Oct 1, 2020 · 25m · how-i-built-this
How I Built Resilience: Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of How I Built Resilience, host Guy Raz interviews Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman on steering the company through pandemic disruptions, defending platform integrity against review manipulation, and mastering crisis leadership.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 33.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 3.5 Guest teaching 3.5 Guest disagreement 1.8 Guy pushing back 1.7
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 20:00 Stoppelman rejects transaction-verified review models
Stoppelman firmly counters the conventional premise that transaction verification guarantees authenticity, calling it a very false belief and criticizing Amazon's review integrity.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 16:55 Raz presses on preventing malicious fake reviewsRaz refuses to let the issue rest after Stoppelman's initial reply on political alerts, pressing specifically on how Yelp holds bad-faith reviewers accountable.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 17:40 Stoppelman breaks down Yelp's 25 percent review suppression filterStoppelman educates the host on Yelp's algorithmic mechanics, explaining why removing 25 percent of reviews hurts business metrics but preserves consumer trust.
Guy holds their own ▶ 15:51 Raz cites political review-bombing of the Red HenRaz displays strong command of the review controversy by citing the specific case of the Red Hen restaurant being review-bombed for political reasons.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising Revenue Declines and Nuclear Winter Contingency Planning | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Raz demonstrates strong contextual recall from their prior interview, connecting Stoppelman's current crisis planning to his previous near-death experiences at X.com and early Yelp. Stoppelman openly elaborates on drafting worst-case scenarios and furlough logistics. | |
| Platform Innovation, COVID Safety Badges, and Virtual Services | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Raz asks an open-ended strategic question about product innovations and resilience features created during the pandemic. Stoppelman details Yelp's updated operational hours tracking, safety badges, and virtual services. | |
| Promoting Black and Latinx-Owned Businesses and Mid-Show Break | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | Raz asks about diversity badges before raising persistent public accusations that Yelp engages in pay-to-play review manipulation. Stoppelman vigorously denies the claim, arguing Yelp has been vetted by regulatory bodies and contrasts its strict standards with Google. | |
| Managing Review Bombing and the 25 Percent Moderation Filter | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | Raz presses Stoppelman with the concrete example of the Red Hen restaurant to ask why malicious reviewers cannot be held accountable. Stoppelman explains Yelp's aggressive 25 percent review suppression filter and flips the question back onto Raz regarding overall star ratings. | |
| Tackling Bots, Spam, and the Flaws of Transaction-Verified Systems | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | Raz raises concerns about troll farms and bots, implying transaction verification might fix fraud. Stoppelman dismisses the transaction-verification premise as a false belief, citing pervasive gaming on Amazon. | |
| Entrepreneurial Crisis Advice and Lessons from PayPal Outages | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Raz asks Stoppelman to provide leadership advice to entrepreneurs facing crises, quoting Stoppelman's past reflections. Stoppelman recounts a formative PayPal outage experience emphasizing operational calmness. |
Statements from this episode (10)
Yelp provided $32 million in forgiven fees to restaurants during early COVID
“So, so pulling together a bunch of different things to support the restaurant nightlife industry at that time became a big priority and ultimately culminated with about thirty two million dollars, you know, worth of forgiven fees and other things to support re…”
Yelp executives considered a skeleton-staff contingency plan during early COVID-19 lockdowns
“You know, is there a freeze the company in Amber type strategy literally was something we were talking about, like where we just go down to the skeleton of staff. If it's a nuclear winter type of situation.”
Yelp furloughed 1,000 employees during early COVID, later rehiring up to 80%
“And so it ended up being a thousand people. That we put on furlough. And we said at the outset, Hey, this, we think our best guess is, is we think this is four months. And fortunately that guess proved to be accurate. And at the end of the four months, we were…”
Jeremy Stoppelman emphatically denies that Yelp allows pay-to-play review manipulation
“The answer is, of course, absolutely not. That's never been the case. And in fact, you can prove it to yourself. Look at any one of our advertisers and see if you find negative reviews. Chances are you will, because everyone gets the occasional negative review…”
Jeremy Stoppelman claims Google takes a lenient stance on fake business reviews
“Google, for instance, doesn't take as harsh a stance on, you know, allowing people to solicit reviews or fake reviews or what have you, like ratings tend to be more positive and business owners love that.”
Yelp removes unrelated reviews and places public alerts during media controversies
“We can put up an alert on the page and we actually pull down the content that's unrelated to the actual business.”
Jeremy Stoppelman says Yelp filters out 25% of submitted reviews on average
“Yelp has a mechanism where 25% on average of reviews are not shown on the businesses page, and we are by far the most aggressive of any review site out there.”
Jeremy Stoppelman argues transaction verification fails to prevent fake online reviews
“And there is this like false, I would call it very false belief That if you prove that someone transacted, then that review is therefore trustworthy, but all you have to do is, like, read one of the 20 stories on Amazon about how people still easily game that …”
Jeremy Stoppelman claims Amazon does not take review integrity seriously
“I don't rely at all on Amazon reviews because I don't think they take the system very seriously. I think they use it as a way to just sell stuff.”
Empathetic public responses can neutralize negative online reviews for prospective customers
“Also, you can respond, and that's one of the most powerful tools, I think, out there, because think about yourself as a customer. If you see a negative review, you might read that and say, oh, that's weird, but then if you see a very thoughtful Reply from the …”