Abra on Planet of the Apps

Gwyneth Paltrow, an actress well known as Tony Stark's girlfriend Pepper Potts in Marvel's Iron Man and the Avengers series, has joined Abra as an advisor after being chosen by CEO Bill Barhydt during an episode of the Apple's Planet of the Apps.

Airing his episode on Tuesday, the Shark Tank-style series from Apple Music allowed Barhydt to pitch his Bitcoin-based global money transfer app to a panel of four "entrepreneur advisors," including Paltrow. The show, in its first season, allows each app developer to make a 60-second "escalator pitch" to the advisors. If at least one advisor is interested, the developer can choose to work with one over the course of several weeks to prepare the app and a pitch for a round of funding from Lightspeed Ventures, a well-known Silicon Valley VC fund.

Barhydt spent three months working on the filming of the show since late 2016, which wrapped up in early 2017, he detailed on the Abra blog. During that time he had been contractually unable to speak about the show or give any details including Paltrow's involvement until it aired.

The show's other three advisors are New York Times bestselling author Gary Vaynerchuk, actress and entrepreneur Jessica Alba, and musician Will.i.am. All four entrepreneur advisors wanted to help his app, according to Forbes' Laura Shin.

Abra Chose Gwyneth Paltrow

Paltrow and Barhydt working together

"What happened totally blew me away because not only did all four of them get it, but all four were super excited about working with Abra, and I had to choose one person," Barhydt recalled to the publication. "To be honest with you, I didn't think I was going to be put in that situation."