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Gumroad

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Gumroad, Inc.
IndustryDigital distribution, self-publishing, e-commerce.
Founded2011; 13 years ago (2011)
FounderSahil Lavingia, Sachin Khanna
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, U.S.
Number of locations
11,894 (2023)
Area served
Worldwide
Websitegumroad.com

Gumroad is an e-commerce platform that allows creators to sell products directly to their audience. The platform was founded by Sahil Lavingia in 2011 and is based in San Francisco, California. Gumroad enables creators to sell digital products, such as e-books, music, videos, software, and physical goods. The platform provides creators with tools to create custom landing pages, track sales, and process payments. Gumroad's primary focus is serving independent creators, such as writers, musicians, and designers, who want to sell their products without going through intermediaries.[citation needed]

History

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Founder Sahil Lavingia in 2010

Sahil Lavingia built the first iteration of Gumroad over a single weekend in 2011. Sahil is a self-taught developer who has said in an interview that he learned coding by searching through each problem he hit on Google. Lavingia, who was previously the first designer hired at Pinterest and the designer of Turntable.fm, was 19 years old at the time.[1][2][3]

The idea for Gumroad came to Lavingia when he wanted to sell a photorealistic icon he had created and realized that the amount of effort it took to sell an item directly to consumers was considerable. He decided to build a service that would make the process as easy as sharing web content.[1]

In February 2012, while still the sole member of Gumroad, Lavingia announced a $1.1 million seed round from a notable group of investors including Accel, Chris Sacca, Max Levchin, SV Angel, Josh Kopelman, Seth Goldstein, Naval Ravikant and Danny Rimer.[2]

Three months later, it was announced that Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) had led a $7 million Series A round for Gumroad. The investment was the first made by former Twitter engineering head Michael Abbott as a KPCB partner.[4]

In September 8, 2014, Twitter announced its first commerce product, the Buy Now button, in partnership with Gumroad,[5] the Buy Now and Gumroad partnership was discontinued on January 7, 2017.[6] On September 30, 2014, Gumroad released its first mobile product, a utility iPhone app that acts as a mobile library for content purchased via Gumroad.[7][8]

In March 2024, Gumroad banned the sale of sexually explicit content on its platform due to pressure from Stripe and PayPal.[9]

Creators on Gumroad

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Many major and independent musicians have sold products via Gumroad, including Eminem,[10] Bon Jovi,[11] Garth Brooks,[12] David Banner,[13] Ryan Leslie[14] and others.

Magnolia Pictures distributes a curated selection of films via Gumroad.[15] Landmark Theatres also curates a selection of films distributed via Gumroad, including Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Man on Wire, Gonzo, Page One: Inside the New York Times, and Jesus Camp.[16]

Best-selling authors like Tim Ferriss,[17] Chris Guillebeau,[18] and John Green[19] also publish their books on Gumroad.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Holmes, David. "Who's Next: Pinterest Designer Sahil Lavingia and His New E-Commerce Site Gumroad" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Fast Company, April 25, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Tsotsis, Alexia. "Gumroad Gets $1.1 Million From Chris Sacca, Max Levchin and Others to Turn Any Link Into a Payment System" Archived July 4, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, TechCrunch, February 8, 2012.
  3. ^ Shontell, Alyson. "The Most Interesting Teenager in Silicon Valley" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Business Insider, April 2, 2012.
  4. ^ Gannes, Liz. "Kleiner Perkins Leads $7M Funding for Payments Upstart Gumroad" Archived October 23, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, All Things Digital, May 7, 2012.
  5. ^ Brustein, Joshua. "Explaining Twitter's New ‘Buy’ Button" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Bloomberg Businessweek, September 8, 2014.
  6. ^ "Twitter is phasing out the "Buy" button, will continue to offer donations". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  7. ^ Ifeanyi, KC. "Online Marketplace Gumroad Launched An iPhone App" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Fast Company, September 30, 2014.
  8. ^ DBW. "New Gumroad iPhone App Helps Authors Sell EBooks Direct" Archived December 15, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Digital Book World, September 30, 2014.
  9. ^ Silberling, Amanda (March 16, 2024). "Gumroad no longer allows most NSFW art, leaving its adult creators panicked". TechCrunch.
  10. ^ "Eminem on Gumroad". Gumroad. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016.
  11. ^ "Bon Jovi's Gumroad Page" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Gumroad
  12. ^ "Garth Brooks’ Gumroad Page" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Gumroad
  13. ^ Popper, Ben. "Girl Talk goes Gumroad: a web payment startup woos pop stars" Archived October 23, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The Verge, August 17, 2012.
  14. ^ "Ryan Leslie's Gumroad Page" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Gumroad
  15. ^ "Magnolia Pictures" Archived November 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Magnolia Pictures
  16. ^ "Landmark Theatres" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Landmark Theatres
  17. ^ "Tim Ferriss’ Gumroad Page" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Gumroad
  18. ^ "Chris Guillebeau on His New NYT Best Seller, Writing, and the Road" Archived September 26, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Gumroad Blog
  19. ^ "Things I Can Do" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, John Green's Blog
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