????13個月前，Fab.com正式上線。它是一個限時搶購（flash sale）網站，主要銷售設計感十足的產品，比如老海報，高端餐椅以及手工玻璃制品等。它就像是吉爾特集團（Gilt Groupe，美國時尚領域的電子商務零售商——譯注）和MoMA store（美國排名前100名的創意B2C商城——譯注）聯姻的產物，而且備受追捧。Fab網的創始人杰森?高德伯格，布萊德福德?謝爾哈默，沙阿和沙迪帕在很短的時間里就已讓這個網站從眾多同類網站中脫穎而出。毫無疑問，這家位于紐約，由風險投資公司安德森?霍洛維茨基金(Andreessen Horowitz)和betashop等投資的初創公司風頭正勁。

????如下是有關這個網站很可能不為人知的三大內幕。

????它發展迅猛，非常迅猛。Fab網站之前，類似網站每周用戶數接近3萬人時就已經宣告崩潰了。而Fab的用戶數依然在持續增長。這主要是由不斷增加的商品推動的。去年11月時，網站號稱用戶數達到100萬人；現在，經常使用它的用戶達500萬之巨。高德伯格將這一成就歸功于網站推崇質量至上，強調“情感驅動業務”。

????它擁有眾多買手。Fab初次上線時，謝爾哈默親手挑選售賣商品。但現在它擁有25名買手來挑選特色商品，其中多數都沒有傳統零售業背景。公司的180名員工誰都可以贊成或否決某一選定的商品，這使得網站的待售品類十分龐雜。當然，只要他們恪守公司對投資者的最高承諾：“人們一想到設計就會想起Fab”，就能擁有這種生殺大權。

????它早期是一個同志社交網站。布萊德福德?謝爾哈默和杰森?高德伯格共同創辦了它，但它成立的初衷并不是成為一個商品交易市場，而是充當男同性戀群體的社交網絡平臺，最初名為Fabulis.com。高德伯格說：“結果男同性戀群體對它并不感冒。因為他們已經有Facebook這類選擇了。”于是，去年6月，他們以Fab.com的名義重新推出了該網站，主要銷售設計師服裝、配飾和家居用品。

????譯者：清遠

????Launched 13 months ago,Fab.com is a flash sale site that sells design-y wares ranging from vintage graphic posters to high-end dining chairs and hand-crafted terrariums. It's like Gilt Groupe and the MoMA store had a baby. A very popular one. In short order, Fab's founders -- Jason Goldberg, Bradford Shellhammer, Nishith Shah and Deepa Shah -- have managed to make the site stand out from a growing crowd of similar projects. Needless to say, the New York City-based startup, which is backed by the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and betashop, is surging.

????Here are three things you probably likely never knew about the site.

????It's growing quickly. Very quickly. Unlike a previous endeavor, which maxed out at nearly 30,000 weekly users, Fab.com's user base keeps climbing, propelled by a growing assortment of goods. Last November, the site reported 1 million users; now, 5 million members check it regularly. Goldberg attributes this to an emphasis on an "emotionally-driven business" fueled first and foremost by quality.

????There's a fleet of buyers. When Fab.com first launched, Shellhammer hand-picked the goods for sale. But now a group of 25 buyers, many of whom don't have traditional retail backgrounds, select which items are featured. Any one of 180 employees can suggest or veto a selection, and what ends up on the site can be a wide medley, so long of course, as it upholds the company's first pitch to investors: "When someone thinks design, they think Fab."

????It wasn't always a design site. Co-founded by Bradford Shellhammer and Jason Goldberg, Fab.com got its start not as a marketplace of goods but as a social network for gay men, dubbed Fabulis.com. "It turns out gay men didn't want it," says Goldberg. "They already had options like Facebook." So last June, they relaunched the site as Fab.com, selling designer clothes, accessories, and housewares.