Miami Beach entrepreneur, husband and father of three killed in a crash with a boat
Aaron Hirschhorn, an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and angel investor, died Sunday in a boating accident near Miami Beach. He was 42.
Hirschhorn had years of experience in venture capital before he launched the dog sitting business DogVacay with his wife, Karine Nissim. His first business, Better You, which launched pre-mobile in 2009, failed.
In a 2020 interview with Startups.com, Hirschhorn said DogVacay was born from his own 10-day trip that resulted in a $1,400 bill for kenneling his two dogs, Rocky and Rambo. On his return, one of his dogs hid under a desk for three days.
“I didn’t understand why we were paying so much to have our dogs stay in a cage, and I have no idea what happened that she was traumatized. It highlighted for us that there was a problem.”
The couple watched dogs for a year in their Santa Monica home before launching the company. Nissim listed Hirschhorn’s services on Yelp as “Aaron’s Dog Boarding.” Weeks later they got their first customer. They would go on to dog-sit more than 100 dogs together at home, along with their own two pups.
“We had the best time,” Hirschhorn shared in a presentation in Miami in 2019. “My wife said she’s never seen me so happy.”
DogVacay went on to raise $47 million and was ultimately acquired by its main competitor, Rover, to become a $1 billion company.
A Gallant venture into a Shark Tank
The Philadelphia native’s most recent venture made it big on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in 2019. Hirschhorn appeared on the popular show to raise funds for his company Gallant, a pet health startup that uses stem cell research to develop regenerative therapies for dogs. He walked away with a half-million dollar investment from Shark Tank investors Lori Greiner and Anne Wojcicki, cofounder and CEO of 23andMe. He brought along puppies for the judges to hold during his pitch.
Hirschhorn and his wife moved their family from Los Angeles to Miami Beach about three years ago, according to Refresh Miami. Nissim, who is also an entrepreneur, is from Miami. Hirschhorn got involved in the local angel community, Miami Angels.
In a presentation at a Refresh Miami event, Hirschhorn advised entrepreneurs of five keys to success: Timing matters. Do less stuff better. Team is critical. Focus on execution and understand your critical metrics. And don’t work with a--holes, it just sucks the life out of you.
Images on his Instagram feed show a family man, watersports enthusiast and dog lover who enjoyed working out. “I play sports and get hurt a lot,” he wrote about himself on his Instagram.
On Sunday, after her husband failed to return from an excursion on his hoverboard, Nissim posted the following on Instagram: “Friends in Miami Beach, who are out on the bay by boat please dm me ASAP.”
Sunday, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the U.S. Coast Guard let them know of a crash in the Meloy Channel near Fifth Street at 1 p.m: a 38-foot Chris-Craft motorboat collided with a personal watercraft.
Hirschhorn was on the watercraft. He died at the scene.
On Monday, his wife posted on Instagram, “My beloved husband of ten years died yesterday in an accident. We are broken and will never be the same.”
Hirschhorn is survived by his wife and their three young children: a daughter in kindergarten, a son in first grade and a son in second grade.
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 5:07 PM.
