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>How in the hell do you spend $210 million dollars running a marketplace website? Salaries. They have a few hundred employees, who are from the sounds of it pr

>How in the hell do you spend $210 million dollars running a marketplace website? Salaries. They have a few hundred employees, who are from the sounds of it pretty well paid (they're located in NYC, too).

xienze 12y ago
Perhaps I should rephrase the question. WHY do you need hundreds of employees to run a marketplace website? And if it's truly only a couple hundred they are EXTREMELY well paid.
- Aco- 12y ago
  Etsy has over 150 engineers, all living and working in NYC; of course they are 'EXTREMELY' well paid.
  - epc 12y ago
    Engineers, UX, support staff. There's an entirely separate office in Hudson, NY for security and telephone support for buyers/sellers. Plus rent in Brooklyn isn't cheap (they likely have a fantastic deal for their early office space but DUMBO is an overleased market at this point and they are fitting out new space in "DUMBO Heights"). All the jurisdictions Etsy operates in require various forms of compliance, which you could waste engineer time on or hire dedicated employees to handle. And by going public they've likely had to hire 15-20 people to support their CFO and run compliance.
    - fennecfoxen 12y ago
      "DUMBO Heights"?? I thought we were supposed to call that RAMBO (Right Above the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). Real estate naming. Go figure.
      - epc 12y ago
        Yeah, that's the regrettable name the real estate developers came up with. I suspect BQE Heights didn't have the same melodious ring.
    - epc 12y ago
      For the non-NYC people: "DUMBO Heights" is a cluster of buildings just South of DUMBO, Brooklyn on the other side of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE) which were owned by the Watchtower / Jehovah's Witnesses until I believe 2012. See http://dumboheights.com/ http://dumboheights.com/ (warning: real estate developer site). * edited: directions in DUMBO are easy to confuse. What you think is north-south is east-west and vice/versa.

xienze 12y ago

Perhaps I should rephrase the question. WHY do you need hundreds of employees to run a marketplace website? And if it's truly only a couple hundred they are EXTREMELY well paid.

Aco- 12y ago
Etsy has over 150 engineers, all living and working in NYC; of course they are 'EXTREMELY' well paid.
- epc 12y ago
  Engineers, UX, support staff. There's an entirely separate office in Hudson, NY for security and telephone support for buyers/sellers. Plus rent in Brooklyn isn't cheap (they likely have a fantastic deal for their early office space but DUMBO is an overleased market at this point and they are fitting out new space in "DUMBO Heights"). All the jurisdictions Etsy operates in require various forms of compliance, which you could waste engineer time on or hire dedicated employees to handle. And by going public they've likely had to hire 15-20 people to support their CFO and run compliance.
  - fennecfoxen 12y ago
    "DUMBO Heights"?? I thought we were supposed to call that RAMBO (Right Above the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). Real estate naming. Go figure.
    - epc 12y ago
      Yeah, that's the regrettable name the real estate developers came up with. I suspect BQE Heights didn't have the same melodious ring.
  - epc 12y ago
    For the non-NYC people: "DUMBO Heights" is a cluster of buildings just South of DUMBO, Brooklyn on the other side of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE) which were owned by the Watchtower / Jehovah's Witnesses until I believe 2012. See http://dumboheights.com/ http://dumboheights.com/ (warning: real estate developer site). * edited: directions in DUMBO are easy to confuse. What you think is north-south is east-west and vice/versa.