Ecommerce

PolicyGenius Corporate Office

PolicyGenius was the brainchild of two former McKinsey consultants, Francois de Lame and Jennifer Fitzgerald. Founded in 2012 and launched in 2014, PolicyGenius is an online insurance quoting platform. This platform allows for the comparison of insurance companies and rates side by side, as well as enables the user to do insurance “checkups” to see if they are not only getting the best rate but whether they also have adequate coverage.

As McKinsey consultants, Fitzgerald and de Lame often advised insurance companies on growth and marketing. They quickly noticed a pattern: all insurance companies struggled with how to engage online with self-directed consumers. Thus, PolicyGenius was formed. The company originally planned to handle life insurance but has grown to include renters, pet, and long-term disability insurance as well.

By being a virtual online broker, the company eliminates “competition” or bias by simply stating the facts about price and benefits.

In addition to selling insurance, the company offers a comprehensive explanation as to what the terms in policies mean and exactly how they work, how much you need, what is optional and what is considered to be “the basics”.

PolicyGenius uses no-nonsense terms and a very-non-formal approach to attract a younger crowd. Co-founder Jennifer Fitzgerald says that most people seem to like the fact that they don’t have to talk to (and divulge their medical history to) a salesperson. Everything is done online, at the client’s convenience, not the insurance companies hours.

The company has 5-star reviews on almost every review site, including Consumer Affairs, TrustPilot, Financialsmural, and CashCowCouple. The Better Business Bureau also gives them 5 stars and an A+ rating. The corporate office for PolicyGenius is in New York, New York.

PolicyGenius

History

By being a virtual online broker, the company eliminates “competition” or bias by simply stating the facts about price and benefits.

Turo.Com Corporate Office

Harvard Business School classmates Shelby Clark, Nabeel Al-Kad, and Tara Reeves were impressed by the business models they saw at Airbnb and eBay. They believed that they could accomplish something similar with cars, using the same basic peer-to-peer model. Founded in 2009, the company was originally named RelayRides. Later, the decision was made to renamed itself Turo in 2015.

Turo teamed with GM and their OnStar program to enable owners to unlock their vehicles using their smartphones. Although this was later discontinued, it was just the start for Turo to enable clients to work together.

Turo offers more than 800 makes and models of vehicles. Owners offer their cars, sometimes including delivery, in more than 2,500 cities and 300 airports across the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Unlike other car rental agencies, Turo does not own the vehicles, nor does it perform maintenance. Turo simply provides the platform by which customers and car owners can connect.

People who wish to generate income from their vehicles while they’re not being used can register the cars with Turo online to be rented by other Turo members. The car owner states the time and place where the car will be available. A client wishing to rent the car reserves a specific time slot for the car online and pays for the amount of time they signed up for. Car owners can set their own prices or use Turo’s dynamic pricing suggestions. The company takes 25% of the sale. In most cases, renters pay approximately 35 percent less on average than a traditional rental car company.

Turo covers vehicles with up to $1 million of liability insurance to protect car owners against lawsuits for injuries and property damage. All renters are also screened for safety. Cars must have less than 130,000 miles and be a 2005 model or newer to be listed on the site, although there are a few exceptions allowed, such as listings for antique cars.

In 2015, Forbes listed Turo as #14 on their list of “Hottest On-Demand Startups. Headquarters are located in San Francisco, California.

Turo is frequently given excellent reviews by both customers and on review sites.

In November 2022, Turo announced that it would soon be in operation in Australia.

Turo.Com

History

Unlike other car rental agencies, Turo does not own the vehicles, nor does it perform maintenance. Turo simply provides the platform by which customers and car owners can connect.

In 2015, Forbes listed Turo as #14 on their list of “Hottest On-Demand Startups. Headquarters are located in San Francisco, California.

Turo is frequently given excellent reviews by both customers and on review sites.

In November 2022, Turo announced that it would soon be in operation in Australia.

Cuisinart Corporate Office

Cuisinart was founded in 1971 by Carl Sontheimer in Chicago, Illinois. After a trip to France where Sontheimer and his wife saw an early version of a food processor, Carl decided that he could make something similar which would drastically reduce the preparation time for cooks.

A graduate of MIT, Sontheimer took apart the prototype that he brought from France, he streamlined some items and refined others. In 1973, Sontheimer introduced “The Food Processor” at the National Housewares Expedition in Chicago, Illinois.

