Greg Alvo
CEO & Founder, OrderGroove
Winning ways: Sharp focus on lifetime value guides Alvo’s strategy at OrderGroove, a subscription-purchase platform for more than 75 major consumer brands. Delivering strong, ultra-loyal customer segments for brands and raising $10 million in venture capital have kept OrderGroove at the forefront of the scheduled-payment discussion. He was twice before honored by Direct Marketing News and received the eTail Rising Stars honor in 2013, but is kept grounded in reality by wife Caroline and dog Bleecker.
Defining moment: “The day I quit my job at liquidation.com to start OrderGroove in 2008. I knew I wanted to get back to building businesses, and letting go of the comfort of a paycheck forced me to get going.”
Words to live by: “Surround yourself with people you love and who are smarter than you. You spend more time in the office than you do at home, and life’s too short not to be around people you love to work with.”
Head swivel: “Over the past 12 months there’s been a surge in our industry, and there was a moment that I realized that if we kept everything as-is, we might risk being behind the wave. I saw the proliferation of subscription services and realized that we needed to triple-down on product and innovation, and that heavy R&D is fueling our growth.”
Good advice: “If you have confidence in yourself, in your idea, and in your business, ignore the naysayers and go for it, because most of the time you’re right.”
First job: “At 13 I started Voteq and built and sold computers for more than 100 clients in South Florida. I learned that I didn’t like computer hardware and I loved entrepreneurship. I also learned the importance of keeping customers happy.”
On your nightstand: The Hard Thing about Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz. “It’s easy to celebrate the great times, but it’s those moments of struggle where the magic happens. They really define a person and help propel the business and themselves to the next stage in their career.”
Favorite mobile app: Spotify. “Music gets me energized and focused, and keeps me going throughout the day.”
Click or tap here to read the stories behind the successes of the other Direct Marketing News 2014 40 Under 40 winners.
