Scaling ML at Etsy: Supporting 100M+ Buyers & Sellers

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Role of Technology in Etsy
3. Mike Fisher: A Veteran in Technology Leadership
4. Alexander Wen: CEO and Founder of Scale
5. What is Etsy?
6. Etsy's Mission: Keeping Commerce Human
7. The Unique Selling Point of Etsy
8. Mike Fisher's Journey to Etsy
9. Scaling Etsy to New Heights
10. Etsy's Approach to Catalog Management
11. Solving the Long Tail Discovery Problem
12. Trust and Safety on Etsy
13. The Importance of Engineering Culture at Etsy
14. Embracing a Blameless Postmortem Culture
15. The Power of Writing and Sharing Knowledge at Etsy
16. The Significance of Experimentation and A/B Testing
17. The Future of E-commerce and Machine Learning
18. Democratization of Machine Learning
19. The Role of Humans in Machine Learning
20. Ensuring Trust and Safety in the E-commerce Industry
21. Exciting Developments in E-commerce and Technology
22. Conclusion

Introduction

In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, Etsy has emerged as a global marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers of handmade and vintage items. With over a hundred million items listed, Etsy's unique selling point lies in its ability to offer one-of-a-kind and customizable products, keeping commerce human. This article explores the role of technology in Etsy, highlighting the experiences of Mike Fisher, Etsy's Chief Technology Officer, and Alexander Wen, CEO and Founder of Scale. It delves into the challenges and solutions faced by Etsy in scaling its platform, enhancing catalog management, and ensuring trust and safety in the marketplace. Furthermore, it discusses the importance of engineering culture, experimentation, and the future of e-commerce in the era of machine learning.

The Role of Technology in Etsy

In the rapidly evolving world of e-commerce, technology plays a crucial role in scaling and enhancing platforms like Etsy. As Etsy's Chief Technology Officer, Mike Fisher is responsible for setting the technology strategy and driving further scalability at this global marketplace. With his extensive experience in technology leadership, including roles at AKF Partners, PayPal, and GE, Mike brings a wealth of knowledge to his current role. Together with Alexander Wen, CEO and Founder of Scale, the pair aims to leverage technology to propel Etsy to new heights.

Mike Fisher: A Veteran in Technology Leadership

Before joining Etsy, Mike Fisher co-founded and served as a managing partner of the consulting firm AKF Partners. His career in technology also includes serving as the Chief Technology Officer of Quago and holding various engineering and architecture roles at PayPal and GE. Mike's expertise in technology strategy and scalability has made him a valuable asset to Etsy. Additionally, his experience as a captain and pilot in the U.S. Army has instilled in him valuable leadership and management skills that he brings to his role at Etsy.

Alexander Wen: CEO and Founder of Scale

Alexander Wen is the CEO and Founder of Scale, a company that provides AI training data and human-powered data for machine learning models. With a background in computer science and machine learning, Alexander has a deep understanding of the power of data and its role in AI. In his role at Scale, Alexander works closely with companies like Etsy to help them leverage AI and machine learning to enhance their platforms and user experiences.

What is Etsy?

Etsy is a global marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers of handmade and vintage items. With over a hundred million items listed, Etsy offers a diverse range of products, from art and furniture to clothing and accessories. The platform's mission is to keep commerce human by providing a space for sellers to showcase their unique, handmade items that may not be readily available in mass-produced e-commerce marketplaces. Etsy allows buyers to connect directly with sellers, ask questions, and even request customization, fostering a personalized and meaningful shopping experience.

Etsy's Mission: Keeping Commerce Human

The driving force behind Etsy is its mission to keep commerce human. While mass-produced items have their place in the e-commerce landscape, Etsy believes in the value of handmade and customizable products. The platform aims to shine a spotlight on small businesses and individual sellers who craft unique items with dedication and passion. By providing a marketplace that connects buyers directly with sellers, Etsy fosters a sense of connection, authenticity, and support for small businesses.

