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Alan Tisch: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Spring's CEO

alan-tisch

Alan Tisch is the founder and CEO of the e-commerce app Spring. The Spring app was launched in August 2014 as an innovative and easy way to shop from your smart phone. Spring, Inc. partners with brands, both high end and more moderate, to sell fashionable clothing and accessories. Spring aims to make online shopping a fun and modern way to shop online.

The Spring app is different from other shopping apps. With its innovative design, the Spring app is set up like Instagram with scrolling photographs of the items to sell. Instead of having a shopping cart, you can purchase items through Spring simply by swiping the item. You can "like" items of interest and get updates on sales and low inventory. You can browse for items through a filter. The seamless checkout allows brands to maintain their branding, unlike close out sites. Since its inception, Spring, Inc. has continued to expand and become more popular.

Here are 10 things you may not know about Spring's CEO Alan Tisch.

He co-founded Spring with his big brother

Alan is the younger brother of David Tisch. David is a well-known New York City entrepreneur. He worked as the Managing Director of TechStars, a New York City company that worked to accelerate start up companies. Through his work with TechStars, David made many friends and contacts that have helped him with his own start up internet companies.

He worked for NYC's City Hall

Alan Tisch was born on February 19, 1988 and grew up in New York City, the grandson of the family that owned Lowes. Alan graduated from New York University's Stern, a leading business school. He earned his MBA degree in Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation. He went on to receive his BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) degree from the Michigan Ross School of Business.

After earning his Business degrees, Alan worked in a few jobs assisting with start up companies and other technological ventures. He worked as Summer Analyst at Bear Stearns and Cellen & Company. Alan went on to work as the Global Investment Specialist at J.P. Morgan and in Operations at Fab.com. Before his work with his brother at Jello Labs (which became Spring, Inc.), Alan worked for New York City's City Hall. His job entailed launching initiatives including the NYC Bigg apps and the 311 iPhone app. These innovative jobs, like his brother, led Alan to have an interest in start ups. Eventually, this led Alan (and David) to found Spring, Inc.

He is a "sneakerhead"

Alan Tisch has a large collection of classic sneakers. He started his collection when he was a young teenager. At just 13 years old, Alan began buying limited edition pairs of sneakers in bulk and selling them on eBay. He kept about half of his collection which he is really proud of. His other interests include playing a game of FIFA (European Football).

He's tweaked his fashion sense since starting Spring Inc.

As a "sneakerhead", Alan's fashion style has leaned toward the casual side. He admits that working with different brands through Spring has led him to tweak his fashion. He discovered brands through his work with Spring. His favorite Spring find? Public School's 3x1 jeans which he wears all of the time.

He and his brother raised seed money through friends

Both Alan and David's connections from former jobs helped to raise money to start Spring, Inc. The first step in raising seed money to start Spring, Inc. was to raise Series A funding for the start up. By July 2014, the brothers had raised $7,500,000. Much of that success was due to the brothers' connections in the New York City start up community and the success they had up to that date. The Series A funding was led by Thrive Capital (an investment firm run by Josh Kushner), Group Arnault (led by LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault), and Box Group.

How Spring Works with Brand Partners

When Spring launched in the summer of 2015 it had 250 brand partners and a half million products. This quickly turned into 750 brands and, obviously, many more products. Brands included high end designers like Carolina Herrara, Oscar de la Renta, Tods, and Calvin Klein. It also includes more moderately priced brands like Levi's and American Apparel.

One major difference between Spring and other e-commerce fashion sites is the relationship with brands. Spring integrates with the brands as a partner, not as a second hand seller. Brands are drawn to the company because the medium provides them exposure to shoppers without costing any money up front. Brands join Spring for free and choose which products they want to sell. The brands take care of the receipt, shipping and customer service and pay Spring, Inc. just a small percentage of the profit. Spring, Inc. helps brands get exposure to customers, particularly the Millennial generation, basically for free. This is why Spring, Inc. is attracting some of the best fashion brands. Spring, Inc.'s brand partnerships include men and women's apparel, jewelry and beauty products.

More Funding

After raising the initial $7.5 million to start up Spring, Inc., the company continued to get funding from several companies. Further funding was by Box Group. Contributions were also made by Yuri Millner, Group Annault, Google Ventures, Thrive Capital, and many more. By April 2016, Spring, Inc. had $25 million in funding to expand its venture. It did expand, continuing to attract more brands and more users.

How he got his inspiration for Spring, Inc.

Alan Tisch's inspiration comes from much research. He realized that e-commerce shoppers have one of 2 ways of shopping. Some e-commerce shoppers check in on a site on a daily basis, for about 5 to 10 minutes at a time, just to see what is trending and what deals may be available. Many of these shoppers put items in their "shopping cart", leave the site and forget about buying the items. Other shoppers will log on perhaps once a month and "binge shop".

To capitalize on these shopping behaviors, Alan developed the "no shopping cart" method. For those shoppers who do a daily check in, they can easily "like" items and get updates on sales or low quantity through the app, alerting them to the status of the items they like. For those who shop all at once, the app makes purchasing the items easily. Simply put in your payment and shipping information 1 time and swipe the item to purchase. Spring provides a safe way to shop and buy items without having to enter your private information each time you shop through your smart phone.

Alan Tisch Net Worth

Alan Tisch comes from a family that built a solid foundation on business. His thorough research and innovative ideas have taken e-commerce shopping to a new level. Partnering with brand names and attracting young adults through Spring's mobile app has proved successful for Alan Tisch and Spring, Inc. Currently, there are over 200 employees at Spring, Inc. Their revenue has reached nearly $20 million.  Currently we don't know his official net worth.

His vision for the future of Spring, Inc.

Alan Tisch has a grand vision for the future of Spring, Inc. The past 2 years of acquiring new brands and attracting new customers have inspired Alan and the rest of Spring, Inc. to continue expanding. Although, Spring feels its main draw is its app, which is safe and easy to use, the company does offer shopping

Garrett Parker

Written by Garrett Parker

Garrett by trade is a personal finance freelance writer and journalist. With over 10 years experience he's covered businesses, CEOs, and investments. However he does like to take on other topics involving some of his personal interests like automobiles, future technologies, and anything else that could change the world.

Read more posts by Garrett Parker

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