Jeffrey Bogatin, Chairman and CEO
Jeffrey Bogatin has been an entrepreneur and investor for the past 35 years, and has owned many successful public and private companies. In 1972, Mr. Bogatin founded Whitemarsh Industries, which was the pioneer company that provided high-end apparel from Asia to name brand wholesalers.
Whitemarsh over the next 20 years became a diversified company that sold and licensed apparel under house brands, was the licensee for Oscar de la Renta in women's apparel, traded financial instruments, financed letters of credit, developed real estate, and founded and invested in multiple entrepreneurial start-ups. In 1993 he founded Turbochef Technologies Inc., which redefined cooking with speeds of 10x a conventional oven, 5x a microwave, and quality superior to all conventional ovens. Turbochef is in hundreds of thousands of commercial and residential locations. Mr. Bogatin is the owner of several patents that allow digital cooking over the web. He is a founder of the World Championship of Ping Pong and several other sports content ventures. He has intellectual property pending on methods to redefine combat sports such as boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA).
Mr. Bogatin is a former board member of UJA and its Steering Committee for UJA Federation of New York; he is currently on the board of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. The Bogatin Family Foundation is a donor to many charities here and abroad.
This is a case study that is just beginning. While SmartStore is positioned as a product suite to be an "industry game changer," the success will be measured by the team and partners who commercialize the opportunity.
This is a detailed case study which follows the development of a business, Turbochef Technologies, through various phases, including conceptualization and initial team creation, innovation and development, initial public offering, turmoil and, finally, industry validation. While the case study deals with the trials and travails of a specific company, its lessons are universal and apply to virtually all businesses and entrepreneurs searching for
success.