Each month, Capitol Post interviews a veteran-owned business to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly on creating a sustainable and scalable business. This month, we spoke with Pair, a technology company that brings the showroom to your living room.
Business Name: Pair
Year Founded: 2015
CEO Name: Andrew Kemendo
Key Members: Taylor Clark (CTO), Mike Mills (Chief Scientist), Israel Medina (VP Business Development)
HQ: Cheverly, MD
Number of Full-Time Employees: 4
Brief Business Description:
Pair brings the showroom to your living room by letting users see over 400 virutal products in their real environment using only their iPhone or iPad Camera view.
Little-Known Fact About Your Business:
Both Taylor and Andrew started flight school for their private pilot’s licenses a month apart in 2000 before having ever met!
What makes your business unique?
We have successfully commercialized the capability to convincingly see something virtual as though it is real.
You are a veteran-owned (or led) business. How has military service influenced your company?
In every facet of the company, the lessons I learned as a commander and leader in war and peace shape how we do business. We put people first, are laser focused on the mission and do so with the highest level of integrity and transparency.
Toot your business’ horn. What have you done that you’re most proud of to date?
By far it has been moving advanced technology from the “future technology” category to “available to everyone worldwide” category. That takes a special team and the right partners.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to a start-up?
Be exceedingly responsive to, and over communicate with your core user base.
Who (or what) has had the most positive influence on your company and why?
Our network, built from our team and including our investors and product partners have brought more value to the table than anything else.