Another in our series of interviews with organizers in Berlin: we spoke with Etsy.com’s European Director, Matt Stinchcomb, about the upcoming Hello Etsy conference, what Etsy Labs gets up to, and lessons to be learnt on the subjects of small business and sustainability. 

Who are you and what do you do?
Gosh. Who am I…I guess that’s what I’m still trying to figure out too! I am the European Director for Etsy.com. I live here in Berlin with my wife and young boy, Francis. I basically am responsible for getting Etsy going in Europe. I moved to Berlin a year and a half ago to do that. 

How long has Etsy been in Europe?
Technically we’ve always been in Europe, because it’s a global platform. We transacted in something like 175 countries last year. So it’s an idea that’s already resonating around the world, but we’ve not really ever supported markets outside of the US well — meaning everything was in English, everything was in dollars, we weren’t really geolocating people…. So now we’re supporting 22 different currencies, and in the next couple weeks we’ll be supporting German, followed by French, Spanish and Italian. We came here to focus on building the community, to get the word out in Europe. 

Why Berlin?
Berlin for a number of reasons. I think culturally it’s the right fit for Etsy. London is the obvious choice for American companies, but I just don’t think it had the right vibe. Nothing against London — but it’s expensive, and I think there’s a creativity to Berlin that is pretty unique. Secondly, I wanted to live here. My wife is German, and she hadn’t lived here in 10 years so she was excited to be back. So here we are.

The Hello Etsy conference is coming up. Tell us a bit about it.
Hello Etsy has two main themes: small business and sustainability. Sustainability to me is actually about community-based economies. Rather than having a few really big companies, it’s much more sustainable to have a lot of little companies. This is key to what Etsy is about: helping these microentrepreneurs build sustainable, durable businesses. So the conference is one-part inspirational/big-idea/big-picture stuff, and one part tactical, meaning workshops on product photography, on search engine optimization, on all these practical things that you would need to find success with your small business. 

Who do you think can really benefit from the conference?
One thing that was really important to me was that we not make the conference specific to Etsy. So it’s not a conference about buying or selling on Etsy — it’s a conference about building small community-based economies. And the information is relevant to anyone who’s interested in these topics — as a consumer who wants to be cognizant about what they’re buying and from whom they’re buying, for any small business, online or offline, it’s very practical information. 

How can people participate?
We wanted to make it as accessible as possible. To attend in Berlin is only 85 euro, which is very inexpensive — that includes meals and all the speakers. The whole thing is also going to be streamed online, so you can watch any of the sessions from home. There’s six satellite locations throughout the US and one in Paris where you can attend for free, with other sets of speakers plus streaming sessions from Berlin. And there’s a book with essays from the contributors that’s available as a downloadable PDF too. 

Is there a speaker you’re most excited to hear?
Lots. Charty Durrant wrote an essay called “The Tyranny of Trends.” It’s a very thoughtful look at the fashion industry and style, and what the ecological and social consequences are. Douglas Rushkoff wrote a book called Life Inc. that I really loved. Very excited to hear him. Tom Hodgkinson, too — he wrote an amazing book called How To Be Free, which I highly recommend. Bill McKibben, who is one of my all-time heroes, will be speaking from one of the American locations and will be streamed into Berlin. He’s kind of an idol of mine. He wrote Deep Economy, which probably more than any other book explains what this conference is about. 

There’s a woman named Natalie Chanin whom I’ve met a few times. She has a business in Alabama called Alabama Chanin. She’s created a completely community-based structure for the business. So instead of having her garments outsourced to some developing nation, she employs 250 women in her community. They collectively produce the goods in their own time and she works with local farmers to grow the cotton that they need, organically. It’s a really amazing example of someone who’s decided to make their business be about their community too. She’s really inspirational. 

What do you get up to in this space, in Etsy Labs?
Etsy Labs are…our laboratories. We have one in Brooklyn, one in Berlin and one in Hudson, NY. The idea is that they’re spaces for the local communities to come together and learn new things. We have free business workshops. And every Monday night we have an open event where people can come and learn how to make something. That really runs the gamut. It’s everything you could imagine. It’s also the place where we produce all of our own promotional goods. We still hand-make everything that we give out to people. We have a full photography setup here so we can photograph product or help people get their products photographed and onto Etsy. So it’s a community space where we can help small businesses. And also it’s just a fun place to drink beers and make things. 

You have some experience in marketing. What do you think people should be most careful about when they’re marketing a product or a service?
Before you set off on a business or whatever it is, have a clear sense of what you’re doing — of what your mission is and what your values are. And then make sure that you never stray from those things. I think a lot of times people do a lot of things kind of poorly instead of just doing one thing really well. Having a clear sense of what you’re trying to do and how you want to do it is very helpful, and that will dictate how you market things, as well as the audiences you’re trying to reach. I would start there. And then if you’re selling online, I’d take good photographs. 

What should people managing communities focus on?
The most important thing you can do is give the community - or the potential community - the tools to communicate with one another. It’s less about you talking to them and more about them talking to one another. I think that’s a really common mistake, that someone feels like they have to force a community. What you need to do is give people with shared interests a platform. In the case of Gidsy, if it’s tour guides or people who are interested in unique experiences, then already there’s something shared there, right? So you just need to connect them to one another. 

You’re one of our advisors at Gidsy. Why do you think Gidsy is a good idea?
People crave authenticity. With Etsy it might be goods - they’re tired of having only what the board members of The Gap are saying the styles are going to be. They want to have a connection to the things in their lives. Just like that I think they want to have authentic experiences. They want something special. They don’t want to get the “Let’s Go” Guide to Berlin and be in line with everybody else at the DDR Museum. That’s not really an authentic experience in a city. That’s really important — it connects people to authentic experiences. 

I love that it also helps to build these microeconomies. You’re giving financial opportunities to the little guys to do something cool. Like Etsy, it’s also an opportunity for someone to be more self-sufficient. That’s a really powerful idea. So I think it will work! 

Why do you think people crave authenticity?
The way that the world has evolved in a lot of ways, with a big focus on economic growth, has left us very disconnected from ourselves, from other people, from the environment, and I don’t think that’s the natural state we want to be in. I think we want to be a part of a community and be connected to each other. Even on a primal level, we crave something that’s meaningful. Meaningful things usually come from other humans. Not always, of course. But I think that desire for authenticity is innate and it’s amplified now, because everything that’s happening, from food to clothing to entertainment is mass-produced and it’s just not special! 

Where can we notice the effects of all this?
There are scary consequences — I think about the vegetable crisis in Germany this summer. It’s scary enough that you could die from eating salad, but even scarier is that no one even knew where it was coming from. We need to have a direct connection with people and with processes and products. I think it’s not only something that we crave, but also something we’re going to have to do if we want to continue to exist as a species. If we don’t start thinking collectively, we’re going to destroy the planet. 

Biggest thing you’ve learnt at Etsy?
Be honest. Do something you feel passionate about. Be focused on something you care about, something real. Otherwise you’re going to be unfulfilled and you’re not going to put yourself into it. Keep it real, always. 

Personally, where I am in my life, I have to be doing something meaningful or I don’t want to do it. It’s not about money — it’s about trying to improve the world. I feel like I’m enabling or helping to enable that for a lot of people on Etsy. It’s satisfying to me. But if it were about how much money Etsy can make, there would be no point. 

Interview with Matt Stinchcomb from Etsy by Gidsy

Hear Matt speak at Hello Etsy! Remember to use the promotional code ‘Gidsy_HelloEtsy’ when buying your tickets.