Episode description
Episode description
Howard Gottlieb started Read-A-Thon in 2012 as a reading-based fundraising platform that helped students raise money while boosting education. Their easy platform and simple fundraising approach created amazing results. The Read-a-Thon business grew steadily and profitably without any outside funding.
Read-A-Thon helped over 4000 schools and students raise over $30 million in donations. Their platform has tracked over 30 billion reading minutes by students who have used it to earn donations.
Read-A-Thon was successfully acquired by private equity investors in early 2023 for an undisclosed amount. The business has continued to grow and expand with a new CEO and key executives, with Howard on the board as an advisor and now a minority investor in the company.
Quote from Howard Gottlieb, founder of Read-A-Thon
“I have been very blessed and very lucky in my journey with the success of Read-A-Thon. Everyone should realize that and have some humility.
“If you succeed at the game, you can be the smartest guy or the smartest woman with the most brilliant idea, but it still will take 50% or more luck for everything to align correctly to succeed. Just realize that. It takes a lot of good fortune.
“At Read-A-Thon, our lucky moment was COVID because online fundraising was only in its infancy. When COVID hit and schools were out, Read-A-Thon was almost the only viable option. Our growth went from 40% a year to 100%, then 150% a year. So that was luck after all these years.”
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