User:JSFarman/Sandbox/Ido Leffler

Ido Leffler is an Israeli-Australian entrepreneur, investor, and advisor. The co-founder of Yes To Inc., Yoobi, Brandless, and  SOMA Water, Leffler is noted for building businesses which incorporate a social mission into their core business model.

Leffler is the co-author of Get Big Fast and Do More Good: Start Your Business, Make It Huge, and Change the World, a guide to modern entrepreneurship and brand-building "while maintaining solid principles, investing in meaningful business relationships and giving back to the community." An Emeritus Member of the United Nations Foundations Council on Global Entrepreneurship, he has invested in and/or advised companies a wide variety of companies, including Birchbox, Dollar Shave Club, and Levo League.

Early life, education and early career
Leffler was born in Israel to Dan Leffler, an engineer and entrepreneur, and Yaffa Leffler, a schoolteacher. When he was five, the family emigrated to Sydney, where his father built a property development company. In 1993, as Australia hit a major recession, the residential market collapsed and the company failed. The Lefflers lost their life savings and their home. Able to afford only the essentials, if Leffler "wanted to do anything -- go to the movies, travel, buy something -- it was up to him to figure out how to pay for it." In order to do so, he got a job at a grocery store,and then Psycho Chicken, a restaurant. At 18 he started his first business, The Roving Bakery, a home delivery service for breads and bagels.

Yaffa and Dan Leffler believed in the benefits of using natural and organic products, and in X started an Herbalife marketing and distribution company. The business was successful, and when Leffler graduated from high school he decided to work with his parents before attending college. Focused on developing international distribution and marketing campaigns, he launched Herbalife networks while living in Indonesia (at 21) and India (at 23). In 1996, he returned to Sydney and attended the University of Technology Sydney. A year later, he met fellow student Lance Kalish, who would become his business partner. He graduated with a bachelor of business degree in marketing and international business in 1999. (quote)

Trendtrade International, Yes To Inc., SOMA Water
After graduating from college, Leffler and Kalish launched their first business, Trendtrade International, a brand management company that provided international business development, export management, and distribution deal negotiation and facilitation. In 2006, they founded Yes To Carrots. Based in Tel Aviv, the company produced and marketed organic products for the hair, face and body developed to maximize the benefits of its natural ingredients. "When we looked around at the natural beauty space as consumers, nothing caught our eye," Leffler said in an interview. "The products were so dull and serious...Lance and I saw a need for a product line that represented natural, green, organic choices, but without comprising on style or a fun, friendly attitude.” Leffler used the title CEO and Chief Carrot Lover.  To stand out, he often wore orange.  The company name was derived from Leffler's philosophy:  "Say yes to love, fun, health, eco-consciousness, social responsibility, and life in general."

In founding Yes To, Leffler and Kalish established the Yes To Carrots Seed Fund, a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides under-served communities with the resources to develop and sustain organic food sources and access to healthy nutrition. A percentage of every purchase of Yes Toproducts goes directly into the Seed Fund. As of 2017, Yes To line included X products; it was the #2 natural beauty brand in the US, selling in over 25,000 stores in more 24 countries. They have donated (or raised or developed) (stats) here.

Leffler co-founded SOMA Water in 2012 and served as the chairman of its board until May 2017. A water filtration system composed of carafes and biodegradable filtration systems, SOMA donated clean drinking water to people in need through a philanthropic partner, charity: water.

Yoobi, Brandless
In 2014, Leffler co-founded Cheeky Home, a line of colorful paper and plastic tableware. Sold at Target USA, the company donated a meal to an American in need for every product sold. He also co-founded Beach House Group, a brand and product development, design, licensing and procurement services company. Beach House Group supports Clean the World, Girl Up, Kaboom and Starlight Children’s Foundation.

With Kalish, Leffler founded Yoobi in June 2014. A school supply brand, the idea for Yoobi was based on Leffler's experience shopping for school supplies for his children. He saw a "distinct lack of vision and creativity" in the products available, and remembered that as a child, he thought of buying school supplies as an "adventure." He also discovered while visiting elementary schools that almost every teacher bought necessities for their classrooms. As he researched the situation, he found a report from the National School Supply and Equipment Association which stated that nearly 100% of U.S. elementary school teachers paid for classroom supplies out of their own pocket, with the average teacher spending $495 a year. Inspired by the data, Leffler and Kalish built Yoobi on a one-for-one system; each time a Yoobi product was purchased, an item was added to a pack of school supplies which contained 1000 products such as crayons, pens, and rulers. Yoobi worked with the Kids In Need Foundation to determine what students needed. As of 2017, Yoobi had donated (stats here).

Leffler founded Brandless with Tina Sharkey in early 2014. Described by Fortune as the "Procter and Gamble for millenials," it is a natural and/or organic marketplace that creates, and sells all of its own "brandless" products. For every product sold, a meal will be donated through the company's partnership with a hunger relief organization. Brandless is expected to launch in 2017.

Other ventures
In 2016, with Sarah Prevette, Lauren Maillian, and Randi Zuckerberg, Leffler appeared as a judge on the Oxygen television series Quit Your Day Job,  He and Kalish wrote a guide to modern entrepreneurship, Get Big Fast and Do More Good, published by Harcourt in 2014. He is an investor in and advisor for a wide variety of start ups and established companies, and serves on the board of directors for Spark New Zealand.

Personal life, philanthropy, and recognition
Leffler lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and their two children. He is a member of the San Francisco branch of the Young Presidents Organization, and serves on the board of directors for Light the Earth and the Center for Global Education. He is a Trustee of the Asia Society.

Leffler received the 2017 Retail Innovator Award andthe UTS Alumni Award for Excellence by the UTS Business School. He won the 2015 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence, and the Starlight Foundation's 2015 Innovator Award, and was named one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People."