This is just the consumer side of things, but I also started to spend time in local retail stores. So, we got very intentional about that. Find out how former world number one professional tennis player, writer, and politician Ilie Nstase earned his net worth. 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. He set that up. What would you say was the most painful and the biggest lesson, at the same time, for you? Youve probably thought about this very well at the beginning, and now as youre looking at pushing other markets, how do you guys think about liquidity in the marketplace? : You can always reach out to me on Twitter. We were not paying ourselves. Im happy to chat. Angel, Fund of Funds, Venture Capital), Number of Investments the Individual has partnered in, Total number of current Jobs the person has, Total number of events the individual appeared in, Number of news articles that reference the Person, Founder, President & Chief Product Officer and CEO. Nick Huzar is CEO and Co-Founder of OfferUp. How did you develop that love for computers, too? So, you get the green light, and what happened next? You can be the most brilliant person and work hard, but if you cant work with others, its just not going to work well. It was great. 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. There are so many things that you can influence and help drive. The first thing in my mind was not, Hey, theres something here. Why is it that way? I feel like I build things and sculpt things, and that works well for me. Thats a nice, easy way to get ahold of me. It was Driven, Neighborly, and Adaptable. I analyzed every way, everybody. Nick Huzar facilitated the design and implementation of a completely new website as the company transitioned from Voicestream to T-Mobile. 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. He coded our first Android app in the summer, all by himself. 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. Thats interesting. Nick Saban is an American college football head coach who has a net worth of $70 million. Take photos of your item from all angles so that buyers can get a feel for the size and dimensions of the item you are selling. We thought to ourselves, why couldnt you just build a platform that would enable anybody to build basically what is now known as social media? That was the whole idea. We could leverage chat. I think the learning lesson was interesting because we realized that networking is valuable, but its also inefficient. Thats equally as important. Thats something I definitely advise people to not do just given how much I learned through that. If you want me to do your fundraising for you, click here. This is just the consumer side of things, but I also started to spend time in local retail stores. I had a father who worked at Boeing his whole life. If youre not intentional, culture is just going to take the form that its going to take for better or worse. 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. 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. We were finding that theyre able to sell cars way faster by signing up for this program. This is a BETA experience. You can be the most brilliant person and work hard, but if you cant work with others, its just not going to work well. He definitely did that, and I feel like I did that. Im sure that all those experiences and lessons with Konnects you were able to apply them here. Thats been a big part of it. Nick Hanauer Net Worth. I think that also ties nicely into culture and the intention about that. 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? I can work with engineers, and tie into databases, and be functional. Id say a good healthy portion of my house, probably over half of my house are things I bought from OfferUp. This is going to take me a whole weekend just to post these items online yourself. The other half is how did you do the work. I played every different sport you can imagine, so that meant I wasnt great in any one thing. Im sure this was an incredible MBA experience for you in real life. My wife is also my boss. Theyre constantly in this process of bettering themselves. It was event networking, but this led to your real first experience, which was Konnects Inc. Tell us about this. One day, she said, Im pregnant. Im like, Im so excited! I go into dad mode, and I open up that door to this room that Im going to turn into her nursery, my soon-to-be daughters nursery. I think thats a big part early on. Sure, there are plenty of challenges. 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 . Moreover, I also provided a commentary on a pitch deck from an Uber competitor that has raised over $400 million (see it here). It was extremely expensive back then. An example of that is, can I take complex problems and distill them down? What an amazing business that youve built with OfferUp. It was to explore, like more of the treasure hunt type of experience. Respondents feel that it is easier to donate than sell, citing the required time investment and amount of work. That would have just ended it for me. Or, diving deep. Please subscribe to unlock this content. He was able to figure things out. Alejandro: Alrighty. 