Niche E-Commerce in Textbooks: ClassBook CEO Tony Pfister (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  Tony Pfister is the CEO of ClassBook.com, which provides schools and universities with an online bookstore presence with special emphasis on independent primary and secondary schools. Prior to becoming the CEO of ClassBook, Tony was an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has an MBA from the State

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Building a Cross-Border e-Commerce Success Selling to Russia: Bay.Ru CEO Aaron Block (Part 7)

Sramana: How much money have you invested or raised to build this company? Aaron Block: We have raised $2.3 million of angel investment. Sramana: Congratulations, you have done a fantastic job of building a business with very little capital. Aaron Block: I am sure you advise your incubator companies on the value of bootstrapping.

Building a Cross-Border e-Commerce Success Selling to Russia: Bay.Ru CEO Aaron Block (Part 6)

Sramana: Would you say that your shipping algorithm is one of your core competencies? Aaron Block: Our proprietary shipping algorithm is something we think is very special and we covet it. Another interesting aspect of our business is that we have the majority of our operation is in Chicago even though we focus on the

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Building a Cross-Border e-Commerce Success Selling to Russia: Bay.Ru CEO Aaron Block (Part 5)

Sramana: How did the Bay.ru business get off the ground? Did the founders bootstrap or take financing? Aaron Block: They took some loans from friends and family as well as some personal loans. They really bootstrapped the business, and that culture persists today. We consider ourselves a frugal organization. We just reached profitability in March,

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Building a Cross-Border e-Commerce Success Selling to Russia: Bay.Ru CEO Aaron Block (Part 4)

Sramana: When you are buying wholesale, you have enough margin on the sale price to make a decent profit. If you are buying from other retailers, the margins tend to be less interesting. Is your margin with eBay or Amazon acceptable? Aaron Block: There is a market for international goods in Russia. The markup above

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Building a Cross-Border e-Commerce Success Selling to Russia: Bay.Ru CEO Aaron Block (Part 3)

Sramana: It sounds like one of the innovations you have accomplished was creating a wide range of payment options for Russian consumers. Is that a fair statement? Aaron Block: Yes, definitely. It took a significant amount of work to create all of the payment touch points in a way that resounded with the Russian consumer.

Building a Cross-Border e-Commerce Success Selling to Russia: Bay.Ru CEO Aaron Block (Part 2)

Sramana: How does the sales cycle work? Is delivery fulfillment happening in Russia with merchandise stored in Russian warehouses? Aaron Block: We are a middleman in Russia, but in the U.S. we are known as a cross-border e-commerce company. There are a number of players in the cross-border space. The cross-border space means that you

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Building a Cross-Border e-Commerce Success Selling to Russia: Bay.Ru CEO Aaron Block (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  Aaron Block is the CEO of Bay.ru, the first cross-border e-commerce business in Russia and the fastest growing shopping site in Russia. Bay.ru’s growth has been powered by affiliate partnerships with eBay and Amazon which provides Bay.ru an integrated product catalog in a wide range of

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