Mary Kathleen Flynn, Senior Editor of Tech Confidential, the publication that recently ran an article on Etsy founder Rob Kalin, posted on the forums in a thread on the topic:

Thanks for checking out our recent coverage of Etsy.com and founder Rob Kalin:

http://www.techconfidential.com/features/startup-stories/the-homemade- ceo-etsy-founder-1.php

You ask why we would bring personality into reporting on a company?

The head of a company and his or her personality — credibility, reliability, professionalism as well as creativity, talent, intelligence, skill, background — are crucial to the success of a company, especially the founder when you’re talking about a startup.

For example, when we asked investors in Etsy.com — such as Union Square Ventures co-founder Fred Wilson and Flickr founder Caterina Fake — why they put their money into Etsy, their faith in Rob Kalin was a huge part of their answer.

As journalists, our mission is to give readers a full picture of the tech dealmakers we cover. (I’d say fair and balanced, but I’m afraid I’d sound like a rep from a certain conservative news network.)

As Fred Wilson told me, Rob is a maverick who’s out to change the world. But Rob is also struggling a bit with the responsibilities of running a successful Internet company — as even his closest compatriots will acknowledge, and as we discovered when he skipped town without canceling an interview with us. :)

Does that mean sometimes he comes across as a bit of a flake? Well yeah it does.

But, heck, as you say, many of us are flakey, aren’t we?

:)

Hope you’ll keep reading Tech Confidential.

I know we’ll keep following Etsy and Rob.

Edit by Serena on Dec 8, 10 a.m.:

On Dec 7th at 10:22am, the author of the article, Stacey Higginbotham, responded to questions raised in the thread:

Hey guys, I’m the person who wrote the article on Etsy and wanted to address the questions on the 11,000 items. That number came from an interview with Rob done in October. I’m not sure if the site has jumped in popularity or if he was giving out an old number, but I’m glad to see that even more items are listed. And you’re right, it’s not an eBay-style auction site. It’s an e-commerce site.

Thanks for reading and responding to the story.