#218 CEO Etsy, Josh Silverman: Second Acts

Guest: Josh Silverman, CEO of Etsy

When Josh Silverman joined the board of Etsy, he had one condition: “Don’t ask me to the be the CEO.” And technically, they didn’t ask. One day, he got a phone call informing him the board had elected him as the new CEO, just days before an earnings miss. He knew the odds were against him — layoffs would be necessary, and “I was going to have to be the villain” — but decided to say yes out of a sense of duty to Etsy’s users and workers. “If I can be helpful, I have a responsibility to do it,” Josh says.

Chapters:

• (00:55) - Energy management
• (02:42) - Meetings
• (09:56) - Etsy’s strategy
• (13:36) - Learning to delegate
• (17:10) - Setting an example
• (24:17) - Evite’s rise and fall
• (27:46) - Self vs. company
• (30:22) - Legacy
• (34:21) - Control and agency
• (37:44) - Joining Etsy’s board
• (40:40) - Becoming CEO
• (46:16) - Culture shock
• (48:09) - “We need you, trust us”
• (51:25) - eBay and Skype
• (57:15) - Pushed out
• (01:00:40) - Accountability and family
• (01:03:53) - Time horizons
• (01:05:55) - Gen AI-supported art
• (01:08:29) - Who Etsy is hiring and what “grit” means to Josh

Mentioned in this episode: Ken Chenault and American Express, Nick Daniel, Rachana Kumar, Ticketmaster and IAC, Etsy Studios, Silverlake, Shopping.com, Google, Microsoft, and Austin City Limits.

Links:

Connect with Josh

• LinkedIn

Connect with Joubin

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm