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. With Noted: Kalin’s new Etsy role
Oh, and I meant to mention this earlier: Robert Kalin, who you may recall from the Handmade 2.0 article (and/or from Buying In), has moved from CEO to chairman and Chief Creative Officer at Etsy.
This comes around six months earlier than I might have guessed, but I don’t think it’s a surprise — and I suspect it’s a good thing for all concerned. It’s certainly not unusual for a founder to conclude that s/he doesn’t really want to remain CEO as a startup grows. But very often coming to that realization takes too long — or, worse, never comes, and the person is forced out.
I don’t know anything about Maria Thomas, the new CEO. So with that significant caveat, I would guess this is a good thing for the company, and for Kalin as well. (I haven’t talked to him or anybody at Etsy about this. If I do and hear anything interesting, will pass it along.)
Here’s the NYT item about it, including Kalin’s nail-polish choice for making the announcement. Earlier Silicon Alley Insider item here. Etsy VC backer here; Kalin post here.
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Reader Comments
With your continuing interest in Kalin and Etsy, you might also want to know there is a growing backlash from sellers who have long been unhappy with Kalin and his 62 employees and how they have treated most sellers on the site. Several blogs have set up to point out the worst mistakes, and lament the direction that Etsy took starting about 18 months ago. A majority of the 63 employees are engaged in building up the social networking sections of the site, and have refused to set up a customer service function to deal with daily seller requests for help and info. Since the management shuffle, several bugs and technical breakdowns are no longer being addressed.
While the new management gets its act together, it may be the loss of seller-confidence that predicts the end for Etsy. Etsy mismanagement will be part of its downfall, as will it’s practice of hiring most of its employees to engage in activities that do not generate any operating revenues. Kalin may have had a good idea, but his execution has been more damaging than good. His employees have developed an attitude that Etsy exists for them and their personal agendas, not for the 200 thousand sellers who have little if no customer service support from the host site.
In the world of community-building online, Etsy has failed miserably.
Well, yeah. I understand, and of course I’ve heard this sort of thing before. I’m not in the prediction or guru business, so all I can say is: Maybe you’re right.
On the other hand, I’ve been writing about companies and online ventures and all that for a very long time, and I have never, ever, ever seen a situation where there wasn’t some kind of backlash from elements of the “community,” and so on.
I’m not minimizing what you’re saying. I am saying that in addition to your point of view, it’s just possible that there are other points of view.
Also — and this is really, really important — I often cite Etsy because it is an easy-to-understand window on what I strongly believe is a much wider phenomenon. Most people still don’t understand that phenomenon (DIYism/craft/handmade/indepreneurialism) and pointing to Etsy helps them understand, a little. I am not out to endorse Etsy, or, frankly, any business I ever write about, or ever have written about, or ever will write about. That’s not what I’m up to. I’m a journalist, not a guru.
Bottom line: We’ll see.
Thanks for weighing in.