Luke Economou is a Greek/American young entrepreneur who goes to UC Santa Barbara. Luke was born in Connecticut but has lived around half of his life in Santa Monica, California, before moving to Santa Barbara this past year for school. I consider Luke to be one of my closest friends from back home as we have known each other for almost 10 years now (ever since he moved to Los Angeles) and have built a brother-like relationship. Luke has always had a passion for fashion and is one of the most innovative and entrepreneurial-minded individuals I have met. Similar to me, Luke graduated high school right after the COVID pandemic hit in 2020. He was originally planning to attend UCSB right away but instead decided to attend a local community college online. It was during this time that he started his designer/streetwear brand, Madman. Luke’s vision with Madman is to provide extremely stylish and luxury clothing that blends the culture of Los Angeles with our inner “madman.” The moto for his brand is, “What’s done in the dark, must come to light.” Luke wanted to establish a culture around his brand so that when people acquired his fashion pieces, they became part of the Madman family. Luke has been selling his product mostly through his online store, https://madmanlosangeles.com/, but has also initiated multiple pop-up stores in various locations around Los Angeles. Most notably, Luke held pop-up stores and events several times in the renowned shopping mall, The Beverly Center, at the Lost Warhol’s concept store. Madman was featured on the Beverly Center’s main attraction screen and has received overwhelmingly positive feedback on his brand’s design, message, culture, comfortability, uniqueness, and much more.
Archive for Shopping
Twelve Oaks Boutique is a small little boutique in my hometown in Wapakoneta, Ohio. This little shop was started by two women who were originally teachers but were inspired to start their own boutique. They already had an occupation, but they saw a need in my small town for a cute little boutique where women can get cute clothing apparel. Many teachers want cute and practical outfits to wear to school, and because they were teachers, they knew firsthand what women and teachers like to wear. They are unique because they did not have any background knowledge on how to start a business, they researched what they needed to do and took action. What drives them is to bring joy into people’s lives through these clothes and you can tell they care about every customer. Their business is interesting because they are very small, but they also have a website where you can order the clothes online and then either have them delivered to your house or pick up in the store. They demonstrate the drive of entrepreneurship because they are self-driven, and they are always trying new things and trends. They are innovating through buying and reselling clothes and other products for a more expensive price, but it is more convenient because customers are able to purchase online and try items on in the store.
Mikaila Ulmer is a 17-year-old girl who started her own lemonade business at a very young age. The business idea started after young Mikaila got stung by a bee and wanted to learn more about bees to overcome her fear of them. At age 4, she started a business by creating a very small lemonade stand. Very quickly, this turned into the business “Me & the Bees” as a result.
Mikaila is widely successful, at just age 9, she struck an $11 million distribution deal with US supermarket giants Whole Foods Market. Mikaila has also been invited to the White House twice, featured on Good Morning America, NBC News, Forbes Magazine, and Time Magazine for her entrepreneurial success. Mikaila is very busy; she juggles school, her business, and public speaking. The unique thing about her business is that 10% of her brand’s proceeds are donated to bee conservation charities. It is amazing how she used a challenge of hers (getting stung by a bee) to learn more about it and start up a profitable and charitable business.
Mikaila’s lemonade recipe is unique because it comes from her great Grandmother Helen’s flaxseed lemonade. It is fresh-squeezed, and each bottle is made with care. Her family has a huge part in helping her business thrive. As an extension to her business, Mikaila has created a “Bee-to-Z guide” for young entrepreneurs. Here, young entrepreneurs can find inspiration, business tips, and more to make their big ideas come to life. A very inspirational quote from Mikaila reads, “My generation—we’re the future,” Mikaila says. “When we grow up, we’re going to be the people who are the presidents and the leaders of the world. […] If we start at a young age making a difference, donating back, giving back, when we grow up we can do that on a larger scale.” Mikaila’s business proves that, just like the bees, you are never too small to make a difference.
The 9 Most Successful Teen Entrepreneurs in the World (careeraddict.com)
Mikaila Ulmer of Me & the Bees Lemonade | Microsoft In Culture
The story of Groupon and its main entrepreneur is a dramatic one. Andrew Mason was a web designer paid by tech billionaire Eric Lefkofsky to drop out of grad school and start a business. With his prior experience and classic dropping-out-of-college storyline, Andrew was heading down the road of successful entrepreneurship.
Although he had built enough reputation to warrant a million dollar investment from a former employer, Mason was still in uncharted territory. In an interview with the Gimlet podcast, Mason had said “In the early days we would buy a bunch of academic books on collective action, and me and the other people there would just sit around and read.” The book learning was effective, but there were still some trial and error steps along the way.
While still figuring out what genre of value Groupon would provide its users, Mason and his partners had a few tries and guesses and trips. The original point was to provide an area for people to come up with an idea and go into it together. “I have a plan, but I’m not going to go through with it unless a lot of people do it with me.” Early on, they would seed ideas out to the public and see if they would take. Business was slow, and eventually the users started coming up with their own ideas.
This caused Mason to risk losing his funding; unless he could find an avenue that would provide steady usage and income, Groupon would be shut down. Mason eventually landed on group discount. Groupon sold retail discounts, giving a cut of each sale to the business providing it. Starting off by manually distributing and building relationships Groupon ended up growing faster than Apple, Google, and Facebook. Though he is no longer a part of Groupon, Andrew Mason continues to work as a successful entrepreneur.
Background:
Andrew was born on October 22, 1980 in Pittsburgh, PA. From a young age of 15, Mason had an entrepreneurial spirit as he started a weekend bagel-delivery service called Bagel Express.
Later on in his life in 2003, Mason graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor’s degree in music. Finding no work in that field, he took a job as a software developer at InnerWorkings, Inc., and met the company’s founder, Eric Lefkofsky.
Then in 2006, Mason earned a scholarship to attend the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy after creating Policy Tree, a visualization tool for policy debates.
The Beginning of Groupon:
Also in 2006, Mason created The Point which was an Internet-based program designed to organize grassroots action for a given cause.
In 2007 Mason searched for a way to make a profit from The Point by exploring the concept of collective buying. In 2008 he founded and opened Groupon with Lefkofsky and Mason became the company’s chief executive officer.
By negotiating deep discounts on vendors’ products and services, Groupon tried to link vendors with new customers through its signature “deal of the day” for a spotlighted product or service. Groupon profited from each sale by receiving up to 50 percent of the retail value of the product or service.
By 2012 Groupon had grown from a few dozen workers to over 12,000, and it was operating in more than 150 U.S. cities and more than 40 countries.
Groupon’s Success and Downfall:
In June 2011 Mason announced his plan to take the company public. In November the initial public offering allowed Groupon to raise $700 million, which raised Mason’s net worth to $1 billion and increased Groupon’s value to $12.7 billion. By August 2012, however, Groupon’s stock had plummeted 75 percent, and in February 2013 Mason was “forced” out of the CEO position.
Even though the company eventually failed, Mason still had a big success in this company and made a lot of money in the process. Before Groupon’s downfall, Google offered to buy the company for $6 billion, but Mason wanted the company to go public and he wanted to hold onto his creation. He wasn’t affraid of failure which is key to entrepreneurship.