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Editors Note: Earlier this month Etsy revealed in its Q1 earnings report that the board is replacing Chad Dickerson, who has been CEO since 2011 and took the company public in 2015.

Josh Silverman, who joined Etsy’s board in November, will take over as CEO, while fellow board member Fred Wilson will be taking over Dickerson’s role as chairman of the board. Etsy is also losing CTO John Allspaw.

Dickerson said in a statement: “It has been an honor to lead Etsy as CEO for the past six years and the three years before that as CTO, the Board decided that it was time for new leadership to take Etsy forward and I support that decision.”

Here’s something you don’t hear in today’s unicorn “crushing it!” era of startups: “There’s something about los...

When I first left my full time job to try my hand at being an entrepreneur, I thought it would be helpful to join a women’s business networking group. The membership included a subscription to their women’s business magazine which provides exclusive content, advice, and tips for being more business-y.

I won’t name the organization, but I won’t be surprised if anyone recognizes it. I joined just over 6 months ago and every time I have received an issue of this quarterly magazine, I become a little more enraged.

The very first red flag is that inexplicably and despite the fact that the women’s magazine is only available to pre-paying members and can’t be bought in store, it has a price tag on it (but no barcode), presumably to convince the po...

We're going to update our financial statements using a simple accounting process that requires zero professional accounting experience or accounting software — it's just our income statement spreadsheet.

Click here to download our template to follow along.

The next step after we've captured all of our financial transactions in our spreadsheet accounting system will be to process each of the financial records in order. Earlier we began recording transactions from our bank accounts and credit card statements, so now we'll drop them into the Tabs we set aside for business expenses and revenue.

What Tabs will we Populate?

We've broken our spreadsheet accounting system into a handful of useful tabs to populate.

Here's the quick list, then we'll go ov...

I’ve covered Max Levchin and the Web properties he’s built pretty much since I arrived in Silicon Valley in the peak of the dot com bubble. In fact, I spent hundreds of hours interviewing him for my first book, “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0.” I continually try to get him on stage— despite having plumbed so many of his thoughts for so long— because he’s genuinely one of my favorite people to interview.

Not only does he have one of those iconic immigrant stories that should convince everyone why immigrants make this country stronger, but unlike so many other wealthy success stories, he’s never forgotten where he came from and what it felt like to be an outsider with nothing. Nothi...

Crowdfunding may seem like a new idea, but it actually has a long and rich history with roots going back to the 1700’s.

However, modern day crowdfunding — where people and businesses raise small amounts of money from a large group of people, usually online — has its origins in 1997.

In this infographic, we look at some of the historical movements that led to the development of crowdfunding as we know it, as well as major events over the past two decades that have shaped modern day crowdfunding.

Infographic text transcript:

1700’s: The Irish Loan Fund

The Irish Loan Fund was established by author and Irish nationalist Jonathon Swift in the early 1700’s as a way to provide loans to poor but creditworthy people in Dublin.

The Fund was succes...

The question of whether entrepreneurship can be "taught" has been volleyed back and forth between academics and Founders forever.

The academics believe that entrepreneurship is a process that can be learned and executed, while the hardcore Founders feel like you either have "the right stuff" and figure shit out or you don't.

This is one of those cases where both are right, but both are asking the wrong question.

What aspects of Entrepreneurship can be taught?

A ton, from how to validate an idea to managing your finances or setting up marketing campaign can absolutely be taught — and if we're being honest, are sorely lacking amongst most startup Founders today.

If you don't think those fundamental skills are helpful to building a startup, t...

What is a C Corp?

“C corporation” or “C corp” stands for “corporation.” The “C” comes from the fact that C corp income is taxed under the subchapter C of the Internal Revenue Code. That’s the law that responsible for the double taxation that C corps are known for, which we’ll go into more below. C corps are the most common type of corporation in the United States, but they may or may not be the best options for your startup!

Corporations are a business entities that exist entirely separately from their owners. They can be taxed, make a profit, and be held liable. In fact, they offer the highest level of protection from personal liability for the owners.

When it comes to stock, C corps can issue stock and shareholders can sell their stock a...

It’s hard to overestimate the importance of a startup name — which is why naming a business can feel so harrowing. A great name can help push your company to the next level, but a terrible one can sink you before you even started. So how do you find a great business name?

While there probably are as many approaches to coming up with a company name as there are failed startups, one great place to start is with idea generators. These quick, handy online tools spit out word combinations that can be a great jumping off point for you and your team.

Once you’ve found a company name you like, you can use the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) to find out whether or not a business name has been trademarked. You should also use ICANN WHOIS to...

What is an S Corp?

An S Corporation is a type of business corporation.

An S Corp passes all their finances — corporate income, losses, deductions, and credits — through their shareholders. Because S Corp shareholders report the income and losses of the company on their own personal tax returns, the company isn’t subject to double taxation.

S Corp Structure

Shareholders

The shareholders of an S corp are the owners. They’re the ones who “hold” shares of stock.

Depending on how much stock they own, they have varying degrees of influence on the corporation — but they don’t make the decisions or run the day-to-day. Instead, they elect the company’s directors, who take care of all of that. They also vote to remove directors, when it seems like ...

Sallie Krawcheck is one of my favorite entrepreneurs I’ve met in 2017, after many years following her career as one of the most senior women on Wall Street. A 2002 Fortune Magazine cover put her face as the hope of trust on Wall Street with a headline: “The Last Honest Analyst.”

Indeed, she was fired in 2008 from Citi because she wanted to bank to reimburse clients for bad investments that were the bank’s fault. Or as she put it in an on stage interview in 2016, “I was fired for being a woman,” because women are more focused on relationships and long-term outcomes than men on Wall Street.

What do you do when you reach the pinnacle of your career– farther than almost any other woman in Wall Street has climbed– and then get fired for doing th...