Why Goodshuffle’s team values transparency

Goodshuffle is a D.C.-based online marketplace for the equipment and decor needed to host large events.

Founded in 2015 by Andrew Garcia and Erik Dreyer, the startup set out to provide a place for rental companies to list items, and people hosting events to book them.

We sent questions to VP of Growth Karen Gordon to go inside how the team operates. Below are her responses.

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Technical.ly DC: Are there words you use internally to describe your company culture? Or team chemistry?

Karen Gordon: We’re big on being both transparent and solution-oriented. In a fast-paced environment, you need to be comfortable being honest (with yourself and others) and tackling a problem swiftly so you can move on to the next thing.

TDC: What is an example of a past technical challenge your team took on and solved?

KG: Sometimes we laugh that we chose the hardest problem to solve first. Launching a marketplace for an industry that’s never had one presents all sorts of challenges aside from the classic “chicken and egg problem” — understanding the industry at a depth needed to meet customers’ expectations (on both sides) while integrating with handfuls of third-party SaaS products to make the whole thing function was a significant feat for a two-person dev shop. More specifically, though, integrating with a payment gateway and QAing all of the automated processes that moves money from renters to vendors and back again (in case of refunds) ensuring 100 percent accuracy and handling system/service failures wasn’t trivial.

TDC: Do you have office space? If so, what’s special about it that’s unique to your company? What’s the address/neighborhood?

KG: We’re at the WeWork Manhattan Laundry near 14th and Florida. We have a six-person office, but it also houses our intern, a part-time employee, and our dog, Edison, so it’s pretty close quarters. The benefit of the WeWork model is we can use the shared spaces when needed.

TDC: What is something special about growing a tech company here in this region?

KG: Event tech in particular is a booming industry in D.C. and we’re proud to be a part of that. We love the sense of community among D.C. startups. Most startup folks are so glad that the D.C. scene is blossoming that they all feel genuinely invested in one another’s growth.