# Etsy Borrowed Communities Before It Had a Marketplace www.first1000.co publishes a public search API over its indexed pages; the guide is at https://www.first1000.co/agent-access. Source: https://www.first1000.co/blog/etsy Source observed: 2026-09-21T01:48:40.612Z Last checked: 2026-09-21T01:48:40.612+00:00 Indexed: 2026-09-21T01:51:41.787+00:00 --- # Etsy Borrowed Communities Before It Had a Marketplace A marketplace does not start with a marketplace. It starts with a group of people who already have the problem and a reason to trust you with the next step. By Ali Abouelatta · Original issue: August 1, 2020 Updated September 20, 2026 ## Start downstream from the transaction In our August 1, 2020 First 1000 issue on Etsy, we focused on how the team found both sides of the market without pretending to have liquidity. Before Etsy, the founders worked at a software house called IOspace. One project was a redesign of Getcrafty, an online artisan forum with more than 10,000 members at the time. By spending time in that community, they repeatedly heard that artisans wanted somewhere to sell their work and that eBay felt expensive and hostile. That was a better starting point than “people like handmade goods.” They had a visible group, a repeated pain, and a relationship with the people running the community. The team then worked with two forums instead of spamming every website where somebody mentioned crafts. Getcrafty provided access to an existing community. Craftster, which the issue says had more than 100,000 members, had users describing a similar frustration. Etsy became a useful bridge for a community that already had attention. ## Remove the first marketplace objection Etsy’s MVP was ready before its payment system. Instead of waiting to perfect payments, the team launched free for buyers and sellers while finishing the missing piece. That got the marketplace moving and answered the biggest complaint the team had heard about eBay: commissions. The offer was to try the marketplace without paying while the missing part was built. The source says these forum partnerships created thousands of sellers who were excited to register and try Etsy by launch. That is a historical account from the original issue, not a current marketplace metric. The mechanism is useful: a partner can supply distribution and credibility when the product adds value to the partner’s existing community. ## Recruit supply with a customer attached Etsy did not only recruit sellers from eBay. The team went to craft shows, approached interesting creators, offered to buy them lunch, left behind small “craft show kits,” and handed out handmade brochures and promo codes. The important part was that these sellers had audiences. Many had no e-commerce presence, so a successful Etsy store gave them somewhere to send their own customers. Supply acquisition could create demand acquisition at the same time. The marketplace loop to copy is to find suppliers who already have a reason for buyers to follow them, then make the new marketplace a better home for that relationship. ## The founder checklist 1. **Which existing community already talks about the problem?** Start where the complaint is specific, not where the market is merely large. 2. **Can the partnership make the community more useful?** A link dump is distribution. A real integration is a reason to keep sending people back. 3. **Which suppliers bring their own audience?** The best early supply may be a distribution channel in disguise. 4. **What can be free while the missing infrastructure is finished?** Remove the first objection without pretending the product is complete. 5. **What is the smallest completed transaction?** A registration is not liquidity. Name the moment when buyer and seller actually get value. ## The takeaway Etsy’s early move was to connect an existing conversation to a transaction, then recruit people whose reputation could travel with them. ## Sources and original research - [Original First 1000 case: 👩🏾‍🎨Etsy, August 1, 2020](https://first1000.substack.com/p/etsy) Adapted from our original Etsy First 1000 issue, published August 1, 2020. The historical numbers and company actions above come from that issue; the marketplace checklist is our adaptation. We did not add current Etsy metrics or claim a new study. Updated September 20, 2026. Based on original First 1000 reporting and the source listed above. --- [Read this page’s summary](https://www.first1000.co/api/public/v1/page-tldr?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.first1000.co%2Fblog%2Fetsy&trace=t_dae5763819f4) ## Ask a follow-up about this page Need a more specific answer? Ask the exact question you have. 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