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Joining VarageSale (and Moving to Toronto)

August 4, 2014 by Ben Yoskovitz

Three years ago I joined an early stage startup, GoInstant, and moved to Halifax. A year after that, we were acquired by Salesforce. It’s been an incredible experience. A genuinely life changing one.

But as they say, “all good things must come to an end,” and as of last Friday I said goodbye to GoInstant and Salesforce and started a new chapter in my life. It was not an easy decision, but I’m insanely excited about what comes next.

In a week from now (after a short vacation) I’ll be joining VarageSale as VP Product.

Screen Shot 2014-07-28 at 1.35.16 PM

VarageSale isn’t a household name (yet!) but it’s a company I’ve known since it started. In fact, it was my first angel investment at the end of 2012. And I’ve known one of its founders, Carl Mercier, for many years (his wife, Tami Zuckerman is a co-founder). Carl is one of the few people that I’ve always wanted to start a company with. I didn’t co-found VarageSale with him, but we’ll finally get a chance to work together.

VarageSale is an app (web, iOS and Android) for buying and selling your stuff. It sounds simple, but it isn’t. Lots of people have tried and failed. It’s a massive, complicated and messy market.

And VarageSale is a rocket ship. I can’t share many details with you, but suffice it to say I’m convinced we’re on a path to amazing success. I wouldn’t have joined if I felt otherwise. (And I’ll leave it at that!)

Along with joining VarageSale, I’m moving to Toronto in mid-August (and yes, my family is coming with me). We’ve really enjoyed our time in Halifax, but now it’s time to move on. I look forward to meeting lots of startup folks in Toronto, but please be patient, it’s going to take me some time to settle in. I also have a new (416) phone number; if you have my old one and want the new one, send me a message.

I owe a lot of folks at GoInstant and Salesforce some huge “thank yous”, including Jevon MacDonald, Gavin Uhma and the entire team. I know they’ll continue to build amazing products, and help Salesforce innovate and lead. It’ll be sad watching things from the sidelines, but change is also good. And in this particular case, I couldn’t say no.

I’m looking forward to getting to know the VarageSale team and working with them. We have an incredible amount to do. And it couldn’t be more exciting!

One last thing: VarageSale is hiring a Web / Mobile UI Designer. If you’re a designer, you’ll want this job. Trust me. So apply!

Filed Under: VarageSale

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Ben Yoskovitz

Founding Partner at Highline Beta, a hybrid venture studio and VC firm that works with large, ambitious companies to identify new areas of opportunity through internal and external innovation.

Previously I was VP Product at VarageSale and GoInstant (acq. $CRM), and Founding Partner at Year One Labs.

Angel investments include: Breather, Spoiler Alert, SendWithUs and others.

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