The Anti-Amazon

Josh Silverman is using cutting-edge technology and an army of 5 million artisan-entrepreneurs to transform ETSY from a hippie flea market into a Wall Street hero—without losing its soul.

- By Steven Bertoni, Photography by Gabby Jones

ON APRIL 2, 2020, DURING THE CHAOTIC early days of the pandemic, Etsy CEO Josh Silverman awoke to a sales shock.

Every four hours, the company’s data-junkie boss received an update on the volume of personalized pillows, hand-sewn stuffed animals, vintage Victorian lockets and millions of other one-off items sold through the digital marketplace. Silverman had been rushing to cut Etsy’s marketing spending to prepare for a Covid-induced slump. But the latest report showed a surge.

The source: face masks. The press was reporting that the federal Centers for Disease Control was soon to recommend face coverings for all Americans. With inventory already difficult for first responders to find, civilians were flocking to Etsy’s ragtag community of hobbyists for their pandemic protection.

“Until that day, if you searched Etsy for ‘mask’ you’d see Halloween costumes or face cream,” says Silverman, sitting cross-legged on a handmade modern wingback chair in Etsy’s still-deserted Brooklyn headquarters. “We had an emergency meeting to decide whether to double down on masks.”

The team was split. Some saw the face mask market as a fad. To others, it offered a chance for Etsy to show off the power and flexibility of its decentralized, nearly 3 million-strong seller community. “This was our Dunkirk, where we could mobilize cottage industry to come to the rescue,” says Silverman, who is 52.

“The world’s supply chains had locked up. You couldn’t get face masks. Yet Etsy’s supply chain was just two hands making.”