Field: ecommerce
Capital raised: $7 million
Gerstner: 42 | With life partner and two children | B.Arch. degree from the Pratt Institute of Architecture; Master's degree in Advanced Architecture Design from Columbia University
Biran: 46 | Married with two children | B.Arch. degree from the Pratt Institute of Architecture, and a Master's degree in Advanced Architecture Design from Columbia University
An online platform connecting property owners with people wanting to hold events
Gerstner: "We filmed a project called, 'A home's possibilities,' and while we were doing it, we thought that if Airbnb could turn a home into a hotel, there was no reason that we shouldn't use other spaces for events, parties, locations, or filming days. The idea came about because when we aren't using a space (home, gallery, factory, or church), it can be used for other purposes. This is environmentally friendly use that goes beyond green construction."
Gerstner: "We entered an accelerator, and after three months, we founded a basic website that was very fake – the telephone number on the site led to us. We would hike from one property to another, taking pictures and putting the property on the website.
"The website initially worked only in Israel, and it had only 100 properties. By 2014, we already had 50 properties in New York, and today we have 2,500 properties in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles. We also added features for management of the property"
Biran: "The profound realization that I'm prepared to fail. I came to technological entrepreneurship from a different background in which I felt very confident
"I entered a new and unknown world. My ability to believe in myself on the one hand and to own the fear and the permission to make a mistake on the other freed me to accept the unknown, and consequently to dare to do bigger things than I thought I was capable of."
Biran: Agility, persistence, and effort are what underlie the process. Action, frustration, action, satisfaction, action, and so on. Sitting and talking over coffee doesn't make things happen. You have to get up and work hard every day with persistence and faith. The fuel that drivers the process for me is learning and enjoyment of the experience itself."
Gerstner: "It's very important to know with whom you're working. I don't believe in doing things alone. You have to let go and find the person who will get the best from you, and vice versa. One consultant told us something that stuck with me: entrepreneurship is like a trip in a van; you keep opening the door and taking another person inside. So you have to think which people you take inside, because, in the end, the human element can either build or ruin everything."
