>> ... Next Generation ... PawnGuru DOUBLE UP ON HAPPINESS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON! Local entrepreneur leads tech startup that could update pawn shop industry. JOSH EL'CHONEN I JN INTERN UPTOWN SHANGRI-LA AUTHENTIC CHINESE CUISINE 6407 Orchard Lake Road (15 Mile & Orchard Lake) 248.626.8585 www.uptownshangrila.com 1963640 The all-new 2015 Audi A3 Luxury without compromise. Audi Truth in Engineering 10101010 Starting at $29,900* 410 syLvania Gap affi 1067/ i. 4 Audi Magna Society Audi SyLva n ia 5570 Monroe St. I Sylvania, OH www.sylvaniaaudi.com 'Starling MSRP for a 2015 Audi A3 1.8T Premium. Limited availability. Prices exclude destination, taxes, title, other options and dealer charges. Dealer sets actual price. Rick Zerner 419-8242514 1 emember buying your airplane ticket without online travel agencies such as Expedia, Priceline or Travelocity? Just as these travel agencies simplified the process of air travel, PawnGuru, a technology startup based in Southfield, hopes to revolutionize the pawn shop industry. "We're helping poor Americans by creating the 'Priceline' of pawn shop loans by enabling multiple cash offers from multiple pawn shops in their area," said David Stiebel, co-founder of PawnGuru. People who need a quick, small cash loan often use pawn loans offered by licensed pawn shops to consumers using an item of value as collateral. PawnGuru's service is free and saves time and money for consumers and pawn shops. After you submit your item information, PawnGuru works with local pawn shops that compete for your item. You are only contacted if local pawn shops submit offers. Then you can choose the one you want and go to that shop to finalize the deal. For example, one individual submitted a Samsung 60-inch flat-screen television that was less than a year old. He received 11 offers ranging from $100- $650. "Currently 200 pawn shops have submitted offers through our platform," Stiebel said. "We have delivered more than $2.5 million of cash offers from pawn shops to consumers to date." Thomas Blaine, owner of Garden City Exchange, said, "We have had a lot of requests come in. David has been very helpful, and I am very excited to see PawnGuru continue to grow." Early Experience Stiebel graduated from Frankel Jewish Academy and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in math and computer science. After MIT, he got a job offer at Bain and Company, a top consulting firm. He was hired to work in the Chicago office, but had to delay his start date. "I came home after graduation to take care of my mother, Devorah, who was battling cancer," Stiebel said. "Unfortunately, she later passed away in the fall of 2009. A few months later, I went to work for Bain in Chicago." The biggest business takeaway from Bain was "learning how to breakdown big problems into small attackable chunks," he said. 36 December 25 • 2014 JN Stiebel then suffered another personal loss. "I worked at Bain for a year and half, and then my father, Alex, passed away suddenly in spring 2011." Still in mourning, he left his job a few months later and went to Israel to study at Shapell's/Darche Noam yeshivah in Jerusalem until Passover 2012. When Stiebel returned, Rabbi Yochanan "Jonathan" Polter contacted him and persuaded him to help run a loan servicing venture. Polter, previously rabbi at the Birmingham-Bloomfield Chai Center, knew Stiebel and his family. "My parents were both Israeli, not so religious, but strong traditional Jews," Stiebel said. His family started attending Poulter's shul in the mid-late '90s. "I've known David for a long time; he was always super bright and creative," Polter said. "When I was looking for a partner in my earlier venture, I needed someone with the skillset in the area I was lacking; he was a good match." Navigating regulatory requirements became complex and financially impractical, so the business wound down, but Stiebel had discovered a demographic offering room for innovation. "We learned a ton about financial services for low-income Americans," Stiebel said. "We realized there was a lot of opportunity, and we didn't want to give that up. So we brainstormed and came up with PawnGuru." For others looking to start a new business, Stiebel advises testing your idea step-by-step and reading The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. "You need to boil down your vision to the most granular thing that can be tested tomorrow to validate any sort of assumption," Stiebel said. Stiebel, his wife and son live in Oak Park, where they are members of Ahavas Olam Torah Center and Young Israel in Oak Park. ❑ PawnGuru is mainly active in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and parts of Detroit. Visit online at PawnGuru.com .