Ben Federman

Ben Federman
Born 1983
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Residence Miami Lakes, Florida
Nationality  United States
Known for founding 1SaleADay
Website
1SaleADay.com

Ben Federman (born 1983), an American entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of 1SaleADay, a large deal website.[1] He has subsequently founded other online deal sites, including Ben's Outlet, Dynamite Time, and Shadora.[2] He donates half of his companies' earnings to charity.[3]

Early life

Federman was born in 1983 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a child, he has stated “I was the guy selling stuff in the hallways of school. In the fourth grade I had a business selling candy to kids. I’d buy it for 10 cents and sell it for 50 cents.’’ He dropped out of school in 8th grade,[2] later earning his high school equivalency degree.[4] He joined the United States Army at 18 and served a tour of combat in Afghanistan.[5]

Career

After his military service,[5] he moved to Brooklyn and began working at a small electronics retailer.[1] He became familiar with profit margins for electronics,[6] then worked as a sales representative in web sales.[7] He has stated “I used to spend a lot of time checking out big shopping sites like Amazon.com. It dawned on me that, if you featured just one or two items at a time, you could get great volume pricing.”[5]

1SaleADay

In mid-2007,[8] he launched the online company 1SaleADay from his apartment living room. Every 24 hours the company offers items discounted 80-90% off retail in the categories of electronics, watches, jewelry, and household goods.[1] He started with one employee,[6] and $200,000.00 in funding.[5]

He initially went to trade shows for much of his bargain merchandise.[1] For the first year and a half, he purposely did not make money off a single item (loss leading).[7] He occasionally offered items for free, and the site's popularity increased via word of mouth[4] and social media.[1]

After two years,[2] the company began to turn a profit.[6] As of July 2011 it sells up to 30,000 items a day, and has revenues of $60 million.[1] As of September 2011, the website was one of the top most visited 500 websites,[9] with over 150 million visitors per year[3] and half a million a day.[2]

Octagon Commerce

In 2009 he began founding other online deal sites under his parent company Octagon Commerce.[2] As of October 2011 they include Ben's Outlet for electronics, Shadora for jewelry, Dynamite Time for watches,[4] PaperGoods for paper, and GlassesUnlimited for eyeglasses.[6]

In late 2010, Octagon Commerce[1] received a multi-million investment from Optima Ventures,[6] a Miami-based private equity firm.[2] In mid-2011, Federman began moving the firm to Miami Lakes, Southern Florida.[2]

Media presence

He interacts with customers via the 1SaleADay Facebook page,[8] which as of September 2011 had over 300,000 fans.[3] In Fall of 2011 he was highlighted as one of Entrepreneur Magazine's young millionaires of 2011.[6][10] He was interviewed on Fox Business in 2011.[11] He has also been featured in The New York Times,[12] The Examiner,[8] Crain's New York Business,[5] PBS Nightly Business Report,[10] New York Daily News,[1] and The Miami Herald.[2]

Personal life

In 2010 he donated more than half his companies' net earnings to charity:[5] primarily educational outreach programs, homeless shelters, children with special needs, multicultural community events and military affiliated charities.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Lazarowitz, Elizabeth (July 18, 2011). "1SaleADay.com founder Ben Federman consciously lost money for betterment of Internet startup". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Cordle, Ina Paiva (October 20, 2011). "Daily sale site 1SaleADay moves to Miami Lakes". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Young Jr., Don (September 22, 2011). "A One on One with Ben Federman – Founder and CEO of 1SaleADay.com". Daily Deal Media. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Goh, Daniel (February 10, 2011). "A Chat With Ben Federman of 1SaleADay.com". Young Upstarts. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Fisher, Anne (November 12, 2010). "Cashing in on the 'new frugality'". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Morgan, Gwen (September 5, 2011). "1SaleADay.com's Ben Federman and the Value of a Daily Steal". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Building A Better Shopping Site, 1SaleADay - Interview with Ben Federman". Benzinga Staff. February 7, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Taylor, Jennifer (May 12, 2011). "Kings of engagement: building Facebook Fan base to 89,000+ users in 4 months". Examiner.
  9. ↑ "1SaleaDay". Alexa. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "PBS Nightly Business Report - Ben Federman". Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  11. ↑ 1SaleADay.com Fox Business (August 6, 2011)
  12. ↑ Ha, Anthony (March 1, 2011). "Daily Deals Site 1SaleaDay Raises Tens of Millions". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-10-22.

External links