Rob Kalin, co-founder of Etsy, describes how he got started in web design after moving back to New York City.
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“I, again, jokingly, just kind of said, I'll do it for half. And he goes, okay, great. And he kind of shoes me out of his office. And I leave his office holding this piece of paper that was someone else's proposal to make a website for this restaurant. And was like, all right, I guess I'm doing this. You know, I remember the proposal was for 1600 bucks. And I was like, I guess I'm doing this for 800 dollars.”
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More from Rob Kalin
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Kalin: VC Fred Wilson fired me as Etsy CEO without giving a reason
“And went to their office and met him, and he told me that I was fired, but he didn't tell me why. And he just said, we have to do this.”
Kalin: There is a continent of computing between wooden blocks and touchscreens
“I think there's a whole continent of computing in between the blocks that children play with and the way technology currently lands in their lap, which is just phones and tablets and reduces them to poking at pictures under glass.”
Kalin: Maria Thomas was the wrong fit for Etsy CEO due to culture mismatch
“Looking back on it, it's quite easy to see like, you know, that culture piece was too important to be a mismatch at that phase of Etsy's growth. And so she ended up not being the right fit in that role.”
Kalin: Modern marketplaces like Etsy and eBay optimize for buyers, not sellers
“And you look at a marketplace, like, I would say Etsy now, or eBay, And the primary customer is clearly the buyer, where the whole experience is optimized on the buying side, to the point where, you know, I pay a listing fee, and here's my item, but the websit…”
Kalin: Nonsense words make global branding easier than compound English words
“And I also, I think even at that early stage, had a sense that I wanted it to be a global brand, and so if it was just two English words stuck together, I felt like it would be more difficult. So I wanted to create a kind of playful, nonsensical word that had …”
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