*By: Madison Alworth*
Homepolish is like online dating for interior design. Interested clients can find the ultimate match for their style and budget.
The highly-selective website pairs interested clients can with a high-end, professional designers who get paid varying rates by the hour.
"It's about personality, working style," said the founder and CEO Noa Santos. "And when you make the right match, it's like a marriage."
Santos, who left his job at a high-end interior design firm to start Homepolish six years ago, said clients had grown distrustful of big firm and huge overhead costs. His online agency aims to provide clients with a personal touch by vetting all the designers.
When launching a career, a designer needs a portfolio. But to have a portfolio, a designer needs work. Homepolish is a reliable and respected platform that helps designers get both. There is a waiting list of over 1,000 designers who want to join the platform.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/swipe-right-on-your-perfect-interior-decorator).
Roshan Jhunja, head of retail at Square, joined Cheddar to talk about the financial services company's second annual Future of Retail report. Square expects the massive shift to e-commerce to continue into 2022 as more consumers get used to the online shopping experience. For Square, soon-to-be renamed Block, which began predominantly as a digital payment platform, Jhunja said the company is also helping sellers with automation amid ongoing labor shortages.
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Fast AF, a premiere quick commerce retailer for products and brands just announced the close of its Series A investment round. That round puts the value of the company at $200 million. The company gets items to customers ranging from masks to sneakers and is now launching its own in-house delivery service. Lee Hnetinka, founder and CEO of FastAF joins Cheddar News to discuss the announcement.
Carolina Navas, Snap's head of AR product strategy and product marketing, joins Cheddar News to discuss how Snapchat's augmented reality is changing the shopping game this holiday season.
Steve Case, Revolution Ventures CEO, joined Cheddar to discuss progress venture capitalists have made over 2021 and where investors are looking beyond Silicon Valley. Other locations VC firms are exploring include Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago among others. "Historically there's been a brain drain in a lot of these cities, people leaving for opportunity elsewhere. Now, people are staying," he said of the emerging tech hubs. "There tends to be a collaborative effort in the community to really support startups to recognize the future of the community."
A new study by Pfizer-BioNTech found that a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the emerging omicron variant. The pharmaceutical giants also look to manufacture a vaccine specific to the omicron variant by March 2022.
Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down what to expect from the cryptocurrency executives appearing on Capitol Hill and how it could impact future crypto regulation. "I think what most people want to see from regulation is essentially channeling the good and the potential and putting in place guardrails to minimize the bad," he said.
