We hired. We raised a little bit of money. Together, they oversee over 100 OfferUp employees. An example of that is, can I take complex problems and distill them down? Theres got to be a better way. Founded in 2011, the peer-to-peer commerce marketplace generated more transactions in less than five years than EBay North America had generated in its first 10 years. This guy that I worked with, he was like, I want to go through a big event together and bring all these different tech companies together in the Seattle area. Our belief back then was everyone would have a smartphone, and now everyone will say, Well, duh! But that was one assumption. Or, diving deep. We had a lot of great. The second promotional area is our auto business. Founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark, Craigslist is the local classified advertisements website that generates over 50 billion page views per month all without an iOS or Android app. People were throwing money everywhere. You can literally use it for almost anything. Thats been a big part of it. Thats equally as important. So, we got very intentional about that. You add all these things up, and I kept thinking to myself, I think while there are existing solutions for this problem, I dont think theyre meeting the needs of people, clearly. We have markets like LA and Phoenix, for example, where over 18% of the adult population is now using OfferUp on a monthly basis. Total Nick Huzar Net Worth in 2021 $1 Million - $5 Million (Approx.) Nick Huzar: Today, years and years later, we try to figure out how can we help buyers and sellers be more successful? Where do you hire? With Nick Huzar leadership, Konnects growth exploded growing from 1,500 members to over 1 million within 18 months. Alejandro: Got it. : It was great. Our belief back then was everyone would have a smartphone, and now everyone will say, Well, duh! But that was one assumption. 10/10 Amanda Bynes- Estimated Net Worth $3 Million. You may opt-out by. Thats equally as important. : Currently, we have about 280, and we are actively hiring at the moment. To ensure a more trustworthy transaction, the marketplace has a verified identification system (which requires state-issued identification and Facebook profile), user profiles, buyer and seller ratings and in-app messaging. While consumer commerce continues to evolve in specific areas, its rare to have a company completely redefine the marketplace experience from start to finish. When you first open up the OfferUp app, there are a lot of different things that we are doing and surfacing to buyers on the platform because were trying to find things that we think people are really interested in. It was extremely expensive back then. Respondents feel that it is easier to donate than sell, citing the required time investment and amount of work. : Today, years and years later, we try to figure out how can we help buyers and sellers be more successful? And if you got any value either from this episode or from the show itself, share it with a friend. Europe, Menlo Park, China), Where the person is located (e.g. Unlike EBay, OfferUp currently does not charge sellers a listing fee or transaction fee. You add all these things up, and I kept thinking to myself, I think while there are existing solutions for this problem, I dont think theyre meeting the needs of people, clearly. I think Ive even learned that mistake early on at Konnects, but I think at OfferUp, we definitely made mistakes there too. You can literally use it for almost anything. Prior to Konnects, Nick Huzar played a key role on the web team at T-Mobile for 3 years where he was pivotal in leading the development and integration of web applications. In our case, we happen to have three to make it easy. We were making more money doing that than we were in our day job. Again, were only in the United States. He was definitely that. That was the whole idea. Ive got to go get a job. Im out there interviewing for a job and spending a bunch of time on that, but I think like any good ideas, for entrepreneurs that are out there, I believe that if you cant get it out of your head, you should listen to that voice. So, we built the first online ticketing for them. This is just the consumer side of things, but I also started to spend time in local retail stores. If you like the show, make sure that you hit that subscribe button. They had a bunch of theme parks, but they had no online ticketing. We expect people to dive deep into things like that. He understands engineering is just enabling an outcome. I had a blessed upbringing. I analyzed every way, everybody. Here, I think that you were alluding to it by hiring the wrong people, maybe not having the right people seated in the right seats. Nicholas Jerry Jonas is an American singer, songwriter, and actor from Dallas. Nicki also makes millions through her endorsements deals for big brands like Pepsi. I had a mother who was a therapist, so I like to think Im a pretty good mix of both of my parents, which happens to, I think, be an advantage given what I work on. : And this led you in your 20s to your first company. I played every different sport you can imagine, so that meant I wasnt great in any one thing. In March 2020, the company raised another $120 million through the acquisition of Letgo. peggy gustafson barnett obituary; human causes of the millennium drought; robert hagg scouting report; competitive edge softball Today, you see a lot of apps that have this long, infinite