FINALIST – Retail and Consumer Products
Jesse Stein
founder
SportsMemorabilia.com
Jesse Stein has always been a self-made entrepreneur.
At age 6, he carried around a briefcase just like his businessman grandfather. At 10, he’d collect tips from serving drinks to party guests. And by 15, he mowed lawns, sold luggage and cold-called for the Dean Witter brokerage agency.
As an adult, his hunger for challenge and intuition for business prompted him to take on the Internet. He founded and sold several Internet-based ventures, which eventually led him to his current position — founder and nonexecutive chairman of SportsMemorabilia.com.
The website sells authentic sports memorabilia, autographs and signed gifts from MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL players.
Stein bought and developed the company from scratch, competing against multiple established competitors. Today, SportsMemorabilia.com is the largest retailer of authentic sports memorabilia, according to multiple sources.
The site features more than 400,000 products across 13 sports leagues. Stein views his ventures as a means to pursue his passion — giving back to the community.
He admires the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative, and he strives to make an impact on the world in whatever ways he can.
He purchased a food truck and often gathers employees to pass out food in impoverished areas around Miami, aiming to instill and encourage a socially responsible mindset in his associates.
Prior to his work in Internet ventures, Stein worked and lived in Tokyo for six years.
He holds an MBA from The Wharton School, an M.A. in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania’s Lauder Institute, and a B.A., with honors, in sociology and Asian studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
HOW TO REACH: SportsMemorabilia.com, www.SportsMemorabilia.com
