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The news of the layoffs came about a month after Shah sent a memo to his employees. In the memo, telling them to be prepared to work longer hours and not be afraid to let work impinge on their personal lives. Business Insider first reported about the email sent before Christmas “Winning requires hard work,” wrote Shah. “I believe that most of us, being ambitious individuals, find fulfillment in the joy of seeing our efforts materialize into tangible results.” Shah wrote to employees, as per the report. 

Tolia, who will rejoin the company in the second quarter, stepped down as Nextdoor CEO in December 2019 —while retaining a seat on the board—to spend more time with his wife and three young sons. As CEO, he led the company from its inception in 2010 to the end of 2018. “Over that time period, Nextdoor launched in the U.S., UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, and Australia, and was adopted by over 220k neighborhoods worldwide, including 90% of American neighborhoods,” per his profile on Stanford University website. “As CEO, he raised over $275 million of venture capital for Nextdoor and grew its value to over $1.5 billion,” the profile added.