The Unique Selling Point of Etsy

What sets Etsy apart from other e-commerce platforms is its focus on handmade, customizable, and vintage items. While other platforms may offer a wide range of products, Etsy's strength lies in its ability to offer one-of-a-kind items that can be tailored to the buyer's preferences. The sellers on Etsy are often solopreneurs working out of their garages or basements, creating fantastic products with a personal touch. This uniqueness and the ability to connect directly with sellers sets Etsy apart from the mass-produced offerings of other e-commerce giants.

Mike Fisher's Journey to Etsy

Mike Fisher's journey to Etsy began in 2008 when he met the founders of Etsy while running a consultancy focused on scaling technology for startups. Impressed by Etsy's focus on helping creative entrepreneurs find their raving fans, Mike joined the company as a consultant and continued to work with them over the years. He admired Etsy's engineering culture, and when the opportunity arose to join as their Chief Technology Officer in 2017, he jumped at the chance. Mike's deep understanding of scaling technology and his admiration for Etsy's mission made him a perfect fit for the role.

Scaling Etsy to New Heights

Scaling a platform like Etsy presents a unique set of challenges. When Mike Fisher joined Etsy, the company had around 250 engineers. Today, that number has grown to nearly a thousand. Scaling the organization to support the growth of the marketplace required not only hiring more engineers but also developing processes and technologies that could handle the increasing complexity. One of the significant milestones in Etsy's journey was the migration from data centers to the cloud, completed just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. This move enabled Etsy to scale its infrastructure rapidly and support the surge in traffic during the pandemic.

Etsy's Approach to Catalog Management

With over a hundred million items listed on Etsy, catalog management becomes a complex task. Unlike traditional e-commerce platforms with standardized product catalogs, Etsy's catalog is diverse, unstructured, and driven by sellers' descriptions and images. The challenge lies in bringing together buyer queries and seller listings that may not use consistent language or categorization. To overcome this, Etsy has developed sophisticated algorithms that leverage graph-based indexing and neural information retrieval. These algorithms enable Etsy to connect buyer queries with the most relevant listings, even in the long tail of unique and specialized products.

Solving the Long Tail Discovery Problem

Discovering and surfacing the long tail of unique products is crucial for Etsy. To ensure that buyers can find exactly what they're looking for, Etsy employs various techniques, including query understanding, taxonomy classifiers, historical query indexing, and re-ranking algorithms. By analyzing buyer queries and leveraging machine learning models, Etsy aims to provide accurate and personalized search results, even for the most niche and specific searches. The goal is to make it easy for buyers to connect with the sellers who offer the products they desire, no matter how unique or specialized.

Trust and Safety on Etsy

Trust and safety are of utmost importance on a marketplace like Etsy, where buyers and sellers interact directly. Etsy employs a combination of sophisticated algorithms and human expertise to ensure the integrity and safety of its marketplace. From preventing account takeovers to monitoring listings for intellectual property infringement, Etsy is dedicated to maintaining a secure and trusted environment. The platform continuously evolves its trust and safety measures, incorporating computer vision technology to detect and flag non-compliant or suspicious listings. By leveraging the power of both humans and machines, Etsy strives to provide a safe and reliable shopping experience for its users.

The Importance of Engineering Culture at Etsy

Engineering culture plays a vital role in the success of any technology company, and Etsy is no exception. At Etsy, the engineering culture is built on principles of inclusivity, open communication, and a blameless postmortem process. This culture fosters a learning environment where engineers can openly share their knowledge, ideas, and experiences. Writing, both internally and externally, is highly encouraged at Etsy, as it allows engineers to articulate their thoughts, share their expertise, and contribute to the wider tech community. The emphasis on engineering culture enables Etsy to attract top talent, drive innovation, and continuously improve its platform.

Embracing a Blameless Postmortem Culture

A blameless postmortem culture is a crucial aspect of Etsy's engineering culture. It encourages individuals and teams to reflect on incidents or failures without the fear of blame or retribution. The focus is on learning from mistakes, improving systems and processes, and preventing similar incidents in the future. By conducting blameless postmortems, Etsy fosters a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement. This approach not only benefits Etsy's engineers but also contributes to building a more resilient and reliable platform for buyers and sellers.

