Gumroad
 | |
| Industry | Digital distribution, self-publishing, e-commerce. |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founder | Sahil Lavingia, Sachin Khanna |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Ershad Kunnakkadan, CEO [1] |
| Website | gumroad.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.
History
[edit]
Gumroad was founded in 2011 by Sahil Lavingia, who was previously a designer at Pinterest and Turntable.fm.[2][3][4] The idea for the platform came to Lavingia when he wanted to sell an icon he had designed and saw that the amount of effort it took to sell an item directly to consumers was considerable. In February 2012, Gumroad announced a $1.1 million seed round.[3] Three months later Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) led a $7 million Series A round.[5]
On September 8, 2014, Twitter launched a Buy Now button in partnership with Gumroad,[6] the Buy Now and Gumroad partnership were discontinued on January 7, 2017.[7] On September 30, 2014, Gumroad released an iPhone app.[8][9]
In March 2024, Gumroad banned the sale of sexually explicit content on its platform due to pressure from Stripe and PayPal.[10]
In 2025, Lavingia worked with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as part of its efforts to fire tens of thousands of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs and introduce AI systems to the VA.[11] DOGE gave Lavingia, who has no government experience, sensitive access to VA systems.[11]
Creators on Gumroad
[edit]A variety of major and independent musicians,[12][13] film distributors,[14][15] and authors[16][17] have distributed content or sold products on Gumroad.
See also
[edit]- Digital distribution
- Online marketplace
- Online marketplaces available in the United States
- Online shopping
References
[edit]- ^ https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sahillavingia_exciting-news-after-14-years-im-stepping-activity-7397043674561335298-OSax/
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Shontell, Alyson. "The Most Interesting Teenager in Silicon Valley" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Business Insider, April 2, 2012.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Brustein, Joshua. "Explaining Twitter's New ‘Buy’ Button" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Bloomberg Businessweek, September 8, 2014.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Ifeanyi, KC. "Online Marketplace Gumroad Launched An iPhone App" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Fast Company, September 30, 2014.
- ^ DBW. "New Gumroad iPhone App Helps Authors Sell EBooks Direct" Archived December 15, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Digital Book World, September 30, 2014.
- ^ Silberling, Amanda (March 16, 2024). "Gumroad no longer allows most NSFW art, leaving its adult creators panicked". TechCrunch.
- ^ a b Elliott, Vittoria. "Inside DOGE's AI Push at the Department of Veterans Affairs". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028.
- ^ "Eminem on Gumroad". Gumroad. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016.
- ^ "Bon Jovi's Gumroad Page" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Gumroad
- ^ "Magnolia Pictures" Archived November 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Magnolia Pictures
- ^ "Landmark Theatres" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Landmark Theatres
- ^ "Tim Ferriss’ Gumroad Page" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Gumroad
- ^ "Things I Can Do" Archived December 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, John Green's Blog