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. How will you associate putting paint on a canvas with perhaps building and scaling a business? Thats a nice, easy way to get ahold of me. While consumer commerce continues to evolve in specific areas, its rare to have a company completely redefine the marketplace experience from start to finish. I wont list them all, but thats everything from simplified. As of December 2022, total funding raised is $381 million. We would find that handful of engineers, and we would pay them. OfferUp is the largest mobile marketplace in the USA. OfferUp has raised over $221 million from some of the smartest minds in technology and finance, including one of its most recent investors, Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal and co-founder and chief executive officer of Affirm. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash. . We were never going to beat and become something like a Facebook. For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here) that I recently covered. Bloomberg Business of Sports lets you follow the money in the world of sports, reporting on trades, salaries, endorsements, contracts and collective bargaining. Ultimately, they decided to close it down. Previous to OfferUp Nick cofounded Konnects raising $6M in capital, scaling to over 1M users within 18months. What do you think? I said, Hey. I was leading projects for Paramount Parks. He has a small car collection also which . OfferUp CEO Nick Huzar says the surge in eCommerce demand has created a "seller's market" in recommerce and one that includes a larger variety of seller types. I think they were all great people in their own right, but for what we were trying to build, probably not. 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. As I move from work or wherever Im at, I just want to be able to open up the app and see and discover things that are all around me. I am excited to work with Nick, Arean and the team there to continue to usher in the era of mobile-driven local commerce.. : It was great. We had this concept of why cant we just emulate that online? 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. : What ended up being the business model of the business? She is a rapper, singer, and songwriter from Trinidad & Tobago. That would have just ended it for me. We were finding that theyre able to sell cars way faster by signing up for this program. Amazing. You also are going to see a lot of big changes this year in our product. I know that OfferUp was also a result of doing a pivot. What if we can unlock all that value, but focusing on removing as much friction and bringing trust into that local experience? We give them promotions and analytics. I think were probably one of the top places in the country in terms of units. We hired too quickly, and we didnt know what we wanted. The latest stats around storage and commerce, Two of OfferUps most important Operating Principles, : Alrighty. They claim and aim to increase this amount further as time passes. Again, because were always focusing on removing friction. Then he got the idea for. Those are our overall what we look for in people before they even come into the halls of OfferUp. Sure, there are plenty of challenges. Nick Viall is a $400 thousand net worth American actor, television personality, and model as of 2020. 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? 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. Again, were only in the United States. So, we got very intentional about that. Nick Huzar: Id say definitely the people. 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? Other OfferUp investors include Coatue Management, Tiger Global, T. Rowe Price, Allen & Company, High Line Venture Partners, GGV Capital, Third Kind Capital, Altimeter Capital and Vy Capital, among others. So, we built the first online ticketing for them. We had SUN and Cisco sponsoring these events to the tune of $10,000 each, every month. I would design. We were not paying ourselves. Dunlap joins OfferUp at an exciting time for the company. Thats interesting. The second promotional area is our auto business. I played every different sport you can imagine, so that meant I wasnt great in any one thing. My parents threw me into a bunch of things as a kid. We had a lot of great business minds on our board, but not tech-minded individuals, which created a challenge. We said, Who are the people that are striving here, and why? You look at driven, for example. Why I definitely appreciate him is, he definitely thinks a lot like an engineer, but he also has a great business mind. Conclusion OfferUp revenue model may have been complex to understand, but it is definitely an effective one. Definitely, Im sure that creativity and how your mom pushed you in that regard, perhaps has had an incredible influence in your career. 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. Nick Huzar is the co-founder and CEO of Offerup which provides an online and mobile C2C marketplace app for people to buy and sell electronics, furniture, and cars. OfferUp is a national platform, but the goal is to buy and sell items within a users local community. Theres got to be a better way. Alejandro: What ended up being the business model of the business? They had a bunch of theme parks, but they had no online ticketing. With her blessing, I decided to move forward and dedicate all my time to building up what is now OfferUp. Nick Huzar: Yeah, definitely. That was the whole idea. As of February 2023, Nick Jonas' net worth is estimated to be $70 Million. Why is this problem existing? As new fathers, they needed to sell their old belongings to make room for their newborns, but felt limited by the existing online options. The Investment Thesis: A Venture Capitalist Perspective. Total Nick Huzar Net Worth in 2021 $1 Million - $5 Million (Approx.) I told her; I said, Look. Nick Huzar (@nickhuzar) March 25, 2020. Particularly, the browsing experience when you first open up the app. You have a lot more exposure across the country. This is so creative. I had a blessed upbringing. Van Veelen also worked at start-ups, including with Huzar at Konnects, a networking platform. So, we built the first online ticketing for them. So, that was some of the initial sketches that we did. 