Thread by @BusinessInsider

Gwyneth Paltrow's @goop was the "it girl" of celebrity brands and valued at $400 million a few years ago.

But the company has had an exec exodus, with at least 140 employees leaving since September 2019. ⬇️

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There was no denying the power of its brand, balance sheet, and founder.

@goop — founded in 2008 as a newsletter out of Paltrow's kitchen — was ascendant and had attracted an impressive set of talent from places like @CondeNast and @MeredithCorp.

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But over the past two years, the lifestyle blog turned e-commerce shop has seen high turnover, even for the startup world.

At least 140 Goop staffers appear to have exited since September 2019, according to a review of @LinkedIn data.

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Insider spoke with four Goop employees who left within the past two years, who all agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.

They said they experienced a taxing culture that had been made worse by the pandemic, as well as a lack of transparency.

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Goop was hit hard by the pandemic. The company furloughed dozens of people in March and April 2020, a number of whom ended up getting laid off or leaving.

But Goop insiders said that it had been losing talent for months before the pandemic hit.

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A number of top employees — some of whom former employees referred to as Paltrow's "favorites" — had left the company (or been forced out) since the start of 2019.

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Three former employees pointed to Juan Paul Ramirez, the company's former CTO, as a prime example of a former favorite.

Former employees said there was a mystery around Ramirez's exit that was emblematic of other senior leaders' departures.

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Three former employees who left said they did so simply because they felt underappreciated, particularly when it came to compensation, which they felt was below industry standard.

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As a result of departures and pandemic furloughs, three of the former employees said they picked up additional work for the company that stretched them thin.

There was also a sense of anxiety for some that they could be the next person laid off.

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The first former employee said they felt the company's attitude toward people who complained seemed to be, "You can leave."

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Several former employees indicated they felt something bigger was going on at the startup beyond talent simply succumbing to pandemic-induced restlessness or moving on to seize new opportunities.

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