SUCCESSFUL O

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BUSINESSES

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ALCHEMY GOODS

Can be found at Alchemygoods.com

Started out as a handmade messenger bag to replace one that was stolen

Friends and bicycle shops liked the upcycled backpack made out of inner tubes

Demand grew and quality did as well

Creator founded Alchemy Goods as an effect of the demand

Now selling many types of upcycled backpacks on the internet

AMAZON.COM

Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bazos

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington

World’s largest online retailer

Started as an online bookstore but soon expanded to DVDs, VHSs, etc.

Separate websites for United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, China, Mexico and Austria

EBAY.COM

Founded September 3, 1995

Headquartered in San Jose, CA

Started when the founder sold his broken laser pointer for $14.83

Changed name from AuctionWeb to eBay when business started growing

Nowadays, there are hundreds of millions of registered users buying and selling on the website

SANTA MAIL

Can be found at Santamail.org

Sends out a letter from Santa for $9.95, during the Holiday

Open since 2002

Sent out over 325,000 letters to date

JACQUIELAWSON.COM Started by a 62 year old

grandmother in England

Members pay an annual subscription fee to access online greeting cards

Generates $3.6 million a year

Lawson created one online card over 6 weeks and it spread after sending it to her friends

A website was created after people wanted another card , which crashed. Her family members then created a new website and the popularity rose from there.

CRAIGSLIST

Created in 1995

Started as an email distribution list of friends for local events around San Francisco

Began to grow rapidly through word of mouth

An official website was established, craigslist.org , in 1996

Now offered in over 700 cities in 70 countries.

Makes money by charging for job ads in major cities, ranging from $10-$75

YOUTUBE.COM

Founded on Februrary 14, 2005

Started by three former Paypal employees

Within 2 years, it was bought by Google for $1.65 billion

4 billion videos are now streamed per day

Makes hundreds of millions every year through ads

BIZCHAIR.COM

Created by Sean Belnick at the age of 14

Sells office chairs, expected to make $100 million this year

Started as an idea after Belnick maintained the website for his stepfather’s furniture business

Made $30 million within just 5 years of business

MYSOCIALCLOUD.COM Started by Scott Ferreira, a sophomore at USC, and his

sister Stacey, a senior in high school in 2011

MySocialCloud.com helps people to remember usernames and passwords online and also alerts of security breaches

Stacey saw a tweet by Sir Richard Branson about a cocktail party for entrepreneurs in Miami and they reached out

Ended up presenting to Branson and securing an investment from him

SOMETHING STORE

Opened in 2007

For $10 with free shipping, they will send something worth at least what you paid

Shipped over 50,000 items to date

Owner had the idea after looking for a gift for a friend online, wishing someone would pick the gift for him