One of those company blogs you cannot go to company's website by clicking any visible link from the blog. It's like blog is a separate company on its own.
Congrats! My last startup shared office space with Joe and Aaron's last company, and they are great guys and excellent developers. Etsy is lucky to have them and the rest of the team!
#1. I have never heard of Grand Street until now even though I am their target demographic. Now I fear I won't be able to get all my purchases in before my other disappointment below.
#2. How long will it be until Grand Street is selling cheap knockoffs like Etsy allows?
They seem to be another site in the same vein as Tindie etc, but I've never heard of them despite being right in their target market (aside from not being in the US/Canada, which isn't usually an obstacle to hearing about US-only stuff) and despite following most of the avenues where something like this would usually be mentioned.
Re: that article, I'm not sure how to reconcile "We can do it with or without you" with the rumored price of several million dollars. Unless the talent alone was worth the price of acquisition.
Amanda here, Grand St. co-founder. Jason's story is factually incorrect on a few things. To be clear: no threats were ever made or implied in deal meetings. Etsy is one of the most genuine and good-natured companies I have ever encountered.
"We have always admired them from afar, especially their dedication to craft and their commitment to their B Corp certification."
We have admired their B-corp certification? Is this a joke? It reads like satire, but I can't imagine anyone actually writing this on an acquisition announcement.
There's an Etsy blog post where they explain what a B Corp is and why they wanted to be certified as one [1]. "It’s like a LEED or Fair Trade certification, but for a business, not just a building or a bag of coffee."
I had to look it up, but a B-Corp is a 'Benefit Corporation' - it voluntarily takes on a legal obligation to consider social good as well as profit in its decision making process.