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. I need to have it. : What I love about building companies. I essentially told them, Look. The shoes Im wearing are from OfferUp. Users can conduct the entire transaction through their smart phone: snapping and uploading photos of an item to sell, adding a description and interacting with potential buyers. I think I learned a lot of painful learning lessons from doing that. As of February 2023, Nick Hanauer has an estimated net worth of more than $1.5 billion. I think the learning lesson was interesting because we realized that networking is valuable, but its also inefficient. How is your office laid out? As youre looking back, and after the time with Konnects, Im sure you had a lot of time to reflect. 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. There were thousands of them. 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? He only had one job. He coded our first Android app in the summer, all by himself. : Very nice. Alejandro: Then, after this, you ended up leaving, and then the company ended up closing down. 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. If you want me to help you with your fundraising, just book a call. With over 33 million downloads and more than $14 billion in transactions, OfferUp is now the largest mobile marketplace in the U.S. But, luckily, she was supportive, and I think shes always believed in me. We do a lot within the product to connect buyers to the right sellers. Youve got a job. Thats probably one of my biggest painful lessons from back then. I'm Nick Huzar, the cofounder of OfferUp, the largest local mobile marketplace in the U.S. On a monthly basis, I would watch billions of dollars worth of second hand goods exchange hands through the marketplace we started over a decade ago in 2011. Again, because were always focusing on removing friction. Again, you have to convince people why do they want to come along in this journey, this risk of this fun, proven idea? I used to go to Goodwill stores, and Id realized the cars never stopped. Little did we know social media was coming. In our case, we happen to have three to make it easy. Neighborly: we have a no asshole policy. The hottest area in real estate is not commercial, is not residential; its actually storage. Ive been interviewing, but I also have this idea I want to run by you. The pitch, to be clear, had nothing to do with used goods, and it still doesnt to this day. We came up with those three because we looked around the company at the time. Most days, I feel like I am playing with Legos. (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.. This documentary-style series follows investigative journalists as they uncover the truth. Then once people are hired and we interview for the best, we have what we call our Operating Principles. In this technology shift, Huzar and van Veelen saw massive opportunity, particularly as Craigslist did not adapt to the new mobile paradigm. Prior to OfferUp, Huzar worked at Microsoft and T-Mobile and founded several start-ups. The fast-forward, over the next year or so, we had done 30 of these. As of March 2023, Nicki Minaj's net worth being estimated at $100 Million. They had a bunch of theme parks, but they had no online ticketing. But there are other dimensions to that. He and I would sit down and rift on things quite a bit. : Today, years and years later, we try to figure out how can we help buyers and sellers be more successful? Nick Huzar: By the way, he would hate it if I called him an engineer because he is definitely more than that. Together, they oversee over 100 OfferUp employees. Can I communicate succinctly? I knew I was passionate about computers. Like I said, in any small startup, thats got to be there. So, to jump into another startup was the last thing in my mind. How much is Nick Kyrgios' Net Worth in 2022? . Alejandro: Got it. And I didnt tell my parents, and then my mom found out about it because they wouldnt buy me one. Like I said, in any small startup, thats got to be there. That was a lot of work. 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. What would you say really made him such an amazing tech co-founder? We have really good features like search alerts and things you can say that will notify people right away. He figured that out on his own. Huzar, 39, serves as chief executive officer and van Veelen, 43, is chief technology officer. As youre looking back, and after the time with Konnects, Im sure you had a lot of time to reflect. He was definitely that. Thats probably the biggest one. Tell us about the early days, and also how you incubated the concept of the idea. I go back to even reflecting on my own decisions. You have a lot more exposure across the country. We could leverage chat. I wont list them all, but thats everything from simplified. In this case, it led you to where you are today. Probably just not the best advisors and folks around the table. We dont have to send out our phone numbers and our emails anymore, and we can make it much more secure. Thats been the whole focal point of the business since Day One. We only raised about $100,000 our first year, but we didnt have an office space. And, by the way, I never told the seller that I worked at OfferUp.