Etsy History
Earlier company descriptions, brand line-ups, store counts and photographs from the history of Etsy, kept for historical reference.
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The Company Description of Its Time
Etsy is a marketplace where people around the world connect, both online and offline, to make, sell and buy unique goods. Etsy was founded in June 2005 in an apartment in Brooklyn, New York, to fill a need for an online community where crafters, artists and makers could sell their handmade and vintage goods and craft supplies. In the spirit of handmade, founder Rob Kalin and two friends designed the first site, wrote the code, assembled the servers and spliced the cables to get Etsy up and running. That founding detail - the builders literally wiring their own servers - is the company's creation myth, and the filing keeps it because it matches the product: a marketplace built by hand, for things made by hand.
IPO, a New CEO, and the Depop Acquisition
The corporate milestones are kept with their dates and without later embroidery. On March 3, 2015, Etsy announced that it had filed for a $100 million IPO. In May 2017, the company's board replaced Chad Dickerson as CEO with Josh Silverman, citing pressure from shareholders and poor profits. On June 2, 2021, Etsy announced that it had agreed to acquire shopping app Depop for $1.63 billion - a purchase that links two filings in this directory, since Depop's own profile sits in the D letter; the routes below carry that link in both directions of the alphabet.
The filing's account of what Etsy is for goes beyond the technology. The heart and soul of Etsy is their global community: the creative entrepreneurs who use Etsy to sell what they make or curate, the shoppers looking for things they can't find anywhere else, the manufacturers who partner with Etsy sellers to help them grow, and the Etsy employees who maintain and nurture the marketplace. Sellers range from hobbyists to professional merchants, some wanting extra pocket money, others depending on their shops to support themselves and their families. Etsy's main office is in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and it has hosted open crafting classes in the 'Etsy Labs,' a workspace providing equipment and donated materials where members gather to make items, take and teach workshops, and attend special events.
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References & Further Reading
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