scrolling pic list of pictures. How much money have you guys raised to date that is probably disclosed? Under Huzar, the Bellevue-based company reached a valuation of $1.4 billion as of 2018 and had over 56 million users in 2020, but Huzar said he hopes letting go of his CEO duties will give him . Im thinking to myself, Chill me now. What are your core values at OfferUp? One is promotions, and thats simply helping sellers to be more successful. We were not paying ourselves. Even though we have these amazing giant tech companies, we still think theres a huge opportunity in local, and thats going to be our focus and continue to be our focus. According to Jordan, as a mobile-first platform, OfferUp emerged as a disruptor by providing an improved user interface, frictionless experience and on-demand transactions from anywhere. Ultimately, they decided to close it down. I think were probably one of the top places in the country in terms of units. During his time at T-mobile Nick Huzar helped to redevelop the online channel enabling the company to accept over $45 million a month in payments and 8 million customers. I am excited to work with Nick, Arean and the team there to continue to usher in the era of mobile-driven local commerce.. Follow Bloomberg reporters as they uncover some of the biggest financial crimes of the modern era. He did a lot of back-end database. : Got it. He set that up. Then, also, the dot-com bubble hit, and everyone stopped sponsoring those events. Then, also, the dot-com bubble hit, and everyone stopped sponsoring those events. For years, Craigslist has been the go-to website to buy and sell used items online. I used to go to Goodwill stores, and Id realized the cars never stopped. Well, Nick, thank you so much for being on the DealMakers show. I have a trampoline that I purchased. I cant exist without my computer. I can work with engineers, and tie into databases, and be functional. I think that were going to really enjoy the guest that we have today. Share Your Design Ideas, New JerseysMurphy Defends $10 Billion Rainy Day Fund as States Economy Slows, This Week in Crypto: Ukraine War, Marathon Digital, FTX, Pres/Chief Product Ofcr/Co-Founder, OfferUp Inc. 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He bagged this fortune because of his hard work and his excellent gaming skills. For some people, thats not comfortable, so you need people that can zig and zag with the company as it scales. I had a blessed upbringing. Huzar and van Veelen focused intently on understanding the competitive landscape, consumer behavior and the economic backdrop to design a tech-enabled solution for its customer base. We didnt see any examples of what we were doing in a smartphone. Now, in terms of the business itself, how big is the platform, or can you talk to us about the number of employees or users that are using this so that people get a sense of the operation? Nick Huzar (@nickhuzar) March 25, 2020. In fact, this chair Im sitting inin my office is from OfferUp. That was my first big venture out on my own raising money, building out a team, everything associated with building a company. We would find that handful of engineers, and we would pay them. There are two areas in which OfferUp generates revenue. I need to show you something. Basically, I had prepared a 12-slide pitch deck to pitch my wife on the idea. Youve been at it now for quite a while with OfferUp and also what you did with your previous initiatives, like Konnects. So, there were a series of different changes over a period of time to be explored. Some users use OfferUp to help grow their small businesses. 'America needs our help': Q&A with OfferUp CEO Nick Huzar after Seattle-area startup lands $120M by Taylor Soper on March 25, 2020 With many physical stores closed and online retailers facing. Nick Huzar: Id say definitely the people. Nick Huzar: It was great. In the first year, I think the hard part was, I had convinced a brilliant engineer that I worked with and connected to co-found OfferUp with me. Ask Jeff Jordan, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (an OfferUp investor), the former president of PayPal and the former president and chief executive officer of OpenTable. How do you guys make money for the people that are listening? I go back to even reflecting on my own decisions. In fact, this chair Im sitting inin my office is from OfferUp. As new fathers, they needed to sell their old belongings to make room for their newborns, but felt limited by the existing online options. I mentioned the stories of our origin; I still feel like were very much in the early days. A few other stats that I think might be interesting about our OfferUp community and usage is, especially with this transaction coming together, well have 20 million users across the U.S. We also have a lot of our top markets where we started to see double-digit growth. Now, in terms of the business itself, how big is the platform, or can you talk to us about the number of employees or users that are using this so that people get a sense of the operation? So, obviously, part of the startup experience too. He set up our entire first back-end system on AWS. Like I said, its been a lot of work, and as you mentioned, I was sleeping on an air mattress, which is not that comfortable. She can also be seen posing for covers of several beauty magazines. Or, for BMX, we built their first-ever eCommerce website. He coded our first Android app in the summer, all by himself. Also, I