Michael Munder
Founder, 2nd home · International marketplace for vintage design, built with AI as architecture
I am building 2nd home, an international marketplace for vintage furniture and design. More than 200 dealers from Europe and Japan sell pieces there that already have a life behind them. Half of our orders cross borders.
Behind it is a thesis: the furniture industry does not have a technology problem. It has a structure problem. The market treats furniture as disposable goods moving through a distribution system. We treat it as an information system, where every object has a history, a condition, and a next owner.
Before this I built digital businesses for others: at Google, at DEPOT, at Porta Möbel. Twice we showed that it works. Twice the organization was not built to absorb it. So now I am building a company where technology is the architecture from day one, with a small team and AI in every process.
What grows out of that is a world model for furniture: an understanding of what every object is, what condition it is in, and where it should go next. Built step by step, and only trusted where it can reproduce the past.
Sustainability does not win because it sounds virtuous. It wins when it works better.
Essays
- Coming 8 October: A world model for things that already exist.
Book
Talks, podcasts, press
- Guest article "Ippo Ippo, step by step", INSIDE Wohn-Markt-Magazin
- Podcast: 2nd home, building a vintage and second hand marketplace
- Video podcast: Gebrauchte Möbel online (ver)kaufen
- Podcast: Home & Living im eCommerce
- Startup pitch, K5 X Founders League
- Speaker, Xentral founders event
- Neue Westfälische on 2nd home: James Bond's sofa included
- How to kick-start your CRM with clickstream data
Off the clock
With my wife I host private dinners and supper clubs as Moment Dining: menus of up to 20 dishes, bread baked at home, non-alcoholic drinks made from scratch. Hosting is the same craft as founding, just with immediate feedback.