Etsy Slashes Almost a Quarter Of Its Staff In Attempt To Refocus (engadget.com) 56
Etsy, the online market for artisan and handmade goods, said on Wednesday that it will reduce its workforce by 15 per cent on top of another round of job cuts announced last month. From a report: CEO Josh Silverman announced this morning that Etsy was laying off 15 percent of its workforce. That's in addition to layoffs that were announced in early May; the total workforce reduction comes in at 22 percent, or about 230 employees. Silverman said the layoffs were part of an effort to focus on Etsy's "vital few initiatives," though he didn't specify exactly what parts of the company were being a drag. The only indication was that the company would focus on its "core marketplace."
a quarter? (Score:1)
Since when is 15 almost 25?
Re:a quarter? (Score:4, Funny)
I'm putting some crocheted multiplication table placemats up on my Etsy store now. BONUS IF YOU BUY THE MATCHING COFFEE MUG
sheer brutality (Score:3)
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That's in addition to layoffs that were announced in early May; the total workforce reduction comes in at 22 percent, or about 230 employees.
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Etsy's supporting a lot of businesses. That's not a straightforward proposition and each of those businesses has expectations and demands.
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Since "in addition to layoffs that were announced in early May; the total workforce reduction comes in at 22 percent."
I know it's hard, but next time read the WHOLE summary before posting. Remember: post from the brain, not the spinal cord.
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Do you have the attention span of a gnat? The very next sentence would have answered your question before you asked it looking stupid.
Re: a quarter? (Score:2)
I think you spelled laid off senior execs wrong (Score:1)
Laying off artisans won't help.
Laying off senior execs will.
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I know at least one of the etsy employees was working on the php7 version of the php-gearman interface.
The problem is they lost their focus (Score:3, Insightful)
They had a niche, hand made, one off product shop. Not the mass-produced stuff of ebay.
They should of focused on that. That made etsy unique. It was like a niche artist market. But they allowed the lines to blur. And there isn't room for two ebays.
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Should Have Should Have Should Have Should Have Should Have Should Have Should Have Should Have
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Because they destroyed their community (Score:3)
Etsy used to have a good community of sellers in the forums that, at least sometimes, kept them from doing stupid things. Then in their run up to the IPO they destroyed it.
1) Banned lots of sellers from being able to post.
2) Redesigned the forums to bury any real discussion with useless crap.
3) Moved the link to the forums from the header to the footer.
It was a clear message about the way things were going to be. We are going to start doing things you aren't going to like and we don't want to hear about i
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Etsy is bad at marketing. (Score:4, Interesting)
Who cares... (Score:1)
99% of the crap on their site is just that, crap.
Etsy could die tomorrow and nobody would care.
What do they all do? (Score:4, Interesting)
How can a company like Etsy employ over 1000 people in the first place? What the heck do they all do? The site isn't *that* complicated. I would have expected a handful of developers, managers, etc. Definitely no more than 20. This is just bizarre. I guess it's good that they're downsizing if they want to survive.
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I recall talking to a recruiter once that wanted me to interview for a dev position there. I believe we discussed how they they license out their platform (store libraries, payment processing, etc.) to other SMBs as well as consume it in-house. If that is the case, then I could see them becoming flush with cash on initial takeoff and expanding quickly over a short span. When the hangover wears off and the first wave of licensees goes elsewhere, perhaps it looks like this?
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How does Uber employ 12,000 full timers? It's an app.
Welcome to bloat.
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15 developers, 11000 lawyers and 85 people to grope the female staff.
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If they only had 20 employees, nobody would buy them. They have to appear successful to attract that sweet, stupid buyout money.
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I think Mojang demonstrated that you can get the sweet stupid buyout without excessive staff numbers.
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There are always exceptions, but I maintain that the appearance of success is important when dealing with VCs. They aren't all the brightest bunch.
"Core Marketplace" (Score:3)
You mean all the bulk resellers you let in who fucked over the people that made you what you are today?
Cool Tshirt...Wait it's $43 (Score:2)
I miss Regretsy, actually. (Score:2)
I only learned about Etsy through the old Regretsy site. People trying to pass off dresses bought from China as homemade, terrible Photoshop work, upcycling shit that should never be upcycled, and plenty of other stuff they classified as "whimsical fuckery". It was like Cake Wrecks, but for crafts.