Interview with Cheni Yerushalmi, Co-founder of Sunshine Suites
I’m really excited to share with everyone the interview I did this morning with Cheni Yerushalmi, serial entrepreneur and managing partner of Sunshine Suites in New York. It was refreshing for him to give up some time just to chat about entrepreneurship, sports and gadgets. In the interview, Cheni gives some excellent tips for anyone who’s ever thought about starting a business. He’s seen more entrepreneurs than I’ve seen Canucks games so he definitely knows his stuff! Without further ado, here it is:
What is Sunshine Suites about in nutshell?
Sunshine is an office community which harbours and supports small business owners in New York and Manhattan.
A lot of entrepeneurs are hesitant to do business with friends, what is your thought on that?
It’s all about communication. I’ve seen horror stories of small business owners just getting into relationships with their friends. I think its a combination of skills. I think its okay to go into a business with a friend as long as (there are) different sets of skills, which would be complementary of each other.
An example would be my partner and myself who have been best friends since we were eleven years old. He has an accountant background, and I’m into sales and creative. So, completely contradicting skills, and we don’t step on each other’s toes too much.
One of my best buddies is in accounting, so that works out well eh?
It’s important. Accounting is one of the most important qualities in entrepreneur needs. Or at least having a partner with that kind of background. Super important.
Have there been any conflicts working with Joe (Cheni’s best friend) for 8 years?
8 plus years now. There have been plenty of conflicts. Whenever you’re starting a business, you’re both passionate and you both think you’re right. I think you have to take a couple of steps back. You have to respect each other, have the same moral beliefs. I think it’s very important because at the end of the day, business is not just about numbers, it’s about feeling good about what you’re doing when you have the same ideas and the same goals. So, as long as you share those same ideas and goals I think it can work out to be a very good relationship because you have to trust each other and that’s where the friendship comes in.
Are there years Joe doesn’t make the Christmas list?
No, he…makes the christmas list every year. He’s still my best friend (laughs)
In your past interviews, you’ve talked a lot about community building and that seems to be one of the key things for you. I saw your video when 2009 was starting and how you wanted entrepreneurs to be able to get to work together as a collective instead of as individuals. Do you think we’ve accomplished that a little in the last year? Tell us a little bit about that.
I think it’s a natural progression. I think we as people, are seeing our own power, our own calling. Has it been changing? It’s been changing a little by little from technology and from the press. And from the economy, I think it’s been an economy that’s forced people to make a decision to do something or wait, and for what? To wait for a job that who knows when is coming? I don’t think its realistic. I think we as individuals have to be very proactive. So yes, I think we’re looking at all avenues to give ourselves a better opportunity and I think by collaboration, we always have a better opportunity than as individuals. Its a natural way of working.
Obviously a lot of entrepeneurs pass by you every day. What advice do u have for students like me or guys like AJ Vaynerchuk who are fresh off of a degree?
I think the most important thing is to get as much experience as possible and to talk to as many people as possible. I can’t begin to tell you how many smarter people are here than I am. Just to see those some ideas and get some feedback about some avenues you could go without.
Basically, you need to just to get out there and speak to as many people as possible. By coming out of college and surrounding yourself with entrepreneurs, you’re being surrounded by experience and we never really listen to our parents when we probably should, but they do mean well. But when you talk to your peers, it tends to be a little more receptive, and I believe they mean well as well.
What do you consider to be the “it” factor for aspiring entrepreneurs? At the end of the day, not everybody is going to be an entrepreneur, that’s just being realistic. Are there common attributes to all the people that pass by you everyday?
I think that you have to have that ‘itch’ that you can never finish scratching. I think you have to notice opportunity and you have to be hungry because people’s biggest fear is change. That everybody’s not set out to be an entrepreneur? I agree with that. If you’re too content with your life, and you don’t have anything to reach for or you’re afraid (for better or worse) of change? Then you’re probably not meant to be an entrepreneur. The people around here, and there’s thousands of them. They all have one thing in common. They’re all hungry. You could see it in their eyes. Between all these entrepreneurs, I think you can tell very quickly on a person that they are constantly looking for opportunities.
So it’s kind of like being an athlete. Everybody likes sports to a degree, the same way everybody likes making business or doing business, but at the end of the day, the ones who have drive and the ones who are willing to work hard and the ones who stay hungry are the ones to succeed.
