Monday, May 24th, 2010...9:34 AM
Joining Swaptree As CEO
It is not very often that you get a chance to participate in building a business category.
I have been a digital citizen since the mid-1990’s when I joined Lycos. In my executive roles at Lycos I had a front row seat to the emergence of the Internet Search category. I also played a pioneering role in establishing our eCommerce business.
For the last six years I have been President/COO of NameMedia, and helped lead the creation of the Domain Media category. Our approach included building a vibrant eCommerce business and media platform that served upwards of 50 million visitors/month.
Now I am psyched to put all of this experience to work and do it all over again as the CEO of Swaptree. There are billions and billions of dollars of items being swapped each year. Much of this swapping activity is offline today. There are several factors that are driving the 
creation of a swap movement, including the economy, conservation and a new sensibility around consumption. The world is taking notice of all of this as evidenced by the fact that Swaptree has been featured or mentioned in many mainstream media outlets. This has continued in the last two days as Swaptree was featured in Rachel Bostmann’s presentation at TEDxSydney and in a feature story in todays Boston Globe. Also cool post in BostInnovation today.
Swapping is a powerful form of Social Commerce. I look forward to helping lead the creation of this category. Read my entire post, and say hello, at our super cool blog Swapping Ideas.
32 Comments
May 24th, 2010 at 10:14 AM
Jeff,
Congrats on joining Swaptree! Very exciting news. All the best success to you.
May 24th, 2010 at 10:16 AM
Thanks Heath!
May 24th, 2010 at 10:20 AM
This is such great news Jeff. I cannot wait to see what you and your team do with the category. I mean, I know you are going to crush it, but I can’t wait to see it happen! I love this idea as well. I’m helping a pal who’s running an enormous clothing Swap for Swapteam.org June 5-6 in the SoWa area of Boston.
This movement is going to be HUGE, and you are right there at the forefront – again!
May 24th, 2010 at 11:38 AM
Congrats Jeff! I’m expecting big things from you guys…
May 24th, 2010 at 11:41 AM
Congratulations Jeff! I have been following Swaptree since you introduced the company to me. Very exciting space!
May 24th, 2010 at 12:01 PM
Congratulations Jeff!
May 24th, 2010 at 12:17 PM
Congrats Jeff! Very interested to see how the space evolves. Good luck!
Patrick
May 24th, 2010 at 2:33 PM
Thanks very much Marty. It has been great to apply some very contemporary thinking around our product approach. Appreciate all your help.
May 24th, 2010 at 2:34 PM
Thanks David…it is very exciting. Keep on swapping!
May 24th, 2010 at 2:34 PM
Thanks Bob. I appreciate the note.
May 24th, 2010 at 2:34 PM
Thanks Patrick!
May 24th, 2010 at 3:11 PM
Congratulations Jeff! I love the site and have found great value in it as a user, I look forward to watching this great idea really take off.
May 24th, 2010 at 3:12 PM
Thanks for your swapping Mark. Keep on swapping. There is much more we can do as well to improve your experience and expand. Onward.
May 24th, 2010 at 3:15 PM
Rock on! Congrats!
May 24th, 2010 at 3:17 PM
Thanks Steve! Rockin’ on is the only way to do it!
May 24th, 2010 at 3:33 PM
Congratulations, Jeff! Swaptree is a great site in an exciting category. Last year, I listed a fairly obscure DVD and Swaptree quickly engineered a trade for a great CD. Big things are on the horizon.
May 24th, 2010 at 3:39 PM
Thanks Adam. Glad to hear of your positive experience on Swaptree. Keep the swaps coming. It is amazing the great things you can swap for.
May 24th, 2010 at 5:43 PM
Welcome new CEO! I’ve been wishing someone would push for a Swaptree iPhone app… I love your site. Keep up the great work!
May 24th, 2010 at 5:52 PM
Congrats Jeff!!! Swaptree is a great idea and they’ll be blessed to have you.
May 24th, 2010 at 6:24 PM
Thanks for your comment. I have been an iPhone user sincecday 2 of it’s launch. I am an iPad user too. I want an app as a user too. I hear you loud and clear.
May 24th, 2010 at 6:25 PM
Thanks Matt. Keep on swapping my friend.
May 24th, 2010 at 6:31 PM
Congratulations Jeff. I just read about this on Larry’s blog. Swaptree.com looks great, I will have to dig deeper into it. Best wishes with your new adventure.
May 24th, 2010 at 6:34 PM
Thanks Brian.
May 25th, 2010 at 12:35 AM
So many congratulations in this comment feed. BostInnovation echoes all of them! Here’s a Q&A I did with Jeff on the day this post went up. Included are more of Jeff’s thoughts on this excellent announcement:
http://bostinnovation.com/2010/05/24/qa-jeff-bennett-swaptrees-new-ceo/
May 25th, 2010 at 10:48 AM
Jeff – Congrats and good luck with the new gig! Looks interesting and exciting!
May 25th, 2010 at 12:26 PM
Thanks Russell.
May 25th, 2010 at 1:57 PM
Hi everyone. I’ve been using Swaptree for the last several months and am pleased with it. After moving to Seattle, which has a very active craigslist, my ideas on item value and sharing.
In Seattle we were able to completely furnish our apartment for free off of craigslist. We’re talking couches, TV, everything.
Most books and movies on Amazon soon become worth only one penny, with a tiny piece of profit scraped off the shipping.
American’s have so much stuff now that many have paid for an extra storage space to cram all of our excess into.
I have been searching the ether for something that will allow communities (location, or friend and family based) to inventory their possessions and make them available to the world and/or to members of their community.
I envision a community supported warehouse that can store the excess of consumerism and getting the items back into the flow. Locals may come in and deposit or withdraw. To everyone else, the inventory is offered up for swapping as swaptree is already doing.
American’s are overflowing with stuff and we need a solution. We also must learn to share in order to move on to our next stage of development. I think Swaptree is positioned to become the method to restructure the madness.
Thanks,
MrAdventure
May 25th, 2010 at 3:55 PM
Thanks for the great comment. We are glad that you are pleased with Swaptree. Great ideas for us as well.
May 29th, 2010 at 10:30 AM
Congratulations, Jeff. Very cool idea. Now I gotta get swapping…
May 30th, 2010 at 1:44 PM
Thanks Ted. Means a lot coming from you! Jeff
June 2nd, 2010 at 2:54 PM
Congratulations Jeff! Sounds like a great new opportunity and a perfect fit for you.
Will this change your involvement at NameMedia?
Cheers,
Daniel
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:21 PM
Daniel – thanks very much. I am absolutely staying involved as a Director @ NameMedia.
Leave a Reply