小企业挑战大公司

Shoplet vs. 史泰博

    挑战对手：史泰博（Staples，《财富》500强）、欧迪办公（Office Depot，《财富》500强）和一大批规模更小的办公用品商店。

    创业故事：44岁的唐尼•埃里森很清楚，1994年，他放弃在高盛（Goldman Sachs，《财富》500强 ）的工作，转而投入竞争激烈的办公用品市场，在外人眼里看起来疯狂透顶。然而，随着在线商务的兴起，他再也抑制不住心中的梦想，很快便倾尽积蓄成立了办公用品在线商店Shoplet。他说：“办公用品行业的大佬们向网络转变的速度不够快。”结果证明，这是一个非常聪明的决定。埃里森的秘诀是什么？他为顾客提供了400,000多件商品，其中包括许多环保商品。此外，他还为消费者提供免费的专有电子采购软件，消费者可以更轻松地管理办公用品开支。如今，Shoplet实现了“九位数的收益”，在纽约有63名员工。取得这样的成就，谁还需要华尔街的工作呢？

Shoplet vs. Staples

    The challenge: Taking on Staples (SPLS, Fortune 500), Office Depot (ODP, Fortune 500), and an army of smaller office-products stores.

    What he did: Tony Ellison, 44, knew it seemed crazy to ditch his career at Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500)to jump into the ultracompetitive office-supply market back in 1994. But with online commerce taking off, he couldn't resist and soon plowed his savings into opening Shoplet. "The big boys in the industry were very slow to move online," he says. It turned out to be a smart bet. Ellison's secret? He lured customers with more than 400,000 products -- and plenty of eco-friendly ones. He also made it easier for them to manage their office-supply spending by offering free proprietary electronic-procurement software. Today Shoplet brings in "nine-figure revenues" and employs 63 people in New York. Who needs a Wall Street career?