Shopify held a contest for top Entrepreneurs using their e-commerce platform, winners were treated to a week of celebrity mentoring combined with a jaw dropping experience produced by luxury event specialists, Karyn Michael Events. Ten brilliant winners whose company names are listed below received red carpet treatment from beginning to end, one winner described it as “the experience of a lifetime”.
The week-long event began with a private dining experience at Zuma in NYC Sunday night, Monday morning the winners rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and were each flown by helicopter from NYC to Oheka Castle in Huntington, NY where the real fun began!
CELEBRITY MENTORS INCLUDED:
Tony Robbins - Author, entrepreneur, philanthropist and life coach. Robbins is known for his infomercials, seminars, and self-help books including Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within. Robbins is the founder of several companies that earn approximately $6 billion in annual sales.
Daymond John - Daymond Garfield John is an American businessman, investor, television personality, author, and motivational speaker. He is best known as the founder, president, and CEO of FUBU, and appears as an investor on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank.
Russell Simmons - Russell Wendell Simmons is an American entrepreneur, record producer, and author. The chair and CEO of Rush Communications, he co-founded the hip-hop music label Def Jam Recordings and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons's net worth is estimated at $340m.
Marie Forleo - Marie Forleo is an American life coach, motivational speaker, author and web television host of Marie TV. She is the owner of Marie Forleo International, B-School and MarieTV.
Tim Ferriss - Timothy Ferriss is an American podcaster, author, entrepreneur and early-stage tech startup investor. Tim Ferriss has penned several books including The 4-Hour Workweek which is a NYT Bestselling business book. Tim Ferriss hosts a podcast called The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 300 million downloads.
Troy Carter - Troy Carter is an American music manager who is the founder, chairman and CEO of Atom Factory, a talent management and full-service film and television production company. He was the global head of creator services at Spotify. Troy has an estimated net worth of $60m.
Tom Farley - Thomas W. Farley is an American banker. He serves as the CEO of Far Point Acquisition Corp. He previously served as the president of the NYSE Group, including the New York Stock Exchange.
Tobi Lutke - Tobi Lütke is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Shopify. In 2004, Tobi began building software to launch an online snowboard store called Snowdevil. It quickly became obvious that the software was more valuable than the snowboards, so Tobi and his founding team launched the Shopify platform in 2006. He has served as CEO since 2008 at the company’s headquarters in Ottawa, Canada.
THE BIG WINNERS:
Carbon 6: Founded by John Paul Easley manufactures carbon fiber wedding rings from his workshop in Brooklyn, New York. John launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund his idea, generating nearly $409,000 from 3,451 backers.
Nora : A smart, non-invasive noring solution invented by Ali Hariri and manufactured by his sons Behrouz and Behzad. Funded via a Kickstarter that brought in more than $1 million in pre-orders from more than 40 countries.
Happy Trunk Apparel: Emily Wilford and John Wedel were inspired to start their company after a trip to Thailand where they visited an Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. Their retail website offers bohemian jewelry and apparel inspired by the Elephants and contributes a percentage of their significant sales to the elephant nature park that inspired it all.
iSwegway: Based in Lancashire, England founder Asad Saddique’s website is the UK’s largest online swegway hoverboard retailer.
Best Self Co.: Business Partners Cathryn Lavery and Allen Bouwer are a power house team and founders of Best Self Co. offering organizational tools for like minded professionals. They successfully funded their Kickstarter campaign in less than 28 hours, raising over $322,000 in 34 days and have experienced significant growth since the companies launch.
Tushy: Founder Miki Agrawal and inventor of “Tushy” an an attachment that turns any toilet into a bidet. believes the use of a bidet vs toilet paper is healthier, and reduces waste. It takes 15 million trees to make a year’s worth of toilet paper—that’s like cutting down every tree in New York City’s Central Park each day.
Reservoir: Best Friends Alissa Jacob and Aliza Zelin Neidich are the creators of Los Angeles based Reservoir a one stop shopping destination for everything from womens clothing and accessories to unique gifts and housewares.
Tecovas Founded by native Texan Paul Hedrick started the first direct to consumer cowboy boot brand. Instead of the industry standard, which charges $400-$600 USD a pair, Tecovas start at $195 making his boots far more accessible to the average consumer.
