Brian Lee & Jessica Alba TechCrunch SF 2012
beSUCCESS is excited to announce that serial entrepreneur, Brian Lee, has joined our A-list line-up of speakers for beLAUNCH 2013, to be held May 1st-2nd, at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul’s top conference venue. Until December 31st, a limited number of tickets are being sold for $91, a third of the door price of $274 – Hurry and get your tickets here.
Lee is one of the most successful Korean-American tech entrepreneurs and has spoken at many top tech events, including TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2012, TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing and Dealmaker in LA. In addition, he is the tech entrepreneur that is most sought by celebrities when they embark on internet-related businesses.
His first breakaway success was LegalZoom, the top online legal services company that achieved $156M revenue in 2011 and is soon going to debut its IPO. Lee founded LegalZoom in 2000, in partnership with Robert Schapiro, one of America’s most famous lawyers. Schapiro’s law firm partner was the late Robert Kardashian, father of famous reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Brian Lee and Kim Kardashian often met at family gatherings and holiday parties. During one such social meeting the idea of starting an online store for fashion shoes arose, and so Shoedazzle was born. The company is now a top fashion e-commerce venture with over 13 million subscribers and is backed by top VC’s, such as Andreessen Horowitz, Polaris Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures.
In another venture Lee teamed up with Jessica Alba who mentioned at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012, how she had to ask Brian Lee several times before he decided to join her in building The Honest Company, the top online subscription service that distributes eco-friendly baby products. The latest “celebrity e-commerce venture” that Brian Lee is involved in is Teeology, which he started with Jennifer Lopez, to curate and provide fashion-forward luxury tee shirts.
Though Lee is fully aware of the value of celebrity in selling goods, he is not pleased at all when people ask “How do you ‘use’ celebrities to build a successful tech business?” He responds, with some soft anger in his voice: “you don’t ‘use’ celebrities. You are business partners and you are building the business together, as partners”. It is no wonder that so many stars think of him as a trusted friend and business partner.
Brian Lee is involved in many other businesses and community organizations like the LA Youth Network. He is a double graduate of UCLA, where he studied economics as an undergrad and obtained his J.D. from its Law School. Brian also spent some time in Korea’s Yonsei University, where he majored in “partying”, according to his LinkedIn page.
Or approach to Brian Lee to speak at beLAUNCH 2013 was simple: “Beijing entrepreneurs got to hear you. SF/LA/NY entrepreneurs hear you all the time. Isn’t it time entrepreneurs in Korea got the treat of being inspired/challenged by your sage words?” He responded immediately: “I’ll be there”. Although he didn’t grow up in Korea, Lee has a strong connection with his motherland, and is looking forward to sharing his insights and wisdom with us. We can’t wait to meet him and hear him live in COEX, Gangnam, May 1-2, 2012 at beLAUNCH 2013!
