Ben is the 25-year-old founder and CEO of Quirky. His entrepreneurial journey started during his senior year of high school with a second mortgage on his parents’ house and the founding of an iPod accessory company called mophie. Shortly after mophie won “Best of Show” at MacWorld 2006, Ben discovered his passion for involving people around the world in the development of new consumer products. The rapid growth of the mophie brand led to its acquisition in August of 2007, which allowed Ben to focus his efforts on bringing his idea of ‘social product development’ to the next level. After two years of research and development on the unique technology platform that became the foundation of his future work, Ben publicly launched Quirky in June of 2009. A passionate and opinionated speaker, Ben talks Quirky, products and design to audiences around the world. His work has landed him in hundreds of newspapers (New York Times, USA Today, New York Observer), magazines (Business Week, Entrepreneur, WIRED) and TV networks (CNBC, FOX Business News, The Today Show). In 2007, Inc Magazine named Ben the top entrepreneur in the country under the age of 30. He was 20 at the time. Other than participating in the development of awesome new products, Ben’s favorite things include his niece Lily, Jay-Z, cool kicks and black t-shirts.
Quotes of Ben Kaufman
1. On School
“I just didn’t give a s—t. I didn’t care. It was a f—k the process kind of thing.”
2. On Talking About His Past
“I don’t think about this backwards s—t a lot.”
3. On Bird Feeders
“If someone bought me a bird feeder, I would punch the s—t out of them.”
4. On Quirky’s Business Model
“It’s just slinging boxes.”
5. On Getting Rid Of Quirky’s $10 Invention Submission Fee
“I guess we just don’t like money.”
6. On Getting Rid of Quirky’s $10 Invention Submission Fee, Cont’d
“I also think there’s some f—ked up s—t that happens in companies. Once you start making money on the inventors, you start realizing how much easier it is to make money on the inventors than it is to make money selling the products.”
7. On Choosing Investors
“I want to make sure I have good people on my board who aren’t going to f—k with me.”
8. On Raising Money
“Every time we’ve raised money, the three months prior to that were, ‘Holy s—t! There’s a big opportunity and we can’t seize it!’”
9. On Opening Quirky Stores in Manhattan
“I don’t want to only put a store in Manhattan, because then it’s going to look like we’re just making invention accessible to a bunch of frou-frou New Yorkers.”
10. On Quirky’s Culture of Urgency
“Constraints bring out the best in people. The first fighter jet was invented in 143 days because people were dropping bombs on our ass. Now Boeing spends 10 years and $10 billion increasing efficiency by 7%.”
BY SHWETA TIWARI
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