Who wouldn’t want to trade some dirty diapers for $500 million? Well, almost — Jersey City-based Diapers.com and Soap.com, websites that deliver necessities to your doorstep, was acquired by Amazon on Monday.
According to theĀ Star-Ledger,
(Marc) Lore and his childhood best friend from Tinton Falls, Vinit Bharara, founded the company five years ago after Lore, a new dad, had diapers on the brain. Tired of trekking to the store for diapers, he had called 1-800-Diapers on a whim but discovered the company provided cloth diapers, not the disposable kind he and his wife preferred. He saw the potential for what would become Diapers.com, and the two friends-turned-business partners bought the name and phone number for $25,000.
Since the founding, the men have raised $60 million in venture capital and have hired 400 employees.
It seems that Diaper.com is a prime example of necessity being the mother of invention. Lore, no doubt a sleep-deprived new father, was sick of visiting the store time and time again picking up diapers. The solution was simple — create an easy way for the diapers to come to him. Soon the sales started racking up — and the partners got a sweet deal.
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