The Power of Writing and Sharing Knowledge at Etsy

Writing plays a significant role in the engineering culture at Etsy. Engineers are encouraged to write technical documents, known as "orange docs," to propose architectures, systems, or service changes. These documents facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing across teams and ensure that decisions are well-documented and thoroughly considered. Additionally, writing extends beyond internal documentation. Engineers at Etsy contribute to the company's blog, sharing their expertise and insights with the wider tech community. By embracing writing and sharing knowledge, Etsy fosters a culture of continuous learning and growth.

The Significance of Experimentation and A/B Testing

Experimentation and A/B testing are essential components of Etsy's product development and improvement process. The ability to test different variants and measure their impact on user experiences allows Etsy to make data-driven decisions. Experimentation helps identify features or changes that resonate with users, improve conversion rates, and enhance overall satisfaction. Etsy employs advanced experimentation methods, both online and offline, to ensure statistically significant results and minimize biases. By actively experimenting and iterating, Etsy can optimize its platform, drive innovation, and deliver the best possible experiences to its users.

The Future of E-commerce and Machine Learning

Looking ahead, machine learning will continue to shape the future of e-commerce. The democratization of machine learning, making it more accessible to all product teams within Etsy, is a priority. This involves empowering product teams to leverage machine learning models, from simple to sophisticated, with the support of data scientists. Etsy envisions a future where machine learning powers all aspects of the marketplace, delivering personalized recommendations, improving search capabilities, and enhancing the overall user experience. The role of humans in machine learning will remain critical, as they bring domain expertise and contribute to refining algorithms and models.

Democratization of Machine Learning

Democratization of machine learning is a key trend in the industry. Making machine learning more accessible to product teams involves providing them with the tools, algorithms, and infrastructure to implement and deploy models effectively. Etsy aims to enable its product teams to leverage machine learning models, from basic to advanced, without extensive technical expertise. This democratization allows teams to make data-informed decisions and deliver more personalized, intelligent experiences within the Etsy marketplace.

The Role of Humans in Machine Learning

While machine learning continues to advance, the human element remains essential. Humans play a key role in training, validating, and fine-tuning machine learning models. Their domain expertise, intuition, and ability to interpret nuanced information contribute to the improved performance and accuracy of models. At Etsy, the human-in-the-loop approach is embraced, ensuring that algorithms are developed and iterated upon with human feedback. By combining the strengths of both humans and machine learning, Etsy can deliver the best possible results, enhancing the marketplace experience for buyers and sellers.

Ensuring Trust and Safety in the E-commerce Industry

Trust and safety are critical in the e-commerce industry, and they are at the forefront of Etsy's priorities. As technology continues to evolve, ensuring the integrity and security of the marketplace becomes increasingly important. Companies must employ sophisticated algorithms and techniques to detect fraud, intellectual property infringement, and other malicious activities. Real-time monitoring, automation, and human expertise are combined to create a robust trust and safety framework. The future of trust and safety lies in the development of more advanced algorithms, automation, and the ability to take timely and effective actions to protect users.

Exciting Developments in E-commerce and Technology

The e-commerce industry is witnessing exciting developments driven by technological advancements. The democratization of machine learning, improvements in data processing and infrastructure, and the growing adoption of AI technologies are at the forefront of these developments. Companies like Etsy are leveraging AI and machine learning to enhance search capabilities, personalize recommendations, and improve overall user experiences. Additionally, advancements in web 3.0 technologies and frameworks present new opportunities for e-commerce platforms to leverage decentralized systems, public data, and user ownership of data. These developments hold the promise of more seamless, personalized, and secure e-commerce experiences.

Conclusion

As the e-commerce industry continues to evolve, technology plays a significant role in shaping its trajectory. At Etsy, the implementation of AI and machine learning has allowed for scalable growth, improved catalog management, and enhanced trust and safety measures. Engineering culture, experimentation, and the democratization of machine learning are key drivers of innovation within Etsy. Looking ahead, the future of e-commerce lies in leveraging technology to deliver personalized, intelligent experiences, while also embracing the human element. Trust and safety will remain crucial aspects, as will staying at the forefront of technological advancements. Overall, Etsy and the e-commerce industry are poised for continued growth and innovation in the years to come.