Here in Seattle, we have the great advantage of being surrounded by a vibrant and growing startup community. As a result, Startup Grind Seattle's monthly meetups are almost always sold out thanks to the roster of talent that is recruited to speak each month. June's meetup featured Nick Huzar, CEO and co-founder of OfferUp, a revolutionary way of buying and selling items in your community. In essence, it's like a new and improved version of Craigslist. Founded in fall of 2011, OfferUp's mission is to "make buying and selling locally as easy as taking a photo." During his recent address, Huzar detailed the process of how he and co-founder Arean van Veelen came up with the idea of OfferUp and made it into a viable business that is currently in the process of raising $60 million to $100 million in venture capital financing.
A former CEO of DealSpringer and T-Mobile product manager, Nick Huzar's beginnings with OfferUp weren't the smoothest. With a vision to take on the highly successful yet extremely minimally designed Craigslist, Huzar had a difficult time convincing others that going up against Craigslist was even possible. His first attempts were only somewhat successful, and he at first had to rely on his wife's financial support.
The prime idea behind OfferUp was to give shoppers a largely improved user experience in the form of a highly visual homepage similar to Pinterest with stunning visuals that would blow Craigslist out of the water. As Huzar built up his dream, he found that the bulk of his time was spent networking to create a solid professional team and secure funding, yet he found that he had to do everything else such as coding, designing, and seeking mentors and advice. As his family grew with the births of his two children, Huzar found that he was literally risking everything he had to chase his dream. What kept him going through these struggles was the statistic that most goods in America lie unused in garages, and this was always a central focal point in his presentations.
Throughout Huzar's attempts to secure funding, it took 14 unsuccessful trips to Silicon Valley until the 15th time when someone agree to give him a funding lifeline. It was at this point that Huzar started expanding and actually delivering results in the form of people actually being able to sell their goods on OfferUp. Perhaps the most telling moment of success was when Huzar was able to sell his car on Offer Up even after failing to do so on Craigslist.
One of the biggest milestones in OfferUp's history was securing $55 million in funding. Today OfferUp now has 45 employees working in its Bellevue, Washington office. Huzar also praised that homegrown venture capitalist movement in Seattle and the Puget Sound area that allows him the flexibility to seek funding closer to home in a slightly more affordable area rather than having to venture all the way down to Silicon Valley.
Today, OfferUp is still a bustling and highly successful startup with more news on the way.