★ Update from CEO Josh Silverman ★ ANNOUNCEMENT

[DecorDesignsAndMore]

★ Update from CEO Josh Silverman ★ ANNOUNCEMENT

https://www.etsy.com/teams/7716/announcements/discuss/18400256/

Dear Etsy Community,

Since joining Etsy as CEO, one of my top priorities has been bringing more buyers to your shop. It’s what you’ve hired us to do. With that in mind, I’ve been focused on deeply understanding your needs and identifying ways to create great buyer experiences.

Today, we announced a company realignment that will allow us to build on Etsy’s strong foundation and work toward our goal of making this the world’s best platform for creative entrepreneurs. We aim to work quickly and collaboratively, while remaining thoughtful in our decision-making. That, in turn, will allow us to focus on key initiatives to improve the buyer experience and help get you more sales. (Read the announcement here: investors.etsy.com/news-and-events/press-releases/2017/06-21-2017-1...)

Our buyer experience work is already underway. As you know, we’ve been testing a variety of changes aimed at driving more traffic to your shop, building trust with shoppers, and improving conversion. I know that a busy launch and experiment calendar can feel disorienting at times, and I want to assure you that we have heard your feedback and are continuing to optimize these experiments to deliver the most value to you in the long term. Your success is our success.

One of the highlights of my first few weeks at Etsy has been my first Forums Q&A with our passionate community of sellers. Your candid feedback gave me a lot of insights into how we can better serve you, and I’m looking forward to giving you more updates during our Q&A in August.

I’m honored to be part of Etsy’s amazing community, and I’m excited to work alongside you as we continue on this journey.

Thank you,

Josh

[DecorDesignsAndMore]

https://investors.etsy.com/news-and-events/press-releases/2017/06-21-2017-141246830

Etsy Sharpens Focus on Key Growth Initiatives --- June 21, 2017


- Doubles down on key initiatives to drive GMS in Etsy's core marketplace -

Realigns internal resources and reduces global headcount by approximately 15% BROOKLYN, N.Y., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY), which builds markets, services, and economic opportunity for creative entrepreneurs, today announced that it is sharpening its focus on key initiatives and realigning internal resources to pursue the highest-growth opportunities in order to deliver value to its stakeholders. Areas of
prioritization include enhancing search and discovery, improving the buyer journey, driving frequency, maximizing the effectiveness of our marketing spend, and providing world-class seller marketing tools.

Josh Silverman, Etsy's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "My conviction that Etsy has a unique opportunity within the ecommerce space has intensified during my initial weeks as CEO. Our vibrant community, strong brand affinity, 45 million listings, and ability to connect people through commerce provide us with a differentiated offering and solid foundation for
growth. By focusing on our 'vital few' initiatives, we will be a more disciplined company that is better positioned to create the world's most compelling buying and selling experience."

We are realigning our resources to support these critical areas and enable faster execution. As a result, we are also reducing our headcount by approximately 140 positions, or approximately 15% of our total current workforce. This is in addition to the headcount reductions announced on May 2, 2017, bringing total eliminated positions to approximately 230, or an
approximate 22% reduction compared to our headcount at the end of 2016.
Josh continued, "In order to drive focus, we took decisive steps to double down on the fewest, highest-impact initiatives in our core marketplace while de-prioritizing other projects and streamlining our resources. Parting ways with our colleagues is not easy and I am thankful for their contributions. We are moving forward with a more nimble structure that supports our current business needs and allows for faster execution so we can better serve creative entrepreneurs around the world."

The headcount reductions will include primarily marketing, product management, and general & administrative positions.

The majority of eliminated positions will be in our Brooklyn headquarters, but we will also streamline operations in our global offices. We remain committed to leveraging our scalable model in order to support sellers around the world and pursue global growth opportunities. Within marketing, we remain focused on buyer acquisition initiatives, but are pausing brand marketing initiatives for the remainder of 2017.