spent a lot of my time in a private art class most of my life, which again, as we talked about, building up companies, and I think theres a lot of creativity involved in that, so thats been part of who I am. I think I knew, right out of the gate, what I wanted to do with my life, which was something involved with the internet. You also are going to see a lot of big changes this year in our product. Why is it that way? Nicki Minaj Net Worth. Again, you have to convince people why do they want to come along in this journey, this risk of this fun, proven idea? That helps them to sell things faster. I remember when we launched it, one of the questions was, Are we now becoming like other online businesses wherewhy are we focusing on shipping? My response to that was, We are about removing friction. There are many times when you wont even get in your car to drive 30 minutes for an item. Its also a lot of work. : Very nice. Theres a handful of operating principles that we use, and then for people that are on the interview loop, we ask them to ask some questions to probe for those, and we also bring those principles into our performance reviews. To date, OfferUp is the largest mobile market place in the United States, where people are using our app to buy and sell anything from cars to shoes to furniture. : Then, after this, you ended up leaving, and then the company ended up closing down. It was more, Can you do the work? Nick Huzar: As I mentioned earlier, with some of the founding stories, Id say liquidity [28:19] is the number one metric that we spend a lot of time focusing on because we want to make sure that were creating the best experience for buyers and sellers. I left, and I had a co-founder and an investor that ran it for another year. He and I would sit down and rift on things quite a bit. We have markets like LA and Phoenix, for example, where over 18% of the adult population is now using OfferUp on a monthly basis. He only had one job. Why is this problem existing? I had a room full of stuff. We made a lot of mistakes hiring. Previous to OfferUp Nick cofounded Konnects raising $6M in capital, scaling to over 1M users within 18months. You have a lot more exposure across the country. I could code that. Then once people are hired and we interview for the best, we have what we call our Operating Principles. Im sure that all those experiences and lessons with Konnects you were able to apply them here. Thats probably the biggest one. OfferUp is that type of company and it has been rewarded by a fiercely loyal and engaged user base, and explosive growth. With her blessing, I decided to move forward and dedicate all my time to building up what is now OfferUp. The first year, thats what we did. We didnt see any examples of what we were doing in a smartphone. Thats a nice, easy way to get ahold of me. Why I definitely appreciate him is, he definitely thinks a lot like an engineer, but he also has a great business mind. Nick Huzar: Thanks for having me. Then once people are hired and we interview for the best, we have what we call our Operating Principles. I think that were going to really enjoy the guest that we have today. "Nick and Arean did a fantastic job rethinking what a smartphone could do to deliver an easier, faster and more enjoyable user experience for both buyers and sellers, which in turn has driven both liquidity and virality in the marketplace," said Justin Sadrian, a managing director at Warburg Pincus, an OfferUp investor. In this case, it led you to where you are today. The top unused items in our homes are clothes and shoes (67%), games and toys (34%), electronics (33%), jewelry and accessories (22%) and kitchen supplies (18%). I started to buy and sell things locally. : Marketplaces are obviously a beast. We only raised about $100,000 our first year, but we didnt have an office space. : I think so far, weve raised 260, and then we just announced this latest financing, and well be raising another 120 million. I think thats another learning lesson Ive seen over the years where you have people that have these ideas, and they say, Im going to go do this. My response is, Okay. I go back to even reflecting on my own decisions. How do you hire? The hottest area in real estate is not commercial, is not residential; its actually storage. Nick Huzar: I think so far, weve raised 260, and then we just announced this latest financing, and well be raising another 120 million. That would have just ended it for me. I grew up in a suburb about 20 minutes south of Seattle. I came back to my wife after probably four-and-a-half months, at least, and she kept asking, When are you getting your job? One day, I said, You need to come home tomorrow. But my wife and I moved into a good-sized house. Then, adaptable. What would you say was the most painful and the biggest lesson, at the same time, for you? I think that also ties nicely into culture and the intention about that. That was my first big venture out on my own raising money, building out a team, everything associated with building a company. What is in the retail store down the street, and why dont people know that those things exist in there. Rather than specify a price, sellers can also list their item as not firm on price, which means buyers are able to chat and negotiate with sellers before deciding on a price. I wont list them all, but thats everything from simplified. Thats been a big part of it. I dont think we even had core values or anything. If you want me to