Issue link: http://georgiancollege.uberflip.com/i/1226064
ALEX BROWN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, 2007 OWNER AND FOUNDER, eCOMMERCE ROCKSTARS Alex Brown is a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur who has started and sold a number of thriving businesses, including his current venture, eCommerce Rockstars. He graduated from Georgian's Business Administration program in 2007, and went on to complete his Bachelors of Business Administration degree (bridge program) from Laurentian University in 2009. Graduating at the height of a recession, Alex knew he needed to differentiate himself if he wanted to succeed. After running a successful landscaping business, Alex started to build a personal brand, developing a presence on social media and talking about the issues that recent grads were facing in terms of under- and unemployment. He volunteered with Startup Canada, whose mission was to advance entrepreneurship, and represented the organization at Government of Ontario roundtables on youth unemployment. In 2013, Alex was awarded a scholarship with Startup Canada to attend an event held in Malaysia for 500 young entrepreneurs from 112 countries. During a trip to California, Alex met his business partner, and together they started developing new businesses and launching new products. They ran a crowdfunding campaign for a product called Coolbox, reaching $500,000, and the product eventually landed on Shark Tank with Shark Kevin Harrington licensing the product. The expansion of their network from this product helped them to launch The Dollar Beard Club in 2015 (now known as Beard Club). Launching the business on the back of a viral video, The Dollar Beard Club made $30,000 in recurring monthly subscription revenue in the first two days and was averaging up to 2,300 orders per day by 2016, with some days as high as 5,000 orders. The company made more than $10 million in its first year of business, and online views of the company's videos have garnered over 400 million views to date. Everything came full circle for Alex in 2015, when Startup Canada invited him back to their event for young entrepreneurs, this time as a mentor. As a keynote speaker, Alex has presented on three continents, as well as in numerous podcasts and interviews, and has presented to more than 250,000 people worldwide, either virtually or in-person. His companies have been featured in major business/ media outlets, including MSN, HuffPost, Financial Post, BuzzFeed, and Forbes. 2019 PREMIER'S AWARD NOMINEE BUSINESS CATEGORY 26 GEORGIANVIEW 2019-20 WINTER PREMIER'S AWARDS