Yes, the ones who aren’t afraid to fail. Every step back has to be, in my opinion is two steps forward. Fail. Don’t repeat those failures. Talk to as many people as possible. Keep expenses to an absolute minimum. So in case you do make a mistake, its a controlled mistake. And above all, don’t feel you have the best idea in writing and you can’t talk about it. At the end of the day, talk about your ideas, talk about what you’re looking to do. Surround yourself with intelligent and diverse people and I think you’re giving yourself every opportunity in the world. And (furthermore), don’t take people’s(investors) money. Take it when you start having some feedback and some revenues. You could start with something very small and grow it. Take 50 cents, could you make it into a dollar? From a dollar, could you make it into two dollars? If you could start doing that, you could start making money? I believe then, once you have more experience then you could go out to people, and raise money.
And that’s why we’re doing Skype, cutting costs, avoiding cross-country long distance calls.
All the way.
Are you coming out to Vancouver for the Olympics?
I’m a snowboarder, die hard. I wasn’t invited this year, so I don’t think I’ll be part of the the US team, but I’ll be watching.
Maybe the next one then?
Well…I’m not getting any younger.
In Gary’s Vaynerchuk’s latest book, Crush it, he talks a lot about going after your own passion. What would your passion be and when did you know?
I knew my passion when the first group of ‘Shiners’ came into my door. I took it very personally that they had their business under my roof, and I felt that there was some reason that I wanted to help them so I started networking companies with one another and did everything i could to help small businesses grow. I got a kick out of it. At the end of day I think my passion is seeing other people surrounding me do well. I think that’s attributed to my success as well since most of my clients are referrals.
That’s pretty cool, so its rare that somebody just pops in and goes “I’m going to need some office space”.
There’s a lot of that as well. But I think the core group of what Sunshine is is those who have been here for a while and have been referring other people to the community. We have a mix of everything, i mean we do advertising as well. But at the end of the day, what makes Sunshine is its referral base.
Flipping the script a little bit, in your last tweet, you mentioned that you’re not ready to talk about the Jets after their NFC championship loss. Are you ready now?
Ah (laughs). Sure.
I’m a Canucks fan so I know exactly what it feels like to never win What do you have to say about it? This is your moment as a fan.
You know…(laughs) Its still tough for me to talk about it. I’ve been a Jets fan for a long time. Living in Israel, it was the only sporting team we had broadcasted in the early 80’s. I was a die-hard Flash Gordon fan, you remember who Flash Gordon was?
Don’t have a clue.
Flash Gordon was the quarterback of the Jets. I’ve always loved the team, and always been disappointed every season. But I always get more excited for the next season. I think I have more optimism the next season than I have in a long time.
Definitely, the Jets did it this year with 2 rookies.
They had a lot of rookies, they had a rookie coach, quarterback, running back – the offensive line was a bit old but…
Could they have won it with a healthy Shonn Greene?
More than anything we need a consistent Mark Sanchez and as long we have the #1 defense in the league, we’ll do well.
Who do you have for the Superbowl?
I’d like to see New Orleans. I’d love to see the Saints win it. I love seeing new blood, and the Colts have had their day. They’re aging but they’re always there. If the Jets win it one day, I probably won’t be talking for a week because I’ll be exhausted with all the partying.
Were you in Indy for the Jets game?
No, Sunshine purchased a vacation home for the company in the mountains of Vermont where we could go snowboarding and skiing. I didn’t think the Jets would be going so far so we invited 30 guests from all over the country. We had DJs and had a good time.
The Apple Tablet (the iPad was announced an hour later) is scheduled to be announced later today, are you keeping tabs on so called greatest invention since the microwave?
The iPod was a great invention and the iPhone was a great invention. The Tablet is probably going to revolutionize but the greatest? I’m not sure. I think it’s going to be a great device but everything Apple pumps out seems to be a game-changer so why is this one not going to be any different?
Do you use an iPhone yourself?
No I don’t, I have a BlackBerry. I have over 200 emails and texts a day. I gotta stick with the BlackBerry. It’s solid. You know what you’re getting out of a BlackBerry, no frills but it gets the job done.
2 final questions. Do you see Sunshine Vancouver…or Raincloud Vancouver anytime in the future?
We’ve been working with different cities with the economic development corporations. We’re looking to open different facilities that could open and harbor small business growth within those cities so who knows? Definitely a possibility.
Last question. When I visit NY again, Can I just stay at Sunshine instead of a hotel? because at 275/month, that’s a freaking steal for any accommodation.
We could absolutely take space, whatever you need, I’ll work it out for you.
I really want to express my thanks to Cheni and his crew at Sunshine NY. If you live in New York, you definitely need to check them out. He can be reached at cheni@sunshineny.com, or on twitter @cheniy
If you know anyone that would like to be interviewed, or anyone you’d be interested in seeing an interview from, please let me know via sam@anothersamchan.com or in the comments below!
