Houzz

Houzz is a web site and online community about architecture, interior design and decorating, landscape design and home improvement. The Houzz platform and mobile apps[2] feature photos, articles, product recommendations, and a user forum. [3] The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Palo Alto, California.

HistoryHouzz co-founders Adi Tatarko and Alon Cohen launched the site in February 2009 as a result of their own remodeling project.[4] In addition to finding it difficult to communicate their vision for their home,[5] the founders found it difficult to find the right professionals for their project.[6] What started as a side project to help with Tatarko and Cohen’s own home remodel soon spread by word-of-mouth and they began to receive emails from homeowners and home professionals outside the San Francisco Bay Area asking them to open more categories on Houzz and expand to other areas.[7] Houzz became a company in the fall of 2010.[7] In November 2010, Houzz released an app for the iPad.[8] The Android version of the app was released in December 2012.[9] By August 2013, the iPhone/iPad apps had been downloaded millions of times[10] and the website featured millions of images.[10] In January 2014, Houzz announced that it had opened offices and hired local managers in the UK, Germany and Australia to accelerate its global expansion; 35% of the company’s site traffic already came from outside the U.S.[11] In December 2014, Houzz announced its expansion to the rest of Europe and into Asia, starting with Japan, given the demand for its platform and the success of its first international launches.[12] As of July 2015, a localized Houzz platform was available in UK, Australia, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, Italy and Spain.[13] By the end of 2015, Houzz was also live in Sweden and Denmark and cited over 35 million monthly unique users and over one million active home professionals including contractors, designers, architects, etc.[14] Houzz launched its first national advertising campaign in August 2015.[15]

In April 2016, Houzz launched localized platforms and apps for both Ireland[16] and Singapore [17] and said it had more than 40 million monthly unique users worldwide.

Adi Tatarko is the CEO and co-founder of Houzz, a platform for home remodeling, bringing together both professionals and homeowners via mobile, local and social tools.

Adi and her husband and cofounder, Alon Cohen, started Houzz out of challenges that they faced during their own remodeling process. Tired of cutting pages out of magazines for their inspiration file and limited by word of mouth recommendations for professionals to help them with the renovation process, they decided to create an online photo database and gathering place for people in the process of building, remodeling and decorating.

Today, millions of homeowners and more than 250,000 architects, designers, contractors and other remodeling professionals are connecting through Houzz.com and its mobile apps every month, sharing their photos, advice and product recommendations.

Earlier in her career, Tatarko founded a software company which developed products and services for the high tech industry. She worked in NYC before moving to Palo Alto, where she worked in an investment firm.

Adi lives with her husband and two boys. In her spare time, she still enjoys looking at inspiring home design and renovating the rest of her own house one room at a time.