Founder's Friday: Privy

Who are the faces behind a company? How did the company get started? These are common question you may have about startups you see and hear about. If you don't get a chance to personally meet the founders, you're unlikely to ever know their story. That's what Founder Fridays is all about.

Today we're featuring Ben Jabbawy of Privy, a startup that is turning around the deals space

1) What is your current Startup? (Name & URL)

Privy www.getprivy.com

2) What's the elevator pitch? 

Privy is developing a self-service, online promotional platform for merchants. Our service empowers merchants in three ways: we help drive additional traffic to their websites, convert more of their web traffic into first time customers using pre-paid deals and gift certificates, and help them re-market to newly acquired customers.  No monthly payments or upfront cost.

I come from a family full of entrepreneurs, so I had seen the ups and downs from an early age. It really hit me while studying at Cornell. I took an intro to Entrepreneurship class in which successful alumni would come share their experiences. The class formally introduced me to the startup world, and was ultimately what drove me to pursue my first few job.

My father always stressed the importance of taking risks. He encouraged me to do so as a way of learning from successes and failures, both of which are key ingredients to personal growth.

6) What Startup(s) are you most excited about today? Why? 

I think Village Vines is another really exciting company in the deals space. They’ve been successful in building relationships with some high-end merchants that have typically been absent from the major daily deal sites.

It’s clear that this is a very large market, which is why we’ve seen so many daily deal clones, but I think the key for anyone entering this market is product differentiation.

Aside from the deals space, I‘ve been keeping a close eye on the guys over at SquareSpace. They’re enabling anyone to build sleek, sophisticated websites with ease, and no programming skills. Tons of have tried to do this before, but they’re big bet is that design is the key ingredient – I totally agree. Tumblr has seen major growth based on that premise, and I think that these guys will share similar success.

7) What's your favorite part about being an entrepreneur? 

I love the process of taking an idea, just a thought in your head, and turning it into a reality. It requires the use of so many different skill sets, which is why entrepreneurship can be both challenging and rewarding at the same time. I’m an engineer by training, but I find myself exercising the creative, financial and technical areas of my brain every single day. Not everyone can say that about his or her job.

Definitely Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh. Whereas most successful companies have focused on product sales and marketing, Tony shows, by way of example, that motivating employees is equally, if not more important. Recruit talented individuals, help them grow at the personal level, and they’ll be your company’s best asset. It clearly worked for him at Zappos, and I think it’s something that most companies, large or small, don’t spend enough time doing. I highly recommend this book for any entrepreneur.