Brian Lee (entrepreneur)
Brian Lee (entrepreneur)
Brian S. Lee is an American serial entrepreneur who co-founded Legalzoom.com, ShoeDazzle.com, and The Honest Company.
Professional life
Before his startup career, Lee was an attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and a former manager at Deloitte. Lee attended Servite High School in Anaheim, graduated with at B.A. in Economics/Business from UCLA and received his J.D. from UCLA School of Law.
Fame with startups
Brian Lee is known for co-founding startups with celebrities.
Legalzoom
His first startup, Legalzoom.com, was with Robert Shapiro of OJ Simpson fame.[1] Legalzoom is an online legal documentation service or e-lawyering firm. His other co-founders include Brian P. Y. Liu and Edward R. Hartman. Legalzoom provides online document assembly of legal documents, a legal education center and articles on the legal aspect of current events.[2] It started offering legal services products to the public on March 12, 2001.[3] LegalZoom was ranked #27 as World's Most Valuable Startups by Business Insider in 2011.[4]
ShoeDazzle
His second startup was ShoeDazzle.com with reality show star and model Kim Kardashian. ShoeDazzle is a Los Angeles-based online personalized styling and retail service. Members pay $39.95 per month ($479 per year) for which they get one pair of shoes sent per month to own outright.[5] The company's other co-founders include Robert Shapiro and MJ Eng. It was launched in March 2009.[6] The service has more than three million members and nearly a million fans on Facebook.[7] ShoeDazzle was ranked #21 on Most Promising Companies by Forbes Magazine.[8] ShoeDazzle ranked #59 as World's Most Valuable Startups by Business Insider in 2011.[9]
The Honest Company
The Honest Company is Lee's third startup company and was co-founded with Jessica Alba, Christopher Gavigan, and Sean Kane. The Honest Company manufactures and sells dozens of non-toxic, chemical-free products, from diapers and wipes to shampoos and detergents. Like ShoeDazzle, The Honest Company controls the entire product life-cycle from design to manufacturing and distribution, but unlike ShoeDazzle, most of the goods are made in the US, rather than in China.
Notable
Lee was named one of the "25 most notable Korean-American entrepreneurs" by Forbes magazine in 2009.[15] In 2014, he was commended as the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by EY Entrepreneur of the Year.