The K Factor

Mordy  Babayev The Suit Depot

Babayov’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged long before opening The Suit Depot. While still in high school, the New York-native obtained designer clothing from relatives, bought off the clearance rack of local discount stores and listed the apparel on eBay. He soon invested the small profit he made into his first wholesale merchandise purchase, which he sold within a month. Because of the demands of a quickly growing business, Babayov moved the company out of his bedroom and into his parent’s basement and then, eventually, to his first warehouse.

At a time when retailers are closing their brick-and-mortar storefronts and moving their businesses online, Marty Babayov is bucking the trend. The 24-year-old entrepreneur is taking his successful online business, The Suit Depot, to a storefront.The Suit Depot has since become a $2-million-a-year enterprise with a strong e-commerce presence that offers designer name fashions by top designers including Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Alfani RED, Giorgio Armani, Elie Tahari and Ralph Lauren.

• To start a business look to fill a need
• Look to improve over the competition
• Transitioning from overstock to first quality merchandise
• From online to retail
• Selling on eBay vs Amazon vs Website
• Starting to manufacture your own product 
• Designing Menswear
• The survival of retail is being a specialty
• Take risks when you can

The story of Fello begins with one guy that had an idea and a computer, and another with the tenacity to go all-in; together they pooled their skills and resources to create an online-based rental business, specializing in tech rentals for tourists called “Flying Connected”. 

From the very beginning, it was a humble build, with the founders processing orders and then throwing on baseball caps to hand deliver iPad rentals door-to-door. But through Zalmy and Schneur's dedicated focus of providing exceptional service and products, they have passed the baton to Fello, morphing into an exclusive B2B rental service with over 25 amazing and talented Fellos. And now, in their partnerships with Square, Shopify and others, Fello has brought to the market, uniquely curated rental hardware solutions for many Fortune 500 companies, the event industry, and beyond.

In this interview:

• The early days of online selling
• A social media sensation
• Creating a solid partnership
• Growth Calculations
• Rebranding strategies
• Breaking into corporate America
• A Covid 19 Miracle

Shneur Minsky Launched his business transforming the picture frame industry from retail to online. With creativity and tenacity, he created the country’s largest online custom frame shop. His passion as a community member and his dedication to his values have helped him make an impact in the business world and on his beloved community.

In this interview:

The world of online selling

Getting real world experience working for others

A Hashgacha Protis that changed everything

Advice for today’s business people

Yisroel Dolnikov, is an Interior Architect (UNSW) and the founder and CEO of Binyan Studios 3D Visualization, a leading Architectural 3D Rendering and Animation Studio with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and New York.

In this interview:

• Navigating into the world of architecture
• Turning your skill into a business
• Who should you hire as your first employee?
• How to manage your employees
• Creating a company culture
• Team building
• On Work/ Life balance
• Maintaining your values in the workplace

To recommend someone for an interview and to reach Rabbi Werde, email [email protected]

Brian K Marks never liked the term “industry standard.” Instead, he took a different path leading to a life-long entrepreneurial record of achievement – innovating products and brand experiences that resonated with consumers. At 25, Brian started African Pride – a maker of ethnic hair and skin products. He tapped into the Afrocentric movement at the time, creating innovative “street level” merchandising and advertising sampling programs that grew the business from zero to over $35MM in annual sales. He later sold the company to Revlon for over $40MM, staying on as President of Revlon ethnic products worldwide – overseeing the A.P. Product brands and Revlon’s ethnic product portfolio. In this interview: * How to go into a partnership * Why borrow from a bank * The power of the trademark * How to sell your company * Corporate America vs Entrepreneurship * How to survive success * Starting over again in the Amazon Age * My Israel’s Miracle the first company ever to use “Israel” in the prefix/suffix of a brand * Amazon vs Retail To recommend someone for an interview and to reach Rabbi Werde, email [email protected]

Berel  Solomon: When Berel  was 18 years old he started a company called More To Life Entertainment. He would bring celebrities to nightclubs in Montreal. When he was 21 years old he became more observant in his Jewish roots and decided the night club business was not the right place. Working for his Father in the family business of Metal Recycling. Berel helped grow the business using powerful online marketing tools from $7 Million in sales to $40 Million in 7 years. What a rush! When Berel was 28 he decided to use all the knowledge he gained from his business experiences to open his own company. At Wealthy Commercials they use cutting edge online video marketing to fill multi locational-based companies. Working with Nursing Homes, Assisted Living Communities, Rehabilitation Centers, Daycares and more. It has been a wild ride, with tons of ups and downs, but through it all he has managed to grow the company from 1 to 20 people and $0 revenue to $2M in just 25 months.

