The Exchanges

Q at, at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. And I read that, uh, while you were there, you, uh, I guess you and some friends went on a trip to Thailand, like a backpacking trip. And, and it's, it was actually on that trip where you would meet the man who would become your husband and eventually your business partner alone. Um, so how, how exactly did the two of you meet?

A Yeah. In Bangkok, we had to travel with very, very limited budget. And, and, uh, you know, in order to get to the islands, we had to take a 15, um, hours bus. And I was traveling with two girlfriends. The three of us sat in front, you know, in the front of the bus, and the bus driver came to me at the beginning of the journey, and, and he said... I'm sorry, you cannot sit here. More people need to come in next station. You have to move to the back, and then he literally took my hand, walked me to the back of the bus, pointed to an empty seat next to Alon, and said, you sit here. So we ended up, um, sitting next to each other for 15 hours, um, and we talked the entire time, or if you ask Alon, he will say, I talked 14 and a half hours, and, and he said a few things. No, I, I don't think so, but we did talk a lot, and, um, it was just very, very magical.

AI assessment note: “pointed to an empty seat next to Alon, and said, you sit here.”

Q Did you ever start To actually look for somebody to help you, or a contractor, or anything like that?

A Oh yeah. So first we saved the money. So it was possible to do something, not everything, but something. And we started looking for, um, professionals, um, architects and builders and people to help us. And this is where we started facing some challenges. First, finding good professionals that would be relevant for us was extremely hard. Our network was very, very limited to the people that we knew. And we ended up hiring someone that worked with us for almost a year on plans, and, and that process was so tedious and problematic because we were asked to run to the bookstore on University Avenue and buy books and, and showing the books what we like and what we don't like, and then just to hear from the architect or the people, you know, yeah, that's very nice that you like this, but That's going to cost 10 X from what you have. So it's not an option. Um, so frustrating. Took a long, long time to get plans in our hands for the first part of the remodel. And when we looked at it, we realized two things. One, we just don't like this plan at all. None of us like the plan. And two, we can't afford it. We're so far between what we have in the bank right now and what this is going to cost us. And we had to throw it away after lots of money that we spent to, to get these plans and start all over again. And we wasted more than a year on that. So, that's on the bad side. On the good side,…

AI assessment note: “Oh yeah... And we started looking for, um, professionals, um, architects and builders”

Q And did he have money to, to give you? This, this guy, his name is Amos.

A Yes. Um, he actually did, and I didn't want to. So, after talking with Alon for a while about this, um, What I got by, at this point, I realized that, uh, Amos, Amos Wilnais, he is an entrepreneur that built multiple companies. The last one he took public and then sold for, uh, four billion to MMC Network. So not exactly the guy from the street just giving me advice, somebody that understands something. And I, I called him back and I said, you know, we may, may consider it, but Two things. One, we don't want to find VCs or investors that will tell us what to do. We are really on a path here, and we want to invest in the product and user experience and expand this community significantly before we even think about the business here and how to make money.

AI assessment note: “Yes. Um, he actually did, and I didn't want to.”

Q Because it is a tribe, right? I mean, designers, architects, They're, I'm assuming that people heard about it through them, but you also needed ordinary people who are not designers and architects, people like us, to go to the site to start using it for their home renovation. So was it, was it word of mouth growth, or did that money also allow you to start to do paid marketing?

A No, it, it, it was for years until we even started with the paid marketing process. Uh, we were very fortunate on that front. Um, the expansion kept, you know, happening organically, by word of mouth. We didn't have to pay for it, and, and we could only focus on bringing the talent, invested a lot of our money and time and energy finding this talent. In fact, Alon and I, for years, spent 50% of the time interviewing people. That's what we did in the first few years, and we did it across the board when we decided to build a sales team. Then I interviewed all candidates until we got to 150 solid salespeople on the ground. And when we decided to expand internationally, every engineer, every product manager, every designer, we interviewed them all. And it took a while until we said, ok, we have a solid foundation here.

AI assessment note: “expansion kept, you know, happening organically, by word of mouth. We didn't have to pay”

Q Um, how were you as a student in school? Were you a good student?

