Etsy Founder Rob Kalin Relinquishes CEO Title

[mandy]

From Rob:

I am happy to announce that, with high hopes and expectations, Maria is now Etsy's CEO. My new title at Etsy is Chief Creative Officer (CCO), a nice loose moniker that will allow me to focus on what I'm best at: product work and long-term, big-picture thinking.

I will also be spending time developing Etsy.org, a non-profit organization that will focus on the educational side of how to make a living making things. (Lots more details about this are coming soon. Right now, it's in the planning stages.)...

From Maria:

I am thrilled to announce that Chad Dickerson will join Etsy in Brooklyn as Chief Technology Officer September 1, 2008.  As Etsy’s CTO, Chad will be the company’s top technology executive and will join Rob, me and the Etsy team in helping to shape Etsy’s strategic direction, development, and future growth.  Chad will manage our entire technical organization, including application development, network infrastructure and quality assurance.  He will report to me.

In my recent “Long View” article, I spoke about seeking “…a few talented, experienced people to join Etsy and help us more quickly and successfully do things we’ve never done before, while continuing to celebrate Etsy’s creative, quirky and independent culture.”  Chad is the first of these few folks.  He’s an experienced leader of technical teams and a home brewer!

Chad joins us from Yahoo! where he has spent the last three years leading technical teams in innovative product development.  He is currently Senior Director for Yahoo!’s Brickhouse & Advanced Products teams...

full announcement: http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/etsy...-inc/2268/

from the NYT:

When is a fledgling company no longer a start-up? Once the skateboard ramp disappears, says Rob Kalin, the founder of Etsy Inc., an online emporium of handmade goods based in Brooklyn.

And while Etsy is only three years old, Mr. Kalin got rid of the ramp six months ago. But that wasn’t the only change: he knew he needed professional management. “We hit a point in growth that we needed people who have done this before,” he said...

full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/busine...f=business

[sneakymagenta]

Once upon a time a little boy named Pierre relinquished his CEO title and "spoke about seeking “…a few talented, experienced people to join [his site] and help us more quickly and successfully do things we’ve never done before,".........

[BellisimaJ.]

[quote author=sneakymagenta link=topic=18203.msg71640#msg71640 date=1217266405]
Once upon a time a little boy named Pierre relinquished his CEO title and "spoke about seeking “…a few talented, experienced people to join [his site] and help us more quickly and successfully do things we’ve never done before,".........
[/quote]

Yeah, but Rob is a crafter aka a right-brained sorta guy, not a business exec. Etsy is too large for him not to do that. If I were him, I probably would have had to do it long ago.......can't wrap my brain around all those niggling details.  tolensmiley: