Mapping Houzz’s international empire at Tech in Asia Singapore 2016, with Adi Tatarko

Update (11/04/2016): Due to an illness, Adi Tatarko, CEO of Houzz, will be unable to travel to attend TIA Singapore 2016. The MD of APAC for Houzz, Jason Chuck, will kindly be joining us instead. Please accept our apologies for the sudden change in schedule and join us in wishing Adi a swift recovery.

Ending the year with a bang, we’re thrilled to reveal the first speaker to take the Main Stage at Tech in Asia Singapore 2016.

Adi Tatarko, CEO and co-founder of Houzz, will join us in April to share an inside look at how the online marketplace for home-remodeling grew into a US$2 billion company servicing 35 million monthly users.

It first began in 2009 when Adi, together with her husband Alon Cohen, embarked upon a particularly frustrating home-remodeling project, lacking the necessary resources and experience to turn plans for their dream house into reality. Houzz was thus born as a repository of information for house renovations. It soon became clear they weren’t the only ones struggling to find home design resources as the site started to pick up steam.

While their own home-remodeling ended up taking a backseat, Adi and Alon did not sit on Houzz for long. It quickly outgrew its status as a pet project and has gained over US$200 million in venture capital from heavyweights like Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and GGV Capital. It is an international success, operating in the UK, Australia, Germany, France, Russia, and recently expanding to Japan.

The interior design startup’s rapport with its users is driven by Adi’s focus on building a great user experience. Even from the early stages, she was against selling ads without first building a product people would love – even if it meant that monetization came later in the game.

That time arrived last year when Houzz launched three revenue models – branded advertising, branded channels, and purchase features. If the firm’s recent US$165 million funding round is any indication, the game is still going well and Houzz’s offense is on fire.

Adi is widely considered one of the foremost CEOs in Silicon Valley. Join us in Singapore as she shares the lessons learned from raising over US$200 million, leadership tips gained from managing a rocket ship, and fun insights on why people around the world love Houzz.

You can now get your passes to Tech in Asia Singapore 2016 (April 12-13) at a 25 percent discount when you purchase before December 27 (code: tiasg25).