A I was an okay, um, I wouldn't say excellent student. I made it through. You know, guy, my mom was so liberal and so, you know, trusting, and she said to me in high school, look, I know that many kids just in high school don't tell the truth to their parents, so let's have some ground rules here. I don't want you to ever need to lie to me if you don't want to go to school. Or you'd rather have a fun day once a month or whatever it is with your friends at the beach. Let it be. Just don't lie to me. And if you tell me the truth and you promise to never do things behind my back, I will always have your back and always support you. And she did. She said, that's your, your life. I'm telling you why you should study. And I know you're capable of doing whatever you want. However, do it your way. Just never lie to me.

AI assessment note: “I was an okay, um, I wouldn't say excellent student. I made it through.”

Q Okay, here, here's a question for you. How are you doing that and also keeping a full-time job?

A Um, a lot of it was done nights and weekends. Um, literally nights and weekends. We started getting some folks from our community and friends that wanted to be involved beyond just being users, right? And offer their help on different fronts. One offered to help build, um, more present on social media sites, which were very, very new at that time, like You know, Facebook, Twitter, and so on. Another one, um, was a designer and offered Alon to, um, start working on the design side and, and, and potentially, um, give a facelift because Alon did a great job, but he's not a designer, right? And, and so nobody worked full-time job, but we started getting very passionate, interested friends and people around us that, um, Wanted, um, to help us. And, and so it was very little, but it helped a ton.

AI assessment note: “a lot of it was done nights and weekends”

Q And Hachu, by the way, And had you and, and, and Alon put a value on the company? Did you say, yeah, you know, we think it's worth ten million dollars, or, or not really, not yet?

A Not naive, because we came from this universe, but we were never in all the rounds that this and the ones that came after were so not fixated on what the valuation should be. It was almost, not ignoring it, but it was really down in terms of our, um, list of priorities. Down the list. And, and the reason was, I was so certain that we have to bring the right investor that would really let us do it our way, that it doesn't matter what's the valuation or how much we need to give that person. If it's the wrong person, it will kill everything. And if it's the right person, it can change everything. And so I, I built a lot of trust with Oren during that process. It was almost hard to believe what he did for us because he was so Honest with us, walking us through a term sheet and showing us line by line what he's proposing. And he could have go the other way around, which many investors do to innocent first time founders that are founding a company in the US like this. Um, but he didn't. And he said, I'm founder friendly. I may take more, but I give you a lot of freedom and I will sit in the backseat and that's your right. He said all the right things. Gave us all the right terms, and the valuation didn't matter at all.

AI assessment note: “it was really down in terms of our, um, list of priorities.”

Q Did you get nervous by, I mean, did any of them ever make you nervous that you, we gotta hurry up and get ahead of these guys? They're coming after us.

A I, I think that the mindset was always, we are very unique because we have that robust, enormous, global community that has both the homeowners and professionals, right? Today we have sixty-five million homeowners in the community and 2.7 million professionals, and we are very deep. We're the only ones who can, first of all, introduce them to each other, and this is like a Flywheel. One is bringing the other, and that is a huge differentiation. When you are the technology platform, and you're providing tools to both sides, and both sides come to you, there are always going to be others, and the fact that there is interest in this industry, and somebody want to copy something from us, it's actually flattering.

AI assessment note: “somebody want to copy something from us, it's actually flattering.”

Q And, and, and so at this point, were, were either of you or you were alone even starting to think about quitting your jobs to work on this full time?

A I didn't think that we're both gonna do it. I, at some point, started thinking, maybe at some point alone we'll be able to do it, uh, full-time if it will continue evolving like this, and then we went on a social event from our little son's preschool, and I was chatting with different people, and then I met this nice grandparent of one of the kids, and, you know, chit-chatting, and he was a Former Israeli too. So it was very easy to start a conversation about something about living in the area and moving and differences and so on. I don't know how I got to mention this, um, side little project too, which keeps me also very busy at night. And then I tell him all about it. And the more I say things about it, the more questions he asks. So obviously someone is in front of me that understands home remodeling very well. Apparently he owned multiple homes. And so we decided to, um, talk afterwards. He asked me to send the link to the website, and I said, sure. He said, I love homes. I love renovation. I did multiples in my life. You know, send me the link, and I sent him the link, and then he calls me afterward. His name is Amos, and, and he said, are you crazy? How many users you said you have? And, and I tell him, you know.

