Why e-commerce startup Jet gives employees access to an insane amount of information about the company

Tim Stenovec/Tech Insider

Imagine if the company you worked for just laid it all out there — daily sales information, presentations meant for the board of directors, and even the salaries of every employee.

That's how it is at Jet, the buzzy e-commerce startup that has raised more than a half billion dollars.

In fact, all salaried employees at Jet —there are 300 of them — are given access to a huge amount of information through a smartphone app called JetStream.

The Jetstream app is chock full of information — it tells employees the total sales for the day, the average size of an order, how many new buyers have visited Jet, how many of those have bought items, how the company is doing in reaching goals, and much more.

Tim Stenovec/Tech InsiderJet even has a huge display in the lobby of the company's swanky Hoboken, New Jersey, headquarters, that shows off some of this information to guests and employees.

It's unusual for a company — especially a privately held company — to share this level of information with every employee, let alone anyone who walks into the office.

But Jet has different approach to how it treats what's usually data that only executives are privy to.

"It's open kimono," Jet's CEO Mark Lore told Tech Insider during an interview last month.

Tim Stenovec/Tech Insider

The reason he shares so much information? He wants to give people the tools they need to be successful in their jobs and show that he trusts them.

"I'm just a big believer in empowering people with information," Lore said. "When you give people information you have to trust them. The only reason not to give people information is because you're not going to trust them with it."

Lore also wants all employees to feel ownership, like they're part of something together. There are no bonuses at Jet, and every salaried employee is given stock. He wants to replicate the environment of a startup even as the company grows. And at startups with only a few employees, everyone knows everything and everyone feels ownership.

"When you're in an early stage startup, the reason why people love working there is because everyone knows everything," Lore said.

Tim Stenovec/Tech Insider

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