Ari Herberman and Mike Gettis: Today’s Notable Young Entrepreneurs

Today’s Notable Young Entrepreneurs are Endy Sleep co-founders Ari Herberman and Mike Gettis, who’s company filled a gap in the market for high-quality, affordable mattresses available online. We caught up with them to find out what inspired their career and what advice they would share with other young professionals…

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1. Describe what you do in less than 140 characters. Go.
Manufacture and sell high-quality, affordable mattresses online. Conveniently shipped to your door with a 100-night trial and easy returns.

2. What was the inspiration for your career route?
The inspiration spurred from one particular mattress shopping experience. What should have been a painless process turned into a confusing and expensive ordeal that got us thinking, why is mattress shopping so horrible? Our concerns were shared by friends, family, and much of Toronto. The time had come to simplify the process, and we took on the challenge. Welcome Endy!

3. What is the most memorable milestone in your career so far?
Our biggest source of pride (and milestone) is that our customers  love their Endy mattresses. Our return rate is less than 1% and we receive a constant influx of positive reviews

4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?
We try not to look that far into the future as it’s very easy to lose focus that way. Our goal is just to focus on the present and continue to grow Endy day-to-day. We created Endy to make mattress-buying experience easy, affordable and fun!

5. Do you have any advice for other young professionals?
Do one thing better than everyone else. You don’t need to be great at everything, but if you can be a rockstar at one thing then you’re in good shape. We honed our focus points to mattress quality, affordability, and customer service

6. Do you support any charities? If so, which one(s) and why is it (or they) important to you?
We have partnered with Nothing but Nets, an incredible organization dedicated to fighting the spread of malaria in Africa. With every mattress sold, Endy donates a bednet to Nothing But Nets to help support this important cause.

7. What is one major challenge that you’ve had to overcome in your career? How did you overcome it?
Shortly after launching, our sales greatly exceeded our initial projections and we ran out of mattresses. This is a great problem to have, but it was still a problem! On the fly we had to re-forecast our numbers, and order hundreds of mattresses for immediate production. This influx of orders caused a slight delay in delivery and our Customer Service team had to step into action. For every customer affected, we called them directly and sent over an Amazon gift card as an apology before they felt the effects of the delay. We even ordered an air mattress for a customer that was sleeping on his couch at the time! By being proactive, we were able to overcome this challenge and enhanced the experience for our customers.

8. What does the word notable mean to you?
Notable means creating something of value that is accessible to everyone. Everyone should be able to afford and acquire a great night’s sleep, and Endy has made that possible.

PLAY:

1. Where is your favourite place to wine/ dine in your city and why?
Ari: Mother’s dumplings! Best value in the entire city.

Mike: Bar Isabel because it has great wine and fresh octopus.

2. What’s the most visited website on your Internet browser? The most played song on your phone?
Ari: This is a tie between The Globe & Mail and Endy’s Google Analytics page. The most played song: My Way, by Francis Albert Sinatra.

Mike: Financial Times – because I like getting world business news. My most played song is Reflektor by Arcade Fire.

3. Who’s one person you think everyone should be following on social media?
Ari Miss Lola Mabel (@misslolamabel) is the perfect French Bulldog. She makes you laugh… but also think.

Mike: The new Pope because he’s challenging old wisdom and using his message for peace.

4. What’s your favourite country to visit and why? And what’s the next one you plan on travelling to?
Ari: The coolest place I’ve visited is Cape Town, South Africa. Next on the list is South America, specifically Colombia and Peru.

Mike: Jordan is my favourite country. Next I really want to go to Indonesia, specifically Bali.

5. What gives you the greatest FOMO?
Ari: Missing a cottage weekend or a dinner with my friends. I’m a simple boy!

Mike: When I see friends post about their travels on Facebook. I love travelling.

6. What’s your guiltiest pleasure?
Ari: Hummus, pretzels, almonds, and scotch past 9:30pm on a work night.

Mike: Cigars with a great glass of scotch.

7. What’s something you wish you didn’t spend so much money on? What’s something you wish you spent more on?
Ari: Gas and parking tickets. I wish more was spent on paying for a parking spot so I didn’t have to deal with all the tickets…

Mike: Food. But, at the same time, I wish I ate out more. Definitely a constant conundrum.

8. And finally, what does success look like to you? Work, play, or otherwise…
Ari: To me it’s freedom and autonomy to do what makes you happy.

Mike: It is about feeling good about yourself – either by giving back, hitting the green off the tee, or reaching new sales targets.

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