AI assessment note: “I, at some point, started thinking, maybe at some point alone we'll be able”

Q And how many did you have at that point?

A We did have a few 100,000, you know, monthly users at this point. And, and, and thousands of, of, of, uh, professionals with portfolios very, very active working with these homeowners. And, and he said, and how much money did you invest in it? I said, well, right now we're paying 2000 dollars for the servers, but you know, we sponsor it from our time, which is a lot, but our time. I said, okay, and why aren't you raising money for this? He said, well, you know, it's kind of really Fund that it's our thing. Nobody tells us what to do. We don't want any investor to come and ruin this fund and we really don't need it. It's expanding like this. And, and he say, you know what? I think that you're making a mistake. I'll just say this. If you got to this point with no money from investors, without tons of engineers helping a lost to program or to you to build this community or all these things happen. If you're not going to raise money, somebody else will realize what you're doing, what you're doing, they will raise money, they will copy you, and you will say goodbye to this initiative. So my recommendation to you, think carefully if you don't want to raise money. And if you do, I'm happy to help you to do so.

AI assessment note: “We did have a few 100,000, you know, monthly users at this point.”

Q What is it about alone that makes it work? That were the two of you actually Not only have created this business, but, but seem to really like to, to work together.

A I will start with the end of it. I would never do it with someone else, for sure. This is crazy enough, and, um, I need to have somebody that I truly and fully trust, 100%. When founders are strangers, that can work as well, but many times what I see is, we had different point of view, or We, we were in different stages in life. One wanted to just sell and move on. The other ones felt like can do it forever. Uh, we are hearing sometimes founders that are coming from the same background. So there is a lot of ego of who is going to dictate, um, what I, we just don't have these things. And while it comes with other challenges, like balance of. Home and kids and the company. And as Oren once told me, and I really remember that conversation, um, when I, not complained, but I vented, I said, um, It's such a crazy time, Warren. I don't know what I'm doing. You know, it's so crazy with, with the kids. The kids were young and, and he said, you are very fortunate, Adi, because all the good things that can happen in life are happening to you and you choose to embrace them. So just choose to enjoy them. You can be at the peak of your career when you are 20 and probably not when you are 70 or 80. And you also can't raise your family and, and your young kids at these two Extreme ages. For most people, it happens at around the same time at your age, and you decided, which is a choice, that yo…

AI assessment note: “I need to have somebody that I truly and fully trust, 100%.”

Q young. I mean, you're not yet 50. Uh, you have, you could do another company. You could, you could run a foundation. There's lots of things you could do. You could do it pretty much wherever you want. Do you, do you, do you, are you excited about the idea of running a public company and doing quarterly calls with investors and reporters? Is that something that appeals to you?

A I think that the next phase or level of a company should not be a goal or a mission by itself. Different milestones of raising funds privately, publicly, adding partners, investors, are just supporting avenues along the way to, you know, make sure that your path is, is, is Concord there, and you are getting to the place you need to get. So then, when I put myself in all this, I say, am I excited about it? I'm not excited. I don't think it's relevant, you know. I once was interviewed by a reporter, and just before me, in New York, they interviewed someone that, um, about parenthood and a research that was done among many, many parents. What are the ages of your kids that makes you more excited? Excited about and which ages you're kind of not excited about or prefer to forget. And I take the whole package and whatever is needed in order to provide what I need to my kids at every age, including the less compelling ages. And I take the, and look at all the beauty that comes with each stage. And this is how I see my role, um, as a founder of this company. At any stage, there were many different challenges and And at any stage, there was, in every stage, there was so many great things to be inspired by, to look forward to, to be happy about. You know, we grew from being the first two homeowners to sixty-five million homeowners that are using house today.

AI assessment note: “am I excited about it? I'm not excited. I don't think it's relevant”