Bootstrapping A 100M+ E-Commerce Company: OpticsPlanet CEO Mark Levitin (Part 4)

Sramana: Your second market segment, which you call your ‘heroes’ segment, is very interesting because it would seem to be one that could be B2C and B2B. Mark Levitin: Yes, we have individuals who work professionally in those areas who will make purchases from us on their own accord, as well as fire departments or

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Bootstrapping A 100M+ E-Commerce Company: OpticsPlanet CEO Mark Levitin (Part 3)

Sramana: Did you own LOMO America Inc, and did you make LOMO America Inc an investor in OpticsPlanet.com? Mark Levitin: I did not have 100% ownership. I was a shareholder. LOMO America Inc was not an investor in OpticsPlanet.com. I funded it personally with some other partners.

Feb. 23: 117th FREE Online 1M/1M Roundtable For Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 117th FREE online 1M/1M roundtable on Thursday, February 23, 2012, at 8:00 a.m. PST/11:00 a.m. EST/9:30 p.m. IST. If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch” and sell your business idea to Sramana Mitra. You’ll gain constructive feedback and she’ll answer any of your questions. Others can “attend” to

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Bootstrapping A 100M+ E-Commerce Company: OpticsPlanet CEO Mark Levitin (Part 2)

Sramana: How long did you operate as an importer and distributor of LOMO? Mark Levitin: We did that for a number of years and grew the business to a point where it generated $10 million in revenue. It was a combination of product development and wholesale distribution. We never sold direct, which is very important

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Roundtable Recap: February 16 – What’s Happening In Turkey?

As we were chit-chatting with the audience before kicking off today’s roundtable, an angel investor, Can Atacik, from Istanbul introduced himself. It was timely, because Turkey has been on my mind for a while, and I am very interested in learning more about what’s happening in Turkey in terms of entrepreneurship. So, readers, if you

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116th Roundtable Recording On February 16

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording

116th Roundtable Starting NOW, Live Tweeting By @1Mby1M

Today’s 116th FREE online 1M/1M roundtable for entrepreneurs is starting NOW, on Thursday, February 16, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/9:30 p.m. IST. Click here to join.

1M/1M Video: How Long Can You Keep Dreaming?

Folks, We’ve all been working very, very hard. Time to laugh a little … We’ve launched the 1M/1M Comic Strip based on our experience working with entrepreneurs for the past few years. Hope you have as much fun with it as we’re having creating these. Oh, and who’s we? That would be Sramana Mitra, Irina

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