We expect to incur employee severance charges and other exit costs of $6.0 million to $8.8 million related to today's announcements. This is in addition to approximately $6.5 million to $8 million of severance charges and other exit costs we now expect to incur for the reductions announced in May.

About Etsy

Etsy operates markets where millions of people around the world connect, both online and offline, to make, sell and buy unique goods. Etsy also offers a wide range of seller services and tools that help creative entrepreneurs start, grow and manage their businesses. The Etsy community includes creative entrepreneurs who sell on our platform, thoughtful consumers looking to buy unique goods in our marketplace, retailers and manufacturers who partner with Etsy sellers to help them grow their businesses and Etsy employees who maintain our platform and nurture our ecosystem. Our mission is to
reimagine commerce in ways that build a more fulfilling and lasting world, and we're committed to using the power of business to strengthen communities and empower people.

Etsy Sharpens Focus on Key Growth Initiatives

Etsy was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.
Forward-Looking Statements

This press release (including statements quoted in this press release) contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements include information related to Etsy's ecommerce opportunity, ability to drive marketplace sales, ability to execute in its key areas of prioritization and deliver value to its stakeholders, opportunity for future growth, estimates regarding the expected costs and benefits of realignment and cost savings initiatives, business structure, and business strategies and plans.

Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, Etsy's ability to achieve the intended results of its realignment and cost-savings initiatives and successfully execute against its key areas of prioritization. These risks and uncertainties are more fully described in Etsy's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended March 31, 2017. Forward-looking statements represent Etsy's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. Etsy disclaims any obligation to update forward-looking statements.

To view the original version on PR Newswire,

visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/etsy-sharpens-focus-on-key-growth-initiatives-300477492.html

[DecorDesignsAndMore]

our goal of making this the world’s best platform for creative entrepreneurs

work quickly and collaboratively, while remaining thoughtful in our decision-making

focus on key initiatives to improve the buyer experience and help get you more sales

testing a variety of changes aimed at driving more traffic to your shop, building trust with shoppers, and improving conversion

I want to assure you that we have heard your feedback and are continuing to optimize these experiments to deliver the most value to you in the long term. Your success is our success.

Your candid feedback gave me a lot of insights into how we can better serve you, and I’m looking forward to giving you more updates during our Q&A in August

We are realigning our resources to support these critical areas and enable faster execution. As a result, we are also reducing our headcount by approximately 140 positions, or approximately 15% of our total current workforce. This is in addition to the headcount reductions announced on May 2, 2017, bringing total eliminated positions to approximately 230, or an approximate 22% reduction compared to our headcount at the end of 2016.

We are moving forward with a more nimble structure that supports our current business needs and allows for faster execution so we can better serve creative entrepreneurs around the world

Within marketing, we remain focused on buyer acquisition initiatives, but are pausing brand marketing initiatives for the remainder of 2017

About Etsy
Etsy operates markets where millions of people around the world connect, both online and offline, to make, sell and buy unique goods. Etsy also offers a wide range of seller services and tools that help creative entrepreneurs start, grow and manage their businesses. The Etsy community includes creative entrepreneurs who sell on our platform, thoughtful consumers looking to buy unique goods in our marketplace, retailers and manufacturers who partner with Etsy sellers to help them grow their businesses and Etsy employees who maintain our platform and nurture our ecosystem. Our mission is to reimagine commerce in ways that build a more fulfilling and lasting world, and we're committed to using the power of business to strengthen communities and empower people.

[Former_Member]

Josh Silverman on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOmvMZsMYKo

[DecorDesignsAndMore]

When watching the above video during the 11 minutes section . . .

"Simplify - Simplify - Simplify"

and,

"Making the Main Thing the Main Thing."

[DecorDesignsAndMore]

and, another article in Fortune . . .

http://fortune.com/2017/06/21/etsy-josh-silverman/

Exclusive: Etsy Is Reorganizing Its Workforce, Which Includes More Layoffs
Rachel King Jun 21, 2017

Etsy's new CEO Josh Silverman tells Fortune exclusively that these changes are about realigning resources around the "fewest, most impactful areas where we need to succeed" with a cleaner organizational structure, less bureaucracy, and more focus on growth. "While there are often talented people in those roles, it slows us down," Silverman says.

