Validating B-to-C Business Ideas and Building to $40M Run Rate: Shaunak Amin, CEO of SnackMagic (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Customer acquisition was all Facebook ads?

Shaunak Amin: Initially it was. We built the waitlist using Facebook ads. Then when we launched, the whole idea of group ordering means that there’s some virality in the product itself. We had this concept where one person could share a link. Those other people could become customers. Just to remind you, it was still centered around dinner at that time. There was no lunch. We launched, but the business wasn’t growing the way I’d like. It didn’t make sense for me.

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From Teen Student Entrepreneur in Australia to a Mature Global E-commerce Entrepreneur: Mike Rosenbaum, CEO of Spacer (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What was your business model? They gave you inventory on consignment and you sold it on eBay. What percentage did you take?

Mike Rosenbaum: I think it was about 15%. We’re talking about high-value goods. Our average item was a couple of thousand dollars. 

Sramana Mitra: It was a substantial transaction size. You said you grew that to about $20 million in four years.

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Validating B-to-C Business Ideas and Building to $40M Run Rate: Shaunak Amin, CEO of SnackMagic (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: How did you pick amongst those ideas?

Shaunak Amin: It’s not so much about the idea. The idea is going to give me the starting point. I wasn’t married to one idea or the other. We created three or four landing pages with different messaging. One was around healthy food coming to your door every day. The other was ordering from different restaurants and coming to you at the same time. The third one was very quick delivery.

From Teen Student Entrepreneur in Australia to a Mature Global E-commerce Entrepreneur: Mike Rosenbaum, CEO of Spacer (Part 1)

Mike started his journey as a 14-year old student entrepreneur, then built a $20M eBay PowerSeller business. Thereafter, he built a $100M e-commerce business. Today, he’s building a two-sided marketplace business. All from Australia. Wonderful story!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go to the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Validating B-to-C Business Ideas and Building to $40M Run Rate: Shaunak Amin, CEO of SnackMagic (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Now we’re approaching the financial crisis right?

Shaunak Amin: Yes. I could have stayed with ING, but there was another opportunity. There was a family office out of Hong Kong looking to open up in New York. I thought it’ll be a good opportunity. I ended up going there right around January 2008. That taught me a lot about starting a financial services firm in New York.

I was one of the first three employees in New York. 2008 was stressful, especially if you were in finance and in New York. That taught me that things could change very quickly. It’s important to be very aware on the macro level. I stuck it out. I learned a lot.