help you with your fundraising, just book a call. Nick Saban is the highest-paid college football coach in the world, and his salary matches his reputation . I think just given the fact that I had just come off of another startup, I had no income because I had just quit. I would build out the website. OfferUp is a national platform, but the goal is to buy and sell items within a users local community. When we could find engineers, we would pay them just a teeny bit, but wed compensate them more with ownership and stock in what we were building. So, good stuff. Youve got a job. Thats probably one of my biggest painful lessons from back then. He definitely did that, and I feel like I did that. Im sure this was an incredible MBA experience for you in real life. The company has raised $380 million from top tier investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, GGV Capital, Tiger Global Management, Warburg Pincus, T. Rowe Price, and Allen & Company to name a few. In fact, the first code that I ever wrote for OfferUp was sitting in a Goodwill parking lot all day, and I was just sitting there starting to code, starting to think about and mapping out how Goodwill works or how Value Village works or how the existing eCommerce players work. florence nightingale concept 2 via de boleto I really just wanted to understand the landscape, but then, with a clean slate, a brand-new slate, how can you do it differently because of the smartphone? Nick Huzar Net Worth. They claim and aim to increase this amount further as time passes. : What I love about building companies. In this episode, we hear how she became a sponge for product design, figured out how to make accessible yet high-end jewelry, and how she even relocated to China for the better part of a year to personally see to her brand's manufacturing. So, that was some of the initial sketches that we did. But my wife and I moved into a good-sized house. How will you associate putting paint on a canvas with perhaps building and scaling a business? Great investments are built on a solid investment thesis. Here are some pointers from OfferUp co-founder Arean van Veelen to maximize your profit: Who knows OfferUp may even buy one of your items for sale. Hello everyone, and welcome to the. So, I think its a founders job to be intentional about the type of culture that theyre going to build as a company and bring that into everything they do from promotions to recruiting. Theyre constantly in this process of bettering themselves. OfferUp also found that 46% of respondents find it difficult to meet their household expenses on time each month, and 50% have more than $1,000 in credit card debt. Thats been the whole focal point of the business since Day One. It was extremely expensive back then. Earlier in his Career Nick held positions at T-Mobile and Microsoft. I think thats another learning lesson Ive seen over the years where you have people that have these ideas, and they say, Im going to go do this. My response is, Okay. . Alejandro: For sure, and especially during the early days when you dont have anything tangible, its like literally all in your own head, and its helping people understand what that canvas looks like. We had SUN and Cisco sponsoring these events to the tune of $10,000 each, every month. If you look at commerce in general in the U.S., about 85% of it is still not online today. With its headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, OfferUp enables users to buy and sell everything from furniture and electronics to cars and boats through its free mobile app. I came back to my wife after probably four-and-a-half months, at least, and she kept asking, When are you getting your job? One day, I said, You need to come home tomorrow. I look forward to it. Nick Huzar facilitated the design and implementation of a completely new website as the company transitioned from Voicestream to T-Mobile. We do a lot within the product to connect buyers to the right sellers. I had a room full of stuff. Its not just up and to the right. : Got it. The founders furnished the companys headquarters with a Yoda statue and Stormtrooper suit that they purchased from the OfferUp app. I essentially told them, Look. Vance Lile, a Vancouver, Washington resident, owns an antique reselling businesses that he uses as a second source of income. As of January 2023, The net worth of Nick is $2 million, and he earns $19K-$32K per video. He only had one job. What would you say was the most painful and the biggest lesson, at the same time, for you? With her blessing, I decided to move forward and dedicate all my time to building up what is now OfferUp. I grew up in a suburb about 20 minutes south of Seattle. Probably just not the best advisors and folks around the table. Nick Huzar: While I was out of college, within that first year, the whole dot-com scene was happening, and it was big. We partner a lot with local car dealerships, and we help them to be more successful by integrating with their inventory management system. (Photo Credit: [+] OfferUp), At the 2013 White House Correspondents Dinner, Conan OBrien quipped that Matt Drudge, founder of the Drudge Report, was not in attendance because he had a prior commitment to teach a web design class in 1997.. But, luckily, she was supportive, and I think shes always believed in me. There he designed the original platform and directly managed the engineering and design teams in addition to his daily duties as the companys Chief Technology Officer.