Whenever we experienced a major milestone in the business, good or bad, Gabby would say, ‘This one's for the book!’, without every really knowing if there'd be a book.

Well, now there is, and fortunately, we've got a few photos to accompany it to help paint the picture of how we started and where we ended.

This book was written during COVID‐19 and was released in November 2020. We wrote it during the lockdown, which gave us a lot of time to reflect on what we've done, what we've learned and who the key people were that helped us along the way.

We had a million stories to tell and tried our best to pick and choose the best ones that you would find interesting, or at least instructive. We had to cull many, and as much as we think there's room for a sequel (Fifty Shades of Catch, anyone?), we wanted to give you the highlights and the lowlights, and leave out the bits‐in‐between because it's the extremes that made our journey interesting.

We started with nothing; we ended with something. Money, yes, but more than that, we ended with friendships that have stood the test of time. Friendships that have been forged through the good times and the bad times. This is our opportunity to thank all those people: friends, workmates, suppliers, competitors and everyone else who accompanied us on this journey of a lifetime.

Firstly, we would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to Bernadette Schwerdt, our ghost‐writer, for all her help in making this book possible. Thank you for sitting with us for hundreds of hours, for helping us sift through the 200 000+ words we’ve written over the years, and for guiding us through the writing and publishing process that enabled us to find our voice, shape the narrative, and craft the stories that make up this book.

We would also like to thank the team at Wiley for their belief and support in this project from the very start. Special thanks to Lucy Raymond, Chris Shorten, Sandra Balonyi, Ingrid Bond, Bronwyn Evans and the team at Wiley for believing in this project and enabling us to share our story with the world. Thanks, guys, for making us ‘published authors’!

Thank you also to the following friends for helping us proofread the book: Ido Lefler, Lance Kalish, Paul Greenberg, and Adir Shifman; to Jason Toon for some great writing; to Sadya Liberow from Creativecorner.com.au for the front cover design; to Luke Honey for photography; and to Ramoncito Abella for banner design.

A big thank you once again to our thousands of suppliers and service providers. This business is built on your support.

Thank you also to the first group that believed and invested in us back in 2011: Lee Fixel, Jason Lenga, James Packer, Andrew and Paul Bassat and Glenn Poswell.

And thank you to Jin Wang for the great book website, and to Debbie McInnes from DMCPR Media for the great PR for the book.

We cannot emphasise enough the importance and value of balancing work life with your family life and friendship. We wish that our grandparents were here to see us now, and this book is dedicated to them in so many ways.

Thank you to our parents Aaron and Edith, and sister Einat, for a childhood that every kid dreams of in the streets of Nahariya, Israel, and for giving us the tools to succeed.

Thank you to our close friends who have been there for us through the ups and downs, and those times when we needed them most.

We would like to thank Guy Biran (again!!) and Joe Zhao from JM Partners; and a big thank you to Paul Thorpe Apps, Quentin Miller, and Jason Bagg from Intrinsic Partners, Steven Klein and Joshua Heard from SBA Law, Jeremy Goldman from KCL Law and Nick Sims from Goldman Sachs.

Most importantly, we'd like to thank those who are closest to us and who have made all of this possible: our wives, Amanda and Lina. There were so many shaky moments and sleepless nights when things could have gone the wrong way, but they stuck with us throughout the journey and have been towers of strength and support throughout. We cannot thank them enough.

We'd like to thank our children, the pride of our lives, Liron, Shira and Miri (Gabby's children) and Daniel, Liam and Meital (Hezi's children), for giving us the strength to fight on and surf the stormy waves of entrepreneurship. When times were tough and we questioned our purpose, we'd say to each other, ‘We are doing this for our kids’ and that alone gave us the strength to carry on. Some are old enough to remember the journey, while others are too young, and we hope that this book will help them understand the reasons why their fathers are who they are. Keep your minds open, and be kind always—do what you love, and love what you do, and the rest will fall into place. We love you all so much.

Our families have all experienced the high and lows of building the company, and have had to endure years of talking to husbands and fathers who were not really listening or were just preoccupied with building the next big thing. They deserve a gold medal for that!

We have loved every moment of creating this book and feel blessed to be in a position to write it. We truly hope that you have enjoyed it too, and take from it the knowledge and wisdom you need to create the business of your dreams.

Let's continue the conversation at catchofthedecade.com.