Alex Furmansky is an American businessman as well as a successful entrepreneur. He owns Budsies, a company that manufactures toys from children’s artwork and photographs.

Apart from Budsies, Alex Furmansky runs Sparkology, a website that allows young professionals to date and finds their spouse online. He is a serial entrepreneur in the new generation. The entrepreneur got an invitation at Shark Tank in April 2015 to seek ventures for Budsies company.

With the sharks giving him minor offers in exchange for some shares, Alex turned down all of them to protect the company’s ownership. Shark Tank was one of the accelerators because, after the show, he received a lot of orders for his product. His name has gotten recognition on Inc Magazine, Huffington post, etc. Also, he has been able to get interviews at Fox Business Network and CNBC TV.

I was born in a small country, Ukraine, but my parents migrated to the United States because of unavoidable reasons. I studied art at Upper Dublin High school in Pennsylvania for four years. In 2003, I graduated with the highest grade in class, but at most, I loved business. So in 2007, I joined Pennsylvania Jerome Fisher Program for short business courses before going to Wharton School of Business. That’s where I took double course degrees in Applied science and School of Engineering.

Immediately after I graduated, I secured my first job as an analyst at Evercore as an Investment Banking advisory. Two years later, I resigned to join Open Peak in 2009 as a director of business development. It’s a mobile cybersecurity company that helps people fight blackhat hackers.

I got a lot of experience after working with the two companies. At OpenPeak, I associated with experienced developers, hackers, and software engineers. After that, my mind shifted into technology, and I was ready to invest all my income in what I loved. Although I didn’t have enough, I launched my first company, Sparkology, in 2011. Its main function is to allow professional workers who like the introvert life to at least intermingle with their agemates and find a date. Sometimes a simple date will result in a long-term relationship and even marriage.

Sparkology

When you register in Sparkology, we make sure we have verified men who have graduated from recognized universities. The quality of service is much more important than the quantity. The community works with invite-only. We have a team that works on eliminating spam, dead accounts, and fake accounts. Conmen are filled in every industry, forcing one to be smart. After logging in to the site, the opportunity now remains in the hands of an individual willing to search for a soul mate that sites their desires.

In 2013, I got an invitation to speak about Sparkology at Fox Business Network, and my company was named the top best elite site for online dating. Unfortunately, a few scams make the company stand out among many others. We have been working day and night to improve any loophole of scammers. However, I am a happy man because thousands of people are still enrolling in Sparkology.

Budsies

My younger sister used to make a lot of artwork using the available natural resources. She loved photography artwork too, and it was really interesting. I thought of commercializing the idea so that I could transform the artwork into something essential like stuffed toys. After a few years of consultation and implementation, I was ready to launch Budsies in 2013. What I did funny was to allow children to become part of the contributors in the design departments. Anyone with an idea can build something then we use it as a blueprint to develop a good toy.

The targeted market is between 3 to 10 years of age. We are making a lot of different toys like chickens, puppies, rainbow colors, monsters, and puppies. To add to that, adults have also insisted that they want their designs. So we recently started a new department to cater for adult artwork, selfies, and video game characters for adults. I believe the customer is always right. So I try my best to offer and respond to their feedback.

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The process of getting your artwork being developed is simple. Just create a blueprint you have thought of. You can even draw it on paper, but it must be clear. Then, please take a picture of your artwork then send it to our WhatsApp number or email. For those who want to make orders, visit our company’s websites.

One year after launching Budsies, I got a surprise invitation at New York Times to talk about my business. It was a “Holiday Gift Guide,’ and I am thankful for the platform. It’s not easy to find yourself being interviewed by the biggest channel in the world. That is a blessing. You get to expand your customers.

The following year, 2015, the company had gotten over 17,000 orders from 10,000 in 2014. After the interview, the orders increased by 800%. In the same year, I decided to launch a minor branch called “Budsies Selfies.” I didn’t know that the selfies department would become the highest revenue generator in the future.

Another big chance in life was my application accepted at the shark Tank. I rehearsed because I was looking for more capital ventures. It’s a laughing matter because I started auditions 18 months before the d-day.

I was courageous, and I entered the room full of cameras and a pane of billionaires staring at me. Furthermore, I had walked with multiple best-selling toys from Budsies. I made my pitch and asked for $100000 in exchange for 5% of the total company shares. To support my argument, I also presented the “selfie” and Pesties sub-companies to convince them that the 5% is worthy. Then, I gave each of the sharks a selfie of their own from a bunch of toys I had.

Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary were ready to invest in my company. The two demanded 40% and 50% respectively for $100,000, which I wasn’t happy with the deals. From the same panel, one of the sharks said they must raise the selling price of a single product from $69 to $249.

This could discourage my customers, and I didn’t like the idea. All the offers were too far away from what I expected. I remembered the struggle I had undergone to set up the company. Never underestimate the power of a single entrepreneur. Sometimes you can stand alone and achieve a lot.

What makes the Sharks the best platform is the publicity that you get. Imagine I didn’t secure a deal, but the selling’s increased massively. My website traffic got almost 100,000 visitors after the first month of appearing on Shark Tank. Lucky enough, some companies approached me with the urge f invest in my company. We wrapped a deal with only one San Fransisco company that saw a huge potential in what my business could offer.

Philanthropy

Since childhood, I have always thought of giving back to the community. As a result, we have collaborated with many non-profit organizations to ensure disabled or unfortunate families get something. Among the organization where we have to take free toys are the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Easter Seals, and Lutheran Social Services of Michigan.

At some point, we offer unique toys to a therapist, who will then demonstrate their skills using them. Furthermore, we distribute some toys to available schools and encourage young pupils to develop creative artwork that we might buy in the future.

One of our best partners in the philanthropy journey is the Boca West Foundation. We have done many projects together, including developing 60 artwork from Florence Fuller Child Development Centers.