Aware House - What Etsy Got Wrong and How She's Fixing It
The Story of a Brand Show
Ramon Vela
4.9 • 147 Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Ramon Vela sits down with Lauren Hidalgo, Founder and CEO of Aware House — a curated online marketplace built exclusively to support independent, small-batch makers.
Lauren shares how frustration with overcrowded platforms like Etsy led her to build something better: a discovery destination where quality, craftsmanship, and transparency come first.
* From frustration to founder. After watching Etsy get flooded with factory drop-shipped knockoffs, Lauren saw a gap and built Aware House to fill it — launching in 2023 with one clear mission: make shopping small easy and enjoyable.
* Curation is everything. Every vendor is vetted for at least a year in business, strong product photography, and a transparent supply chain before making the cut.
* 80%+ Made in the USA. The platform leans heavily domestic, and international vendors must have a direct, personal relationship with their artisanal partners — not just a factory contract.
* Marketing is the universal struggle. Getting discovered is brutal. Lauren's advice? Get as niche as possible — then go even deeper.
* Built without a roadmap. Lauren had zero entrepreneurial experience when she started, learned by doing, and didn't go full-time until August 2024.
* More than a marketplace — a community. With 150+ vendor partners and growing, Aware House gives independent makers real visibility and discerning shoppers something genuinely worth buying.
Lauren's story is a reminder that the best businesses often start with a personal frustration and the courage to just go build it.
For more on Aware House, visit: https://awarehouseshop.com/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Etsy went public in 2021, I believe. And they, they went public. And when they went public, |
| 0:08.7 | I think that they really lost not only the consumer experience, but also the seller experience, |
| 0:14.2 | because they kind of had like a more is better mentality from there on out. And you kind of see |
| 0:19.0 | this reflect actually. And, you know, |
| 0:21.6 | the brand overall, they ended up adding a lot more products onto there. You ended up, we now |
| 0:28.1 | see a lot more products that are made in the USA, but they're actually made, you know, |
| 0:32.4 | it seems that they're made in Pakistan or China or India and they're being drop shipped. You have creators, |
| 0:39.4 | independent creators in the U.S. who have said that their ideas have been stolen, like they've |
| 0:44.6 | had a best-selling mug on Etsy and a drop shipper from a country outside of the United States. |
| 0:50.1 | I saw an opportunity for something more specific, more niche, an opportunity to create a platform |
| 0:57.4 | that is curated. And our goal is to support the highest quality small businesses, in particular |
| 1:03.9 | within the United States. Hey, everyone. This is Ramon Vela, and this is another episode of the story of a brand. |
| 1:21.4 | Like always, we have an amazing guest in brand that we're going to feature on today's show. |
| 1:24.9 | But before we do, imagine 100 influencers |
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