Quick Facts
Biography
Alex Furmansky is an American entrepreneur and businessman. He is the founder of Budsies, a company which turns children's artwork and photographed into custom stuffed toys, and Sparkology, an online dating service that caters to successful young professionals. For his various ventures, Furmansky has been described as a "serial entrepreneur."
Furmansky appeared on the April 10, 2015 episode of the reality competition television series Shark Tank to pitch Budsies. While he turned down an offer from the "sharks," the publicity his company received greatly expanded his business. Furmansky has also written in Huffington Post and Inc. magazine, and he has been interviewed on CNBC and the Fox Business Network.
Early life and career
Furmansky was born in Ukraine. Immigrating to the United States with his family, Furmansky graduated in 2003 from Upper Dublin High School, located in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Furmansky graduated in 2007 from the University of Pennsylvania Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, a dual degree program in which he earned bachelor's degrees from the Wharton School of Business and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
From 2007 to 2009, Furmansky was an analyst at the investment banking advisory firm Evercore, after which he served as Director of Business Development from 2009 and 2011 at OpenPeak, a mobile cybersecurity company.
Career
Sparkology
In October 2011, with under $500,000 in seed funding, Furmansky launched Sparkology, an exclusive online dating service that caters to successful young professionals.
Sparkology takes a more exclusive approach to online dating that seeks to focus on service and quality. The community is invite-only and men must be verified graduates of top universities as a means to filter out some of the pitfalls of other online dating services: dead accounts, fake profiles and spam. Regarding the site's model, Sparkology's Furmansky said, "The opportunity lies in focusing on a specific demographic and offering them a superior experience that a middle-market behemoth could never match."
FoxNews.com named Sparkology as the "best elite site" for online dating. According to CBS New York, "Sparkology is by and large the most innovative and honest online dating experience out there." On March 26, 2013, Melissa Francis interviewed Furmansky about Sparkology on the Fox Business Network.
Budsies
Furmansky initially thought of the idea for his company Budsies, which turns children's artwork and photographs into custom stuffed toys, in early 2013 in an effort to memorialize his younger sister's artwork. The company formally launched in September 2013, with the vision of letting children be the designers of their own toys.
Budsies' target demographic is children ages 3 to 10. Children's artwork the company has received and transformed into physical form has ranged from puppies, chickens, robot, monsters, and rainbow colored hearts, to a s'more. However, Budsies has also fulfilled orders for adults and has created likenesses of video game characters, selfies, and adult artwork. Customers submit their artwork to Budsies by taking a photo of it with their smartphones and sending it to Budsies via e-mail or text message. Orders for the custom plush toys are placed via the company's website.
The New York Times featured Budsies in its 2014 "Holiday Gift Guide."
In July 2015, Budsies reached 10,000 orders and as of November 2015, that figure had increased to nearly 17,000. Approaching the 2015 holiday season, Budsies logged an 800 percent increase in orders in October. Since launching in July 2015, Budsies "Selfies" dolls have grown to account for a quarter of the company's sales. In early 2016, the company will start producing "Petsies."
Appearance on Shark Tank
Furmansky appeared on the April 10, 2015 episode of the reality competition television series Shark Tank to pitch Budsies. He began the audition process for Shark Tank in September 2013, eighteen months before the episode aired. His segment was taped in September 2014.
On the show, Furmansky entered the set with it decorated "with the sorts of Budsies that are the company’s stock in trade—stuffed animals based on children’s artwork." After making his initial pitch, Furmansky asked the "sharks" for a $100,000 investment for a 5 percent equity in Budsies. As the segment progressed, he presented other product lines of his company — "Petsies" based on family pets and "Selfies" based on people. He also gave each shark a personalized Selfie plush toy. The proposal drew the interest of sharks Kevin O'Leary and Daymond John, who countered with offers of $100,000 for a 50 percent and 40 percent stake, respectively. They also wanted to raise the retail price of a single Budsie from $69 to $249. Furmansky chose to walk away: "Their offers weren’t even close. They were grossly undervalued, and I know our company is worth so much more."
Though he did not make a deal with the sharks, Furmansky felt that he got the "best of both worlds" from the publicity and resultant funding he received due to his appearance on the show. A month after his pitch was taped, a San Francisco venture capital firm invested in Budsies, and the weekend after his segment aired, traffic on the Budsies website jumped to 100,000 visitors.
Philanthropy
Via Budsies, Furmansky has organized art days and provides free toys through organizations including Easter Seals, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and Lutheran Social Services of Michigan. Therapists also utilize the donated toys during speech therapy sessions. The company also donates art supplies and Budsies to school districts to encourage creativity and host art contests.
In 2015, Budsies partnered with the Boca West Foundation to bring the artwork of 60 children at Florence Fuller Child Development Centers in Boca Raton, Florida to life.