Nicholas Daniel, Chief Product Officer at Etsy, leads the charge in transforming the marketplace into an AI-driven platform while staying true to its core values. He shares insights on managing the scale of unique inventory and the importance of balancing growth with human connection. Daniel discusses the innovative 'Spaces' feature that enhances the browsing experience and how AI plays a critical role in discovering unique items. He also highlights metrics for measuring seller success and the collaboration with ecosystem players to support independent businesses.
34:16
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
Human Touch Differentiates Etsy
Etsy's key differentiator is that each item is personally crafted by an individual, making it unique among e-commerce marketplaces.
Their mission to keep commerce human centers on empowering sellers, which also sets them apart competitively.
insights INSIGHT
AI Enhances Etsy Discovery
Managing and understanding Etsy's 2 billion unique inventory items is complex, requiring AI and LLMs to extract useful data from listings.
Leveraging this enhances buyer discovery and transforms Etsy into an inspiring browsing destination beyond shopping.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Support Sellers with Tools
Provide sellers with actionable tools like SEO tips, promoted ads, and listing quality dashboards to boost product visibility and sales.
Encourage sellers to adopt marketing services to extend their reach and increase their success predictively.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
In this episode, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia interviews Nicholas Daniel, Chief Product Officer at Etsy — the world's largest marketplace for unique and handmade items. Founded in 2005, Etsy has grown into a global platform connecting over 6 million sellers with 90 million buyers worldwide, featuring more than 130 million unique items. Nicholas leads Etsy's product organization, overseeing 30+ product squads that drive innovation across the marketplace. His 11-year tenure at Etsy has been instrumental in transforming the platform from a web-centric marketplace to a multi-platform powerhouse while staying true to its core mission of "keeping commerce human."
We explore how Etsy manages its massive scale of unique inventory, leverages AI for better discovery, and maintains the delicate balance between growth and marketplace identity. Nicholas shares insights on structuring product teams around business challenges, measuring seller success, and fostering innovation through features like "Spaces" that enhance browsing experiences.
What you'll learn: How Etsy structures its product organization to tackle marketplace challenges Strategies for managing and categorizing millions of unique items Key metrics for measuring seller success and platform health Approaches to balancing automation with maintaining human connections The role of AI in understanding and surfacing unique inventory
Key Takeaways👇: - Nicholas reveals how Etsy's 30+ product squads are organized around business challenges rather than traditional product lines, maintaining a ratio of 1 PM to 6 engineers for optimal efficiency. - Managing 130M unique items (expanding to 2B+ with variations) requires sophisticated AI/ML approaches, as traditional e-commerce categorization doesn't work for handmade items. - Focus on seller success as a leading indicator, with key metrics including time to first sale, product assortment updates, and platform tool adoption. - Etsy's approach to innovation, including features like "Spaces," demonstrates how to enhance discovery while maintaining the human element that defines their marketplace. - Strong emphasis on "keeping commerce human" while scaling, showing how to maintain marketplace identity and quality during growth.
This episode is brought to you by Persona, the adaptable identity platform that helps businesses fight fraud, meet compliance requirements, and build trust. These days, it's easier than ever for fraudsters to steal voices, faces, and identities. That's where Persona comes in; helping leading companies to securely verify individuals and businesses worldwide, providing flexible building blocks to create tailored verification flows that maximize conversion while minimizing risks. Whether you work at a startup or large enterprise, you can get started for free here: https://withpersona.com/productschool
📆 Check out upcoming events: https://prdct.school/4aGyyyw 🚀 Advance your Product Management career: https://prdct.school/3R2W55X 💼 Get customized training for your Product team: https://prdct.school/4bz4WVd 🤝 Partner with Product School to reach an audience of over 2 million Product professionals: https://prdct.school/453ajtt
ABOUT US: Product School (https://prdct.school/3DYNwmd) is the global leader in Product training with a community of over two million product professionals.
All of our instructors are Product Leaders working at top Silicon Valley companies including Google, Meta, Netflix, Airbnb, Uber, and Amazon.
The Product Podcast