In 2022, Mena Barakat and Sarah Goldring were friends, living in New York City and working in finance. Both women loved to eat out at the city’s buzziest restaurants, but had different approaches when it came to the whole planning ahead part.

“Mena is the type of person who knows all the hottest reservations to get and always makes them a month in advance,” Goldring says, “and I was the type of person who would text her every Friday and say, Hey, do you have an extra reservation for me and my friends?” 

The friends spotted potential in a service that facilitated reservation trades and helped diners avoid last-minute cancellation fees. So, in 2022, they launched their business ResX, a reservation swap platform.

The pair rolled the concept out via an Instagram account, which “exploded,” Goldring recalls, with thousands of users in a matter of months. 

The business resonated with people frustrated by the available alternatives at the time: essentially paying a lot of money or cheating the system with bots, both of which the co-founders “hate conceptually.”  “For us, it’s about regular people starting a business for regular people so that we can all just enjoy restaurants again and bring spontaneity back,” Goldring says. 

ResX’s first Valentine’s Day and an influx of DMs

Soon after the duo’s Instagram account gained traction, ResX contended with its first Valentine’s Day — naturally, one of the biggest days for last-minute reservations. The co-founders considered it their “Super Bowl.” They woke up at 6 a.m., laid out their meals and snacks for the day, and even scheduled bathroom breaks to ensure someone could answer the phone at all times. 

Users would DM the account with the reservation they wanted to trade, and the co-founders would post it as an Instagram story, including a photo of the restaurant, and the time of the reservation and how many people it could accommodate. 

On the backend, Barakat and Goldring created a database to track all of the information. “It was  a logistical nightmare, especially when you’re dealing with 150 reservations in one day,” Barakat says. “Our screen time that day was like 13 hours.”  

The value in obsessing over the customer experience

That dedication is what’s always set ResX apart from businesses with similar concepts, the co-founders note. 

“ We’re obsessive about the customer experience, especially on Valentine’s Day,” Goldring explains. “We wanted every single one of those reservations to be perfect. So we were really handholding each of them. Because, at the time, there wasn’t that much infrastructure around it to make sure everyone had the best experience.” 

Over the course of that first Valentine’s Day, the co-founders received a flood of DMs from people facing common predicaments. There were girlfriends who didn’t like the reservation their boyfriends had made and wanted to find an alternative. There where men who had waited too long to make a reservation and needed a quick fix. There were even women who had made secret reservations in case their boyfriends forgot — and when their boyfriends came through, they needed Barakat and Goldring’s help getting rid of the backups to avoid costly cancellation fees. 

“They would DM us and be like, ‘We have four reservations today that we’re not using. Don’t tell my boyfriend. Please give these away or help somebody else,’” Goldring recalls. “It was hilarious. We were cracking up the whole day.” 

Strong product-market fit sets the stage for growth

With such strong demand and product-market fit, Barakat and Goldring knew it was time to move the business off Instagram. ResX had generated revenue on Instagram via its premium tier, so the co-founders used that income to develop the business’s app. One of their loyal users with a software engineering background helped them do it. ResX also incorporated a lot of community feedback into the app’s features. 

The app allows people to submit reservations and all of the pertinent details — around prepaid deposits, cancellation fees, etc., which is verified before the reservation is uploaded. Then, someone can claim the reservation and become liable for those fees. Submitters and claimers are also able to contact each other if necessary: for instance, if the claimer is running late for the reservation. 

Users who want early access to reservations can sign up for the company’s premium subscription tier, which costs $14.99 per month. 

ResX features a curated feed of trending restaurants

Additionally, ResX only features reservations that are sold out elsewhere, which translates into an in-real-time, curated feed of which restaurants are trending in New York and London, the company’s second market. The co-founders have heard from friends that some people browse the app not to submit or claim a reservation, but just to see what’s popular.

The ResX team remains lean with four people on its roster. As the business gears up for this Valentine’s Day, it’s preparing for another busy day.

Unlike in 2023, however, ResX’s Valentine’s Day 2026 will have the major advantage of automation. As of Wednesday, February 11, ResX had already facilitated 50 reservations for Saturday, even before the “prime period” of cancellations and swaps to come. The co-founders expect hundreds of reservation bookings on Saturday. 

Additionally, on Valentine’s Day, ResX anticipates the number of subscription sign-ups to position it for $1 million in annual recurring revenue, based on the company’s current run rate.

Looking forward, Barakat and Goldring envision ResX expanding well beyond restaurant reservations. The business has already helped people book helicopter rides, Broadway shows, ballet performances and more. 

“The best advice I’ve ever gotten is, ‘Always listen to your users,’” Barakat says. “We built ResX with restaurant reservations in mind, but our users are using it for all sorts of things. We want it to be the one-stop shop. This is transferable to any in-demand experience that exists, so we’re excited to continue building on that.”

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