Gay-Owned Apt2B Wins DailyCandy's Small Business Award

Urban culture website DailyCandy announced Tuesday the winners of its third annual Start Small, Go Big contest, and among them is a gay-owned Los Angeles home shop.

Apt2B, an online-only furniture resale store targeted at young people seeking inexpensive, stylish home furnishings, won the contest's Most Inventive Award. Its founder, Mat Herman, who is gay, will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the DailyCandy Start Small, Go Big Academy in New York City on Oct. 9 and 10.

"Apt2B really targets a generation of tech-savvy, style-conscious consumers and embodies a culture and voice unlike any other home store," Herman said in an August interview with The Advocate. "Apt2B is not merely an e-commerce site but a lifestyle brand that has huge scalability."

In New York, Herman and the five other winners will have a series of one-on-one mentoring sessions with small business luminaries including interior designer Jonathan Adler, Etsy's Matt Stinchcomb, and TLC'S What Not To Wear hair stylist Ted Gibson, among other big names in food, fashion, and design industries.

Winners are also given some highly-coveted press from DailyCandy, including endorsement and exposure through the site's many platforms.

"Support includes a proverbial 'stamp of approval' from DailyCandy's trendspotting network of editors, an email to DailyCandy's network of subscribers, visibility on the company's website, and promotion to DailyCandy's 1 million plus Twitter followers/fans," according to a DailyCandy press release.

DailyCandy is a website dedicated to finding the latest trends in fashion, food, and urban culture. Its Start Small, Go Big contest was sponsored by small business credit card portfolio Ink from Chase. The DailyCandy editorial team selected 18 finalists who are up-and-coming in their fields, and readers voted for two weeks to choose their six favorites.

Read The Advocate's full August interview with Mat Herman.