My brands & Investments
Summary of the brands I have founded along with a list of companies I have invested in.
While living in NYC, I met a guy who owned one of the largest wipes manufacturing plants in the USA. We met up regularly and geeked out about the wipes business (riveting, I know). There was a need in the marketplace for a sanitizing wipe that was effective at killing bacteria yet easy on the skin without that harsh chemical-y smell. Within a year we developed and launched the perfect sanitizing wipe: extra large, super soft, moisturizing, with a light-as-a-feather citrus fresh scent. Our wipes attracted the likes of Kim Kardashian who posted a pic of Softy Wipes as one of her “festival essentials” for Coachella. Read more about my quirky development of this product here. Yours truly pictured there as well as the homepage. www.softy.com
I’ve been obsessed with movie theater popcorn since I was a kid. Every week I’d ride my bike to the local theater and see the same movies repeatedly just so I could eat the popcorn. At the time, make-at-home popcorn options were limited to air poppers (healthy but tasteless) and microwavable popcorn (unhealthy and chemically tasting). My team and I set out to develop a popcorn pack that tastes exactly like movie theater popcorn that can be cooked at home. Franklin’s Gourmet Popcorn was born. www.franklinsgourmet.com
Guardline took nearly two years to develop what we hoped to become the most reliable driveway alarm in the world. Our product is now ranked one of the top rated and best selling driveway alarms online. Over 250,000 customers and counting. www.guardlinesecurity.com
The website that launched my online business career! I started selling gumballs at school when I was 12 years old. Years later, I started a gumball machine vending route in the Pacific Northwest. I developed relationships with a handful of vending machine manufacturers and started selling gumball machines on Ebay. I used the profits from my Ebay sales to purchase the domain name and develop/launch the e-commerce store. Gumballs.com grew to become one of the largest online vending machine retailers in the world at the time. www.gumballs.com
I’m so obsessed with chocolate that I bought the domain with some partners and built a business around it. It was a tough business to run (expensive shipping, low margin, highly perishable product) and we eventually decided to divest ourselves of operations and sell the domain. www.chocolate.com
Years ago, I had the opportunity to buy this undeveloped domain name. I really knew nothing about the outdoor furniture business at the time. I hired an operations manager to source product and oversee the business. It turned out to be a very complex and difficult business to run profitably so I decided to sell Wicker.com a handful of years later. Although the business was a failure, I consider the experience a resounding success since the gentleman I hired to oversee operations now serves as my COO and is an indispensable part of my organization. Classic example of how perceived failures can sometimes lead to incredible opportunities and success. www.wicker.com