It didn’t catch on right away. Most people thought of the food processor as nothing more than a high priced blender. By 1975, however, his product was being used by Julia Childs and James Beard, as well as being featured in Gourmet magazine.

In 1977, the market suddenly turned for Cuisinart, with orders going from a few units each month to hundreds of units each month. By the end of 1977, sales had hit the $50 million mark.

Cuisinart began making several different models of food processors before branching out in 1986.

Today, the company makes toaster ovens, blenders, coffee makers, cookware, slow cookers, stand mixers, and much more. The company sells its products in almost every brick and mortar store, as well as online stores and their own online site, in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Canada, and Hong Kong. The company has a manufacturing facility in Rantoul, Illinois and headquarters are located in Stamford, Connecticut.

In 2016, the company put out a recall due to cutting blades which were held on by faulty rivets. Consumers reported that the blades were coming part and putting metal particles into their food.

In September 2020, the company introduced a new unit that processes then cooks the food called the CompleteChef.

Conair Corporation acquired the company in 1989 for $60 million.

Cuisinart

History

In 1977, the market suddenly turned for Cuisinart, with orders going from a few units each month to hundreds of units each month. By the end of 1977, sales had hit the $50 million mark.

Cuisinart began making several different models of food processors before branching out in 1986.

In 2016, the company put out a recall due to cutting blades which were held on by faulty rivets. Consumers reported that the blades were coming part and putting metal particles into their food.

In September 2020, the company introduced a new unit that processes then cooks the food called the CompleteChef.

Conair Corporation acquired the company in 1989 for $60 million.

Waymo Corporate Office

Waymo is a self-driving car development company and a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet.

The company was started by Sebastian Thrun, a co-inventor of Google Street View. The development team consisted of 15 Google employed engineers, who won the 2005 DARPA prize of $2 million.

Their self-driving cars began testing in 2009. Some states had issues with the vehicles as all traffic and parking laws were made with the idea that a human being was driving and was ultimately responsible.

Nevada passed laws in 2011 allowing for special plates and identification of self-driving cars but still required that one person is behind the wheel in case of emergency or malfunction.

In 2014, the company unveiled a new prototype with no controls at all – no brake pedal, steering wheel, or gas pedal. This vehicle, nicknamed Firefly, was tested in San Francisco, California, as well as in Santa Clara, California, as well as Austin, Texas. No problems were encountered.

Google’s robotic cars have about $150,000 in equipment including a LIDAR system. The rangefinder is mounted on top of the vehicle, which uses a Velodyne 64-beam laser. This laser allows the vehicle to generate a detailed 3D map of the environment. The car then takes these generated maps and combines them with high-resolution maps of the world, producing different types of data models that allow it to drive itself.

There have been a total of 12 accidents involving self-driving cars, none of which were deemed to be the automated cars fault, but rather, persons either manually driving the vehicle or the other vehicle’s driver is at fault.

Waymo has begun an “early rider” program where these automated cars are being used by real persons in everyday situations. These tests are, at this time, only being conducted in Kirkland, Washington, Austin, Texas, metro Phoenix, Arizona, and the Mountain View, California, areas.

In 2017, the company introduced Chrysler hybrid mini-van Pacifica models, the first mass-produced, fully automated cars in the world.

Waymo

Waymo is a self-driving car development company and a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet.

The company was started by Sebastian Thrun, a co-inventor of Google Street View. The development team consisted of 15 Google employed engineers, who won the 2005 DARPA prize of $2 million.

History

Nevada passed laws in 2011 allowing for special plates and identification of self-driving cars but still required that one person is behind the wheel in case of emergency or malfunction.

In 2017, the company introduced Chrysler hybrid mini-van Pacifica models, the first mass-produced, fully automated cars in the world.

Paycom Corporate Office

Paycom Software, known everywhere as Paycom, was founded by Chad Richison, who had already worked for years in payroll. He decided to start his own payroll service. By 2001, the company had expanded to provide HR services.

Today, Paycom is considered to be one of the first full-service, online payroll providers, with offices in every state of the US. The company went public on the NYSE under the ticker symbol: PAYC in 2012. Richison sold a portion of the business to Welsh, Carson, Anderson, and Stowe, but remains on at the company as CEO.

Paycom has been voted one of the fastest growing companies by Inc. magazine. In 2014, the company had annual revenue of $150 million and in 2016, the company had annual revenue of $321.6 million. New headquarters, completed in 2016, has nearly tripled office space with 250,000 square feet of office space.

Paycom