jews d

in
the

“Now is the time for potential entrepreneurs to move
here because of the access to capital and the chance
to be impacting something bigger than just
one’s day-to-day business.”

— GREG SCHWARTZ

continued from page 51

ABOVE: StockX CEO Josh
Luber with company co-
founder Dan Gilbert, founder
and chairman, Quicken Loans
and Rock Ventures, and
chairman of the Cleveland
Cavaliers.

52

September 20 • 2018

the end of the year and an annu-
alized revenue run-rate well in
excess of $ 1 billion.

GENESIS OF STOCKX

The roots of StockX began when
Dan Gilbert,
observant of
his son’s inter-
ests, had the
inkling of an
idea to create a
sneaker stock
market. Gilbert
asked serial
Greg Schwartz
entrepreneur
Greg Schwartz
of Bloomfield
Hills to take the lead on this
effort. Schwartz, current compa-
ny COO, was thinking of a move
at the time to the West Coast but
saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity. He bet on Detroit
when the region’s economy was
causing many of his peers to flee.
“Despite challenging economic
times,” Schwartz commented
in September 2011, “I believe
there is a very strong future for
Michigan business.”
Since then, the lifelong Temple
Beth El member has developed
multiple ventures in the commu-
nity, including Mobatech (while

jn

he was in school) and later UpTo,
a mobile app around events that
was funded by Detroit Venture
Partners.
The native Detroiter graduated
from Birmingham Seaholm High
School in 1999 and received a
bachelor’s degree in computer
engineering from the University
of Michigan in 2003. Schwartz
couldn’t be more “proud, excited
or humbled” to be a fourth-
generation Detroit entrepreneur,
working day-to-day not far from
where his prior family members
worked Downtown. He follows
his father Mark, his grandfather
Bernie, who just turned 96, and
his grandfather Albert.
Schwartz and his wife were
both raised in close-knit Jewish
families, and Schwartz remarked
on the deep importance it is to
be close to the people they love
in his hometown.
It was Sept. 3, 2016, when
Schwartz realized StockX was
a stand-out in the local startup
scene. Prior to that, the company
had 40-60 sneaker sales a day.
Yet, on that day, they did a few
hundred sales. They did more
sales that day than they expected
for many months because of the
success of a certain model of the
Air Jordan “Bred” sneaker.
Comparing the startup com-

munity in Downtown Detroit
over the last five years, Schwartz
said, “It is night and day. I started
working Downtown in October
2011, when the startup commu-
nity was just taking shape. More
and more young people today
are choosing to live, work and
stay in the city. I think, over the
next five years, we will see more
and more young talented people
come to the city.
“I love seeing all the energy
that is Downtown — new res-
taurants, new developments
and new retail establishments
launching regularly. Now is the
time for potential entrepreneurs
to move here because of the
access to capital and the chance
to be impacting something big-
ger than just one’s day-to-day
business.”

SNEAKER EXPERT

Shortly after Gilbert brought
Schwartz into the idea, they
realized they needed more than
just business, e-commerce and
technology expertise. They
needed an expert in the sneaker
culture and they found that in
Josh Luber, 40, who became a
co-founder of the business and
its CEO.
It’s part of a remarkable
story of the business that Luber
wanted to create the exact type
of marketplace that Gilbert was
envisioning at the time. Luber,
a native of Philadelphia, had an
earlier business called Campless,
which focused on data for sneak-
ers, similar to what the Kelley
Blue Book offers for automobiles.
There was also a blog akin to
“Freakonomics” about the eco-
nomics of collecting sneakers.

Today, at StockX, Luber is
most focused on human capital
— on building the right team
and how best to scale the people
side of the business. He also
works on public relations and
investor relations, with inves-
tors ranging from noted entre-
preneur/investor Steve Case to
Eminem, who joined a funding
round in early 2017.
“We’ve been very fortunate to
have Dan as a co-investor. We’ve
never had to worry about money
or runway,” Luber said, referring
to the money they have readily
available and that they were not
pressured to raise more capital
too soon. “This most recently
announced round includes a fur-
ther commitment from Gilbert
and a half-dozen other strategic
investors.
“We never intentionally set
out to get the biggest names
involved; it happened organically,
many just started helping.”
Gilbert, founder and chair-
man of Quicken Loans and
Rock Ventures, and chairman
of the Cleveland Cavaliers, told
the JN, “StockX is redefining
eCommerce as we know it — a
platform of ingenuity and ser-
endipity, with first-of-its-kind
market-leading technology built
in Detroit.
“StockX is a classic example of
a company (and there are many
others) that is keeping young
talented Detroiters at home, but
also attracting talent from all
over the world, while at the same
time experiencing hyper-growth,”
he added. “We are continuing
to invest in more of these tech-
nology-centric, talent-attracting
companies that will add to the
momentum taking place in
Detroit.”

INSIDE LUBER

Josh Levine of Huntington
Woods has known Luber for a
little more than three years. He
remembers their first dinner
meeting well, as it was right after
Luber moved here.
“Josh walks into our house
and immediately had to excuse
himself to take a call,” Levine
said. “He disappeared into one
of our rooms for 20 minutes or
so. It turns out he was in the last
stages of finalizing his new busi-
ness deal for StockX — and this
was about 10 minutes after just
meeting Josh for the first time.”
Luber, who received a BBA,
MBA and law degree from
Atlanta-based Emory, lives with
his wife, 6-year old daughter and
3-year-old son in Birmingham.

