Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background prior to starting your business?
I graduated from Indiana University with a BA in Marketing, then earned my Masters of Business Administration at University of Miami, with a specialization in International Business. I’ve always enjoyed sales and marketing, and I have a passion for travel. I also love to entertain, and consider myself a pseudo gourmet chef.
Leslie Linevsky
How did you come up with the idea to start Catalogs.com?
I got my start in Internet retailing in 1994, when e-commerce was in its infancy. Together with my husband, we launched Neckties.com, an upscale mail order print catalog and website selling artistically designed men’s neckties.
From that experience, I learned the power of filling a specific retail niche for online shoppers. The web offers the perfect place to shop efficiently and conveniently for specific products in a way that is nearly impossible in bricks-and-mortar stores. By bringing together a comprehensive collection of catalogs all on one site, we realized we could offer a level of options and convenience not previously available to shoppers.
That realization was the spark for Catalogs.com. Recognizing the untapped potential of aggregating and indexing a wide array of catalogs that shoppers might not know about or have access to, we developed a way for Internet shoppers to select and receive catalogs of their choice all in one place.