While Silverman acknowledges that there will be long-term cost savings as a result of the headcount reduction, he stresses that wasn't the objective. "This puts us at our fighting weight," he says.

Etsy is enduring a tumultuous period, and shares have fallen off by as much as 30% since its initial public offering two years ago. For the first quarter of 2017, the marketplace reported a loss of $421,000 after earning $1.2 million a year ago. One of its shareholders—Black-and-White Capital, which owns 2% of the company—then called for Etsy to explore a sale as well as separate the roles of chairman and CEO.

Note: Etsy is enduring a tumultuous period, and shares have fallen off by as much as 30% since its initial public offering two years ago. For the first quarter of 2017, the marketplace reported a loss of $421,000 after earning $1.2 million a year ago. One of its shareholders—Black-and-White Capital, which owns 2% of the company—then called for Etsy to explore a sale as well as separate the roles of chairman and CEO.

In his first interview since assuming the top job five weeks ago, Silverman tells Fortune that the restructuring is about doubling down around areas focused on creating the best buying experience on Etsy.com.

Etsy counted approximately 1.8 million active sellers and 29.7 million active buyers as of March 31, 2017—up from 1.6 million sellers and 25 million buyers the same quarter the year prior. Etsy is also seeing incremental but noticeable GMS growth both on mobile and internationally. Mobile GMS climbed to 51% of sales in Q1 2017 year-over-year, and international GMS grew from 30.3% to 32.1% over the same timeframe.

"We're doubling down on core international markets, where we're still in the early stages of our market opportunity," Silverman says. Etsy's biggest markets outside of the United States include the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany. Most of the aforementioned layoffs concern the Brooklyn headquarters, but Etsy's global offices will be affected as well. As Silverman explains, many product and marketing opportunities can be done from centralized offices, so Etsy is reducing the number of "feet on the street doing primarily guerrilla marketing."

As with every company these days—tech or not—mobile is a key part of the long-term strategy, and Etsy is no different. "We need to meet our buyers where they are. Where they are is increasingly mobile," Silverman says. "We didn't make a mobile organization separately because mobile is the organization."

Note: One recent project that might serve as an example of a distraction from Etsy's core mission: Etsy Studio, a new wing of the digital marketplace introduced this past February, catering to craft suppliers and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) practitioners. The project aimed to woo customers into staying around longer through its own DIY tutorials developed in-house while enticing them to buy the products on the same page as the lesson. One recent project that might serve as an example of a distraction from Etsy's core mission: Etsy Studio, a new wing of the digital marketplace introduced this past February, catering to craft suppliers and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) practitioners. The project aimed to woo customers into staying around longer through its own DIY tutorials developed in-house while enticing them to buy the products on the same page as the lesson.

Special Note Here: "I think the craft marketplace is a great marketplace for us," Silverman says. "But the investment to create a new top-level domain is very significant, and we've only begun just to tap the core Etsy.com market. So we reallocated resources back to Etsy.com so it can achieve full potential."

--- we reallocated resources back to Etsy.com so it can achieve full potential ---

But it's not the end of Etsy Studio or similar projects as Silverman says the company will reevaluate over the next several months if separate branches like Studio contribute to the brand. (ME: Etsy Studio was what Chad started? Not part of Josh's plan now?)

"We think the opportunity ahead is tremendous. It's even more vital today than before," Silverman says. "Automation is impacting every part of our society, but creativity cannot be automated." (ME: needs more explanation?)

ME: Conclusion? Summary? Outlook?

To soon to tell . . . yet maybe "Etsy will become a 'lean and sharply focused" online venue? For sure, the direction is different than where Chad was going . . .

For now, my recommendation is to focus on your shop and making it special, unique and welcoming to your shoppers. 1st listing photos and SEO titles/tags and as always what I say "sell what shoppers are looking to buy."

What do you think?

Please share your thoughts; thank you . . .