Etsy posted a suprise article on the Storque (Etsy’s blog) today. CEO Maria Thomas is leaving and co-founder and ex-CEO Rob Kalin is coming back.

This is very sudden – no major announcement, no fanfare, like you would expect for a change like this, just a quiet post. Also, Maria seems to be leaving with very short notice.

Overall, Maria has done a good job getting Etsy organized and steering it off the chaotic path. So why is she leaving, especially after less than 2 years on the job? Something’s screwy here…

Etsy’s been running in the red since Rob first “opened the doors”. I’m sure Maria’s been under tremendous pressure from the VCs to “show us some black.” This would partially explain some of the questionable actions taken by Admin (pushing Etsians to spam social networking sites comes to mind here…).

Have the VCs gone too far in their demands? Have they asked Maria to do something stupid that she knows would start a major uproar with sellers, and she refused? Is this why they’ve brought Rob back in?

Rob left Etsy because he didn’t like what was being done to the site, the direction it was taking. He could hardly argue with his backers, since their money was keeping the show running, so his only alternative was to leave. Now his only alternative is to cave to their demands, whereas Maria is able to take her marbles and go home.

It will be interesting (to say the least) to see what develops with Etsy in 2010. In the meantime, I’m stepping up the work on my own sites, and will be reworking the business plan… once again.

Oh, Etsy will still play a part, but not as dominant as was planned, and certainly in a way where I can hit the door running, if necessary.

Call me paranoid, but I learned a hard lesson with eBay.