Meet the Founders
Niraj S. Shah
Niraj S. Shah is CEO of CSN Stores LLC, which he co-founded in 2002. Today, CSN Stores is a $200 million+ online retailer focusing on home and office goods, operating over 200 online retail stores, including: BedroomFurnitureDirect.com, Cookware.com, Strollers.com, Luggage.com, AllModern.com, and CSNLighting.com.
Prior to creating CSN Stores, Niraj started and grew several other companies, increasing revenue to levels as high as $480 million, while also driving profitability.
Niraj was Chief Executive of Simplify Mobile, a software company providing mobile phone management solutions to large enterprises. Simplify Mobile was sold to Tangoe, an enterprise software company offering a full telecommunications management solution.
Prior to co-founding Simplify Mobile, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) at Greylock Partners, a premier venture capital firm with over $2.2 billion under management. At Greylock, he investigated new technology markets and potential software and professional services offerings.
Before joining Greylock, Niraj served as Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Board of Directors at iXL, a publicly traded global technology consulting firm. He was responsible for the company-wide P&L, and had global oversight for sales, service delivery, and operations. While he was COO, iXL's revenue tripled to $480M, and the firm's profitability increased from a loss of $5 million to a profit of $35 million on an annualized basis. Prior to being appointed COO, he held positions as SVP Operations, and as the General Manager of the Boston office.
Niraj also previously co-founded and served as CEO of Spinners Incorporated, an IT services firm. Spinners provided custom application development services to Fortune 500 companies including AOL Time Warner, The New York Times, JP Morgan Chase, and Merrill Lynch. As CEO, he led Spinners to revenue and net income growth of 300 percent per year while maintaining a 30 percent net income margin. Spinners was sold to iXL in 1998.
Niraj holds a BS from Cornell University, and lives in Boston, Mass., with his wife and two young children.
Steven K. Conine
Steven K. Conine is Chairman and Co-Founder of CSN Stores LLC.
Steve has extensive executive leadership experience in private and public technology companies. He has started and grown several companies, been involved in an initial public offering and has experience working internationally. He has assisted in and has been responsible for the sale of two technology companies.
Steve was a Founder, Member of the Board, and Chief Technology Officer of Simplify Mobile, a software company providing mobile phone management solutions to large enterprises. Steve was responsible for architecting and developing the software for this business. Simplify Mobile was sold to Tangoe, an enterprise software company offering a full telecommunications management solution.
Before starting Simplify Mobile, Steve served as Chief Operating Officer for the London Office of iXL, a publicly traded global technology consulting firm. He was responsible for London-based operations, and was involved in sales, service delivery, and operations in the UK market.
Steve also previously co-founded and served as a top executive of Spinners Incorporated, an IT services firm. Spinners provided custom application development services to Fortune 500 companies including AOL Time Warner, The New York Times, JP Morgan Chase, and Merrill Lynch. Steve was integral to the architecting and development of all of the technology solutions Spinners created. Steve led Spinners to revenue and net income growth of 300 percent per year while maintaining a 30 percent net income margin. Spinners was sold to iXL in 1998.
Steve holds a BS from Cornell University, and lives in Boston, Mass., with his wife and two young children.
Candid Conversations
Q: How does it feel to have started this company more than six years ago from nothing and now have a growing, successful business on your hands?
Niraj: It is very rewarding to see CSN Stores grow.
Steve: As a kid, my parents always stressed that if you do something you enjoy, the rest will work itself out. I've always loved working hard and creating things. This business is a great combination of the two. I also like the variety and ever-changing environment this business brings.
And it's great to be working in a market that seems to have no ceiling. A lot of the hype around e-commerce in the late 1990s was spot on, just four to six years too early. We're right in the middle of what everyone thought would happen and that's an ideal place to be.
Q: What has worked best from your original plan?
Niraj: We always believed that e-commerce was a great industry, even though many people just couldn't see past the dot-com crash. Beyond that, our strategy of creating niche stores has worked well, as has our emphasis on having a very large online selection of goods. Consumers crave a super-large selection online and that has helped us to become successful.
Steve: Our original plan was to start hundreds or thousands of very niche sites. The idea of starting many different sites has worked wonderfully, so we'll continue to do more of the same.
Q: What advice would you give two partners about to embark upon a Web-based business?
Niraj: Hard work pays off. If you worry about the customers, give them what they want and run your business efficiently, you will do well.
Steve: Start by worrying about the details, and make sure to celebrate the small wins early on. The first time you hit $1,000 in one day is as big an event as the first time you reach $1,000,000 in one day. It shows that there is something to the idea. Don't get into it because you want to get rich quick. If you only think about that, you'll never get anywhere.
Q: What is CSN Stores doing to continue to be more relevant as an online retailer? What are the challenges?
Niraj: For us, it's all about focusing on the customers. We want to continually give them more selection, faster shipping, more pictures, and anything else that makes it easier and more interesting to shop with us. Enhancing the shopping experience in any way possible is key.
Steve: We listen to and are working on improving our business based on customer feedback. If we can continue to offer the large selection that we do, and link that with ever-improving customer service, I believe we'll continue to stay relevant.
Q: What online shopping trends do you see, year in and year out?
Niraj: We see the same trends as traditional retail. No season is as big as holiday, but we also see sales spikes leading up to other major occasions and seasons, including Back To School, Mother's Day and Father's Day. And then, of course, products like outdoor furniture and fire pits sell well during the summer, too.
Steve: The U.S. Commerce statistics are fairly interesting. Spending always grows in the the fourth quarter and then drops back, but never to the previous level. It's always higher. And it's not just about the Hallmark Holidays. We see trends emerge when schools make summer improvements, for example, or when major sporting events occur, since we have products that cater to both.
If you would like to continue this conversation and pursue any of these topics, contact Chuck Casto.
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