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.

Validating B-to-C Business Ideas and Building to $40M Run Rate: Shaunak Amin, CEO of SnackMagic (Part 1)

Shaunak does a wonderful job of explaining how he validated various B-to-C business ideas and built successful businesses.

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

19 Udemy Courses on How To Build a Startup in India

There are now thousands of entrepreneurs in India, and many more Indians are starting their own businesses as we speak. Even with mistakes, disappointments, and setbacks, all things considered, startup founders continue to want to realize their ambitions, no matter what.

Bootstrapping a Two-Sided Marketplace: Mort Fertel, CEO of SudShare (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: So, from 2017 to about 2020, that’s the phase when you crossed the million dollar milestone. Then COVID accelerated your situation. What happened?

Mort Fertel: On the customer side, I mentioned what happened there. It’s a hypothesis. I can’t prove it. I think that with life being so precious and that idea being so in the front of people’s minds, people have become more intentional about how they want to spend their time. Laundry is just this burdensome task that we just have to get done. If you can present them with an alternative like we have, they’d rather spend time with their kids and spouses.

Bootstrapping a Two-Sided Marketplace: Mort Fertel, CEO of SudShare (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: I’ve got two nuggets out of your initial story. One is using Indeed to get some of the sell side going. Then really building in virality into the app. On the buy side, laundry services Google keyword search. I take it you were self-funding this company. 

Mort Fertel: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: The business model is a commission on the transaction size?

Bootstrapping a Two-Sided Marketplace: Mort Fertel, CEO of SudShare (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What about on the sell side?

Mort Fertel: It might be interesting to note that the first sudsters – what we call the washers – were my wife and I. That didn’t last long. That’s how we started. The key to the growth of the platform has been the same thing. Create a phenomenal experience for the workers and they will tell their friends and family. It’s been primarily word of mouth.

Bootstrapping a Two-sided Marketplace: Mort Fertel, CEO of SudShare (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Who built the company? You or your son?

Mort Fertel: Both. We’re co-founders.

Sramana Mitra: The idea sounds great. It came out of your personal observation of your wife’s woes with laundry. It sounds like your son has the technical expertise. What was he doing at that time when he decided to put together this app?