About Us: Matt a.k.a. matt

Matt Stinchcomb, a.k.a. Dr. Professor Stinchcomb, a.k.a. matt, has known Etsy since it was just a twinkle in Rob Kalin's eye. Matt was Rob's roommate when the Etsy's founders were first launching the site, and he joined the team as one of Etsy's first employees. He shepherded Etsy through the heady start-up days — doing everything from screenprinting tote bags to hobnobbing with the press, from designing ads to handling Etsy's marketing and communications, from founding Etsy Teams to Etsy's "Artist-in-Residence" program (that only happened once).

Since Etsy has been hiring more Admin, Matt has now passed on several of the hats he'd been wearing for many years. Today, in his role of VP of Community, he keeps us all honest (and hosts a dance party or two in the Virtual Labs). He's a beloved co-worker — and we have an epic list of Fun Facts to prove it.




Fun Facts:

• He loves to garden in his Brooklyn backyard and eat the fresh vegetables he's grown. He's a really good cook and will invite you to dinner, but then he always seems to already have dinner plans. (So he must invite a lot of people to dinner.)
• He goes through health food diet phases — for a while he was ingesting nothing but vinegar.
• Sarah points out his special uncomfortable shoes that force him to balance and are therefore "more healthy."
• Matt is originally from Washington D.C. and was a hardcore Orioles fan growing up.
• Emily, who knows him from growing up in D.C., says his biggest childhood fear was "goatboy peering into his window at dinner."
• Jakob, also an old friend of Matt's, says that he used to have a fohawk.
• Matt is married to the lovely Benedikta of BurdaStyle, our fashion-y friends who run the open source sewing pattern website. BurdaStyle used to rent space in Etsy Labs, but now they're located downstairs.
• Danielle claims that Matt started the cowl trend on Etsy: (photo by dandelionblu)
• He loves wearing white, especially white pants. One time Danielle was working a Philly craft show with him, and it started to pour. He was wearing all white that day, and the ladies went wild!
• He plays tennis and once dreamed of starting a clothing line for retro tennis outfits.
• Matt is the earliest riser, often waking at 5 a.m. to go for a long walk. His bedtime is 8 p.m.
• Matt fixed the toaster, according to Sarah.
• Matt paces around when he's on the phone. Adam adds that when he paces around, he often picks things up and then leaves them elsewhere.
• Beug says Matt has the second best hair of the Etsy Admin. However, he can't grow a beard and has no sideburns or body hair.
• Matt is one of the most charming people you'll ever meet.
• Danielle claims that he flips her the bird when no one is looking.
• Alison described how he's really well put-together and often wears a blazer and tie, but there's always something amiss: stains, missed button on his shirt, tear in his jacket.
• Beug is right when he says we all love his winning smile.
• Julie notes that Matt wants to start a girl group, Phil Spector style. Tara notes that he loves the Shangri-Las.
• He likes to assess people in terms of their "vibe."
• Lauren says that Matt subconsciously sings when he's happy but also when he's scared.
• Emily says that he was known only as "Matt Wad" in college after the porn star John Wad.
• Matt has a huge flame tattoo on his leg but you'll never see it because he never wears shorts. He has two other well-concealed tattoos.
• Adam points out that Matt is a prolific Etsy shopper, and his house is filled with beautiful Etsy items and antiques.
• He designed the Etsy donkeycorn poster.
• He doesn't own a TV, but if he did he'd be watching random movies on Lifetime in the early morning.
• He makes the Marketing/Community office smell pretty with his hippie incense.
• Emily says he wrote a song called "Tranquility Tea."
• Anda says he had a speech impediment as a child and spent years doing mouth exercises to correct it. That's why he smiles so much.
• Adam fondly recalls that Matt would lead Christmas carol sing-a-longs in the evenings around the holidays.
• He goes to Germany all the time. He owns a pair of adult men's lederhosen.
• He came up with "Bad News from a Kitten" and wants to make it into a ringtone. He, Adam, and Anda berated Christina so mercilessly about her ringtone that she cried.
• When Matt and Emily lived in Portland for a summer, he worked at a gas station and lived exclusively off of Sour Patch Kids from the BPmart. He kept the uniform and wore it every day.
• He went to Oberlin and was a big theater nerd in high school.
• Matt used to be in the rock band The French Kicks.
• Before he and Vanessa ever met, her friend told her about sitting beside these crazy guys who were in the band called The French Kicks at a Bruce Springsteen concert. They were all dressed up like Bruce and singing along.
• He once traded a car for a guitar. Dan vouches for Matt knowing all of the bass parts on Led Zeppelin IV.
• Lauren notes that there's a park in Oklahoma City named after him.
• He used to run his own screenprinting company.
• No one has ever seen him mad at anyone — except for a few of us seeing him mad at Rob.
• Let's just say Matt can be impulsive.
• According to Emily, he wore black turtlenecks with a horoscope medallion necklace in high school.
• He is a big history buff and executive produces an animated History Channel show.
• Matt is famous for his brainstorms and knowing famous people.
• Lauren notes that he really likes to point out places he's seen Keri Russell in Brooklyn. Anda adds that he loves to talk about the celebrities he's met.
• Half of Etsy staff go to the same doctor and dentist because of him.
• For Julie's birthday he picked a random thing off his shelf and offered it to her as a birthday present.
• Rockstarpoli saw him get really excited about banana juice.
• He would proudly accept the title of being the King of Dumpster-diving. When Vanessa found an amazing painting in the trash, Matt claimed he'd already found it in the trash years ago and then threw it away again when he was sick of it — two years before she ever found it. He has another painting hanging in his office at Etsy that he got from the trash or a yard sale years ago, that turned out to be by Vanessa's friends.
• Emily said he tried out to be an extra in John Waters' film Serial Mom for the concert scene at Hammerjacks in Baltimore, but was REJECTED.
• He can do a really good Baltimore/D.C. accent.
• His wedding band Dexter Lake Club Band used to practice at Etsy Labs, but he refused to play at Danielle's wedding. The band recorded a music video at the Etsy Labs. Click on "media" on their website.
• Jim asks, "Did anyone mention that he puts hummus in his coffee?"

Lookin' cool in high school:

Matt on bass:

Matt's first camping trip:


Matt and cupcakes go way back:

Etsy has had quite a growth spurt in the past year, and we have the awkward pictures to prove it. We've been posting a series of About Us pieces to help you get to know the Etsy admin (and since many of us work remotely, for the admin to get to know each other!). You've seen the admin badge, and maybe you're a bit curious about the person behind it! For more on Etsy's mission and about the company, please see our About page (the link is in the little blue footer of every Etsy page).

Some of Matt's favorites below...