GiftCrowd offers an easy way to gift together hassle-free, regardless of whether you are buying a gift for your kid’s friend or buying a gift for a coworker. Pulse 2.0 interviewed GiftCrowd CEO and founder Eshed Doni to learn more about the company.
Eshed Doni’s Background
Eshed Doni of Claritas Rx photographed by SRK Headshot Day in San Francisco, CA
What is Eshed Doni’s background? Doni said:
“I was born and raised in a small Israeli town near Tel Aviv. As a kid, I was much more interested in outdoor activities than technology — not that we had much back then. I started my career in tech in the Israeli Air Force and moved to New Jersey with my wife and kids in 2012.”
“The first company I founded was an early developer of mobile applications. It turned profitable within 18 months and was acquired not long after. In the second company I started, we built a mobile group messaging solution similar to WhatsApp, and GiftCrowd is my third company.”
Formation Of GiftCrowd
How did the idea for GiftCrowd come together? Doni shared:
“Several years ago, I noticed that no one was collecting money for my son’s teacher holiday gift and made the grave mistake of volunteering to take care of that. I was sure it wouldn’t require more than a couple of emails, not knowing what I was signing up for. I sent numerous emails and reminders and almost begged the other parents to chime in. It wasn’t that they didn’t like the teacher — on the contrary, we all loved what she did for our kids and appreciated all her efforts — but the process of collecting the money was cumbersome and frustrating.”
“Two weeks after I started my collection, I thought I had already collected the money from anyone who wanted to join. I had no idea what to purchase, so I headed to a pharmacy store where they sold dozens of gift cards, and purchased one with all the money I collected. Five minutes later, another parent texted me and said they wanted to join, too. What was I supposed to do?”
“I was shocked at how a simple task turned into a nightmare, and I was certain there had to be a better way. However, a web search showed that nothing like that existed. I started asking other parents how they collected group gifts for teachers, coaches, and summer camp counselors. I learned that everyone was experiencing the same difficulties.”
“When I built GiftCrowd, my goal was to make group gifting — and gifting in general — as straightforward as possible, hassle-free, and fee-free.”
Favorite Memory
What has been Doni’s favorite memory working for the company so far? Doni reflected:
“While the number of gifts purchased through GiftCrowd became too big to track, I always like to hear user stories. Last year, I heard from a PTO that a school custodian who had been with the same school for over 30 years was retiring and received a meaningful gift of over $1,000 with dozens of participants and greetings.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Doni explained:
“GiftCrowd is an online solution for group gifting. We have a unique solution for Parent-Teacher Organizations and a consumer solution that makes it as easy as possible for anyone to create a gift, invite others to join the gift, and let recipients choose how to spend their gift amount across over 450 brands.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Doni and the team faced in building the company? Doni acknowledged:
“Our main challenge was how to spread the word efficiently and affordably. GiftCrowd can be used for many purposes, and our goal is to become the go-to website whenever someone needs a gift.”
“Given our unique solution for teacher gifting, we decided to focus on parent-teacher organizations. Once they use GiftCrowd, we gradually share other ways to use GiftCrowd beyond teacher gifting.”
Evolution Of GiftCrowd’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Doni noted:
“At GiftCrowd, we set a goal to always listen to our users, and many of the capabilities we added throughout the years were ideated by customers. We’re passionate about simplifying the user experience as much as possible, and a lot of effort went into making GiftCrowd as self-explanatory as possible. Additionally, our usage grew exponentially, and we have invested in scaling up our infrastructure.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Doni cited:
“Over the years, we have had several significant milestones — the 100th school that used GiftCrowd, the 100,000th user, hitting $1 million in annual revenue for the first time, and so much more.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Doni about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“We had a PTO president who reached out to us after they completed their gifts collection and was ecstatic about the results. They collected three times the amount they collected the year before — this time with no effort. Both parents and teachers were happy and thankful. Reading her unsolicited testimonial felt like a marketer’s dream come true!”
Growth Metrics
When asking Doni about the company’s growth metrics, he revealed:
“GiftCrowd has demonstrated continuous commitment to its mission of making group gifting easier. In 2023, we were able to give over 27,000 gifts to 17,500 individual recipients from more than 36,000 participants, and we expect these metrics to continue growing in 2024.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Doni assessed:
“The gifting market in the US is roughly $180 billion, of which $50 billion is group gifting. Teacher gifting alone is $5 billion a year in the US.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates GiftCrowd from its competition? Doni affirmed:
“GiftCrowd is the only teacher gifting solution that makes it possible to collect any number of gifts in parallel — and with close to zero effort. Also, GiftCrowd provides the richest functionality without charging users anything to use the service. We are passionate about the user experience and maintaining the psychology behind gift-giving and receiving.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Doni pointed out:
“We hope to continue to grow and increase our revenue.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Doni concluded:
“I must mention that at GiftCrowd, we have several unwavering core values. We never offer users any option or capability that we would not take advantage of as users ourselves, and believe in full transparency, including sharing our business model with customers. We’re also still a small team, but we enjoy every minute of working together.”
“We are a zero-hierarchy company, meaning every individual gets a seat at the table. It doesn’t matter if we discuss product, marketing, or strategy; every opinion is evaluated by its merit, no matter which person brought it up.”
