A New Way to See the World: Our Investment in Kindred

Two years ago, I learned about Kindred, the home-swapping platform Justine Palefsky and Tasneem Amina were building, after my friend Blake Armstrong mentioned it to me in passing. I was intrigued with slight hesitation – not because home swapping lacked appeal, but because I’d seen other companies try it and fail to scale.

What stood out, though, was how differently Kindred operated. It felt less like a marketplace and more like a community: members were thoroughly vetted, most homes were primary residences, and guests treated them with real care.

Justine and I met at a coffee shop in Jackson Square. Right away, I could tell she was special. She distilled in five seconds a problem I’d been grappling with in home sharing for much of my career: trust. It’s fundamentally hard to invite a stranger into your home, and a lot of people don’t consider it because it’s scary. Justine believed that if you could create a marketplace where everyone is vetted and everything is managed for you, you could get past those psychological barriers and create a new category in travel.

The next day, Justine, Tas, and I cleared our calendars and spent the entire day together in Kindred’s office. We spent hours going deep on what it would take to build a global community based on trust. What impressed me wasn't just the scale of their ambition, but the way they talked about growth, and especially their belief in taking a measured, long-term approach. They made clear they wouldn’t do anything that risked sacrificing the integrity of the experience or jeopardizing trust. As they asked questions to make sure I was aligned with that philosophy, I realized I was being vetted just as much as I was vetting them.

That intentionality goes back to the very beginnings of Kindred. Before they even decided to partner, Justine and Tas spent a weekend together in a cabin, asking each other hundreds of questions about their values, fears, motivations, and what kind of life they wanted from this business. They knew individually what they were willing to put into building the company, and they understood that deciding to do it together would be the ultimate commitment.

You can see that level of care in how they operate as founders. Justine is experience design, intuition, innovation, soul. She gets the user journey at a human level and has an uncanny ability to articulate what Kindred should feel like. Tas is an execution powerhouse — operations, goal-setting, systems, day-to-day rigor. They speak different languages, but their shared product vision, complementary skillsets, and respect for one another give them a foundation to weather the inevitable ups and downs of building a generational company.

Today, Kindred is at the forefront of a massive home swapping movement. Two years ago, I was impressed to learn that the platform already had 10,000 members. That’s already grown to more than 250,000 members in 150+ cities, with 90% of members joining with their primary residences. At a time when rising costs and housing pressures are changing how people experience the world, Kindred’s give-to-get model (every member is a host) is making travel more accessible, while at the same time creating a sense of community among members and allowing homes to stay on the market for locals.

The earliest proof point for me came from talking directly with members — hearing how jazzed they were about the platform, and seeing how it’s driving a cultural shift in how people travel. Today, that’s even more pronounced, with the top 10% of power users spending an average of 65 nights per year staying in Kindred homes. These members are effectively “living on Kindred” in any city they want. Everywhere I go, people are talking about Kindred. As friends realize they’re part of the same network, home swapping is becoming part of the mainstream.

Behind that momentum is an all-star team. From day one, Justine and Tas have been laser-focused on hiring the best talent. They’re constantly asking, “Who’s the best person in the world who does X? We’re going to go get them.” And sure enough, when people meet them, they’re drawn in by the vision, passion, authenticity, and promise of doing something legitimately good for humanity. I’ve had people who’ve worked for me at prior companies say, “No offense, Vlad, but this is the best company I’ve ever worked with.” No offense taken. I totally get it.

I could not be more excited to partner with Justine, Tas, and the amazing Kindred team. They’re creating a new way of seeing the world, making travel radically more accessible and connecting people in cities all over the planet. I’m so glad to be on this journey with them.