YOUNG MINING AND EMERGING AND METALS
Ryan Marien, Anatoliy Melnichuk and Michele Romanow Buytopia.ca
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n the traditional business world, Anatoliy Melnichuk, Michele Romanow and Ryan Marien are very untraditional. Not only their innovative vision, daring determinations and bright ideas, but they took on a fiercely competitive industry, fused it with the latest technology and have managed to turn “daily deals” into a remarkable, Canadian business success story. In an era where young entrepreneurs with exciting, bright ideas are consistently seeking investors, Ryan, Michele and Anatoliy chose to do it the hard way: from the ground up without any external financing in one of the most competitive and heavily-financed industries in the world. In 2010, starting two years after their main competitors launched, the three partners took on the challenge of pooling their personal savings of $45,000 to start Buytopia.ca. It was a bumpy start but they had no regrets and the advantage of full control over their company, without any external pressure from investors.
The gamble paid off. Today Buytopia.ca is one of Canada’s leading daily deal companies, negotiates hefty discounts on popular local businesses, services and products – working with over 50 national brands (more than all of their competitors combined) including Staples, Sears, Netflix and Cirque du Soleil – and in less than three years, Buytopia has saved their 1.8 million subscribers over $100 million. The Buytopia executive team – Michele, Anatoliy and Ryan – attribute a large part of their success to thinking outside the box. While their competitors advertised almost soley through AdWords and online networks, the Buytopia executive team searched for underused media sources online, offline and through media partners. They then optimized these outlets to acquire new customers and drive sales for much less than their competitors through their strategy. In addition, their team uses an efficient sales strategy, which helped Buytopia to generate over $7 million in sales in 2012.
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2013
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