In this interview: * Putting values before work * Working with family

* The right way to gain work experience * Choosing the right business

* The importance of having big goals * The right way to use LinkedIN * Running a Business is not always as it seems

To recommend someone for an interview and to reach Rabbi Werde, email [email protected]

The K-Factor podcast: 

The K-Factor podcast is produced by CHYE - Crown Heights Young Entrepreneurs in partnership with community news website COLlive.com. The K-Factor offers business wisdom that can help future business leaders to make the "Keli" (the Hebrew word for vessel) so they can grow their business aspirations. Episode #52 Shlomie Klein  “Kiddush Hashem in Corporate Europe”

Shlomo Klein has been publishing kosher food magazines since 2011 and has revolutionized the industry standard for food publication and quality within the kosher market. Shlomo is passionate about all things food, but is obsessed with cheesecake and yapchik. He resides in the Five Towns (NY) with his wife and three kids.

• A void in the kosher market
• An idea executed at the right time
• Behind the scenes of a magazine business
• Being in tune with your customer
• How to make it in sales
• Innovating in the kosher magazine segment
• Hot topics of discussion in the kosher market
• Print is not dead!
• The role of Kosherfest

To recommend someone for an interview and to reach Rabbi Werde, email [email protected]

The K-Factor podcast: 

The K-Factor podcast is produced by CHYE - Crown Heights Young Entrepreneurs 

The K-Factor offers business wisdom that can help future business leaders to make the "Keli" (the Hebrew word for vessel) so they can grow their business aspirations. Episode #51 Moshe Rappoport “Kiddush Hashem in Corporate Europe”

Moshe Rappoport is executive technology advocate at IBM Research. In his work at the IBM Research THINK Lab – Zurich he organizes and conducts briefings and explores future of technology in connection with business and society. In parallel to his work at IBM he is also a regular keynote speaker and lecturer, speaking about IT trends, society and technology, and innovation.

• Getting a job in corporate Europe
• The yarmulke that landed a Job
• To climb the ranks go the extra mile and be honest
• Do something in parallel to your work to give yourself meaning
• Being a Shliach in your job
• Innovating in IBM Labs
• In FAB the B is most important
• Is your customer Red, Blue or Green?
• Surround yourself with good people but listen to your gut feeling
• To recommend someone for an interview and to reach Rabbi Werde, email [email protected]

Episode #50 Yossi Mlynsky “Harnessing the Global Village ”

Yossi Mlynsky is the CEO and founder Upstack.Co  Upstack works with fast growing companies to help them harness remote talent to grow their team and get their product to market faster. We have a fast-growing network of the top technical talent covering the most in demand skills including Node.JS, Angular, React, iOS, Android, RoR and Python. We are passionate about building distributed teams and don't let location limit the talent we access to build awesome products.

• Selling stuff from a young age
• Falling in love with building websites
• Working on tech startups with global scale
• Life lesson not to quit when faced with challenges
• Getting into building custom software
• Harnessing the global economy
• What’s involved in taking on a software project
• Utilizing Slack Chat
• Using trust as a management tool
• Building a digital marketing strategy
• Running a business while dealing with a family emergency

To recommend someone for an interview and to reach Rabbi Werde, email [email protected]

Chaim Spigelman is the CEO and founder of Pizza Pita. Launched  in 1989 with a small location on Victoria Avenue in Montreal, QC. The family owned and operated business was started by two brothers, Chaim and Tzvi. As the success of the restaurant grew so did the need for a larger restaurant. They started to seek a bigger space to better accommodate the community. This dream came to fruition in 2004 when they moved their restaurant location to Decarie Blvd. This location was a newly renovated three floor facility, including a party hall, an outdoor terrace and the first kosher drive-thru in the world! This expansion allowed Pizza Pita to cater to the vast needs of its guests.

• Be careful with hasogas gevul
• The importance of the hustle
• Don’t be ashamed of getting down and dirty
• Good things come to hard workers
• Upgrading the kosher dining experience
• The power of showing vulnerability
• Always innovate
• Don’t be afraid of fear

To recommend someone for an interview and to reach Rabbi Werde, email [email protected]