Introducing our new CEO, Anna Brozek

As the owners of this wonderfully unique company, the goal for me and my co-founder Eric Turner has always been to foster and protect what makes Big Cartel so special. That thing that has allowed us to grow a side-project started by the two of us in our spare time, into a vibrant company full of incredibly talented people, serving a community of artists around the world.

And to do all of that our own way. Instead of taking outside money, valuing our independence. Instead of looking to grow as fast as possible, growing things organically. And instead of the founders looking to cash out in a big sale or acquisition, building something to last.

So many things are working well at Big Cartel right now. We're in our 14th year of business, and every day hundreds more makers join our eclectic customer base, who have now collectively sold nearly $3 billion of their work. Internally we're getting new features and improvements out more regularly, communication is more effective, and the team feels like they jell in a way we haven’t seen before.

Seeing how well things have been going has been awesome, and it’s become easier to see a future for Big Cartel without Eric or me in the driver’s seat. In order to ensure the company lives long into the future, it needs to grow beyond the two of us guiding the roadmap.

So it's with bittersweet excitement that Eric and I have decided it’s time we hopped out of the front seat and let the team drive. We’ll be taking a step back from the day-to-day of the business and assuming a more hands-off, advisory role. We're not entirely riding off into the sunset though, we'll remain the sole independent owners of the company, and will continue to help shape its direction, but the steering wheel will be in the hands of the team and our new CEO, Anna Brozek.

Anna joined Big Cartel seven years ago, after having bootstrapped, owned, and operated a beloved record store called Slowtrain with her husband, which was an icon of Salt Lake City's gallery district. Since starting on our Community team, Anna went on to lead our Support team, and for the last two years she has served as our Operations Director, where she’s helped guide and improve the entire company.

Through all the roles she’s had here, Anna has shown that she cares about the people that work here, the culture and the company we’re putting out into the world, and she has the keen organizational eye that will allow us to stay focused on building something that matters. No one has played a bigger part in turning Big Cartel from a great product into a great company, and we can't wait to see what she can do with this new position.

This post was adapted from an internal email sent to the Big Cartel team.