Building a $10M Company Proctoring Exams Online: Don Kassner, CEO of ProctorU (Part 7)

Don Kassner: It remains to be seen if it’s going to break out the way that it used to break out. For us, we’ve been very happy with the success that we’ve had in growing this from nothing to a $10 million a year company. You were talking about getting entrepreneurs to that first million

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Bootstrapping to $13 Million in 4 Years in Niche E-commerce: Pavel Sokolovsky, CEO of eComfort.com (Part 1)

We continue to be bullish about niche e-commerce as a category to build sustainable businesses in. This story is a further illustration of the trend. Sramana: Pavel, let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where are you from? What is the genesis of your entrepreneurial aspirations? Pavel Sokolovsky: I was born in Minsk, Belarus.

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Building a $10M Company Proctoring Exams Online: Don Kassner, CEO of ProctorU (Part 6)

Don Kassner: If you think about proctoring itself, integrity is critical. It’s a service. We’re providing service to both the student and to the institution. It’s important that it’s simple because they’re remote. They’re on their own device. People need to be able to understand the process. There’s the people side of it and that’s

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Bootstrapping a Category Leading E-commerce Company: Tony Ellison, CEO of Shoplet (Part 7)

Sramana: I would imagine you are using the private label strategy to drive margins up, correct? That is one of the levers that you can push. Tony Ellison: Yes, that is correct. Sramana: What categories offer you the best levers for your private label strategy?

Building a $10M Company Proctoring Exams Online: Don Kassner, CEO of ProctorU (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: The large state universities are adopting this? Don Kassner: Yes, it’s typically large state universities. There’re some private universities in there as well. Generally speaking, you’re going to see most of it in the lower level, general administration courses where examinations and assessments are more critical. As you get in deep to any

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Bootstrapping a Category Leading E-commerce Company: Tony Ellison, CEO of Shoplet (Part 6)

Sramana: You have crossed a lot of categories that are not traditional for your market area. What was the strategy behind that decision? Tony Ellison: We are the first in our industry to cross the traditional lines of office supplies and offer many unconventional products that businesses need. This is important because we cater to

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Building a $10M Company Proctoring Exams Online: Don Kassner, CEO of ProctorU (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: So the shareholders of Andrew Jackson came in as separate investors into the new entity, ProctorU? Don Kassner: That is correct. Sramana Mitra: So that’s how ProctorU was funded? Don Kassner: Yes.

Bootstrapping a Category Leading E-commerce Company: Tony Ellison, CEO of Shoplet (Part 5)

Sramana: Tell me a bit more about merchandising. Outside of the core office supplies, what else belonged in your product portfolio? Tony Ellison: Today, we have close to 600,000 items with a mantra of social responsibility. There is no reason why businesses should not purchase eco-friendly products, especially since the prices have dropped and the

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