Jun 23, 2016 · 18m · top-founders
EP 313: He's Not an Artist But Sold $5m Worth of Art in 2015
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In this episode of 'The Top,' host Nathan Latka interviews Ethan Appleby, founder and CEO of Vango, exploring how the online marketplace reached $1.6 million in revenue on $5 million in gross merchandise value in 2015. Appleby breaks down his design thinking methodology, convertible note fundraising strategy, marketplace unit economics, and algorithmic seller conversion.
Statements from this episode (8)
Vango generates revenue by taking a 30% cut of every transaction
“So Van Gogh is a marketplace that connects artists and potential buyers. We make money by taking 30% of every transaction.”
Appleby: Vango has 20,000 artist signups and 5,000 active sellers
“They have an active profile. I mean, so we, I would say we have had probably something closer to on the supply side, like 20,000 artists come on, but those are active artists who are engaged in selling.”
Appleby: Vango has reached about 100,000 lifetime buyers
“I mean, we've had, as far as people on our platform, about a 100,000.”
Appleby: Vango raised its capital across three convertible note rounds
“We did, we've actually done three notes at this point.”