SH

Sean Harper

CEO and Founder of Kin

Greater Chicago Area

Invests in

Stages:

  • Min Investment:

    $5,000.00
  • Max Investment:

    $50,000.00
  • Target Investment:

    $25,000.00

Work Experience

  • CEO and Co Founder

    2016

    At Kin we are fixing the homeowners insurance industry.

2014 - 2019

  • Board Member

    2014 - 2019

    Mainly I help Accion USA on matters of technology, distribution and strategy.

2014 - 2015

  • Chief Product Officer

    2014 - 2015

    2checkout makes it easy for merchants outside the US to accept electronic payments from customers all over the world. Our specialty is in cross-border transactions, which many payments providers do not handle well. 2checkout has been around since the 2000s, but recently raised significant outside capital, hired a new management team and opened an office in Chicago.

2012 - 2014

  • Director of Breadcrumb Payments (by Groupon)

    2012 - 2014

    In early 2012 Groupon purchased FeeFighters. Now I run Groupon/Breadcrumb Payments. Breadcrumb Payments comes with Breadcrumb's mobile payments app and both of our award-winning tablet-based point of sale systems. Breadcrumb Payments are reliable, secure, easy to sign up for and very low cost. Most importantly, however, we are the only payments company that helps businesses attract and retain more customers. http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/14/groupon-rebrands-its-mobile-payments-business-as-breadcrumb-adds-ipad-merchant-app-and-a-5k-no-fee-sweetener-to-bring-on-new-users/ http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120920/NEWS08/120919712/the-story-behind-groupons-credit-card-processing-business#ixzz2K3rOU1aE I am a frequent speaker on payments innovation, in particular the intersection of payments and marketing/crm. 3/3/2013 - Prepaid Expo - http://www.iirusa.com/upload/wysiwyg/All%20Speaker%20Biographies.pdf 4/16/2013 - Local Search Association - http://www.localsearchassociation.org/main/speakers2013/26.aspx 4/30/2013 - Electronic Transactions Association - http://www2.electran.org/am13/speaker-sean-harper/ 6/3/2013 - Mobile Banking and Commerce Summit - http://www.americanbanker.com/authors/sean-harper-1735.html?csite=mobile 6/24/2013 - Mobile Commerce World - http://www.mcommworld.com/sanfrancisco/conference/keynote-speakers.php 10/23/2013 - NRA Restaurant Innovation Summit http://www.restaurant.org/Events-Networking/Events/Restaurant_Innovation_Summit/Agenda

2009 - 2012

  • Founder / CEO

    2009 - 2012

    Josh Krall and I started Feefighters in 2009 when we were in grad school. We raised $1.6M from angels and institutions (http://www.crunchbase.com/company/transparent-financial-services) and sold the business at a profit to Groupon in 2012 (goo.gl/hHCs2h). The technology that we developed at FeeFighters become Groupon Payments (https://breadcrumb.groupon.com/payments) which was launched shortly after the acquisition. FeeFighters was started because of my frustration as a business owner with the credit card processing options that were available at the time -- all of which were lousy. Initially we solved that problem by building a comparison engine to accurately compare each of the processing options (like Kayak, but for credit card processing). Shortly after raising money, however, we decided none of the existing providers was good enough and developed from scratch our own modern payments processor (similar to stripe or square). After launching that technology we were almost immediately acquired by Groupon. Here are some links about FeeFighters: http://www.finovate.com/fall11vid/feefighters.html http://tech.co/feefighters-hottest-early-stage-startup-chicago-2011-04 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feefighters http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20110211/america-s-most-promising-startups#slide8 goo.gl/cBFAoT

  • Consultant

    2006 - 2010

    At BCG I primarily advise large financial institutions on issues of strategy and operations.

2004 - 2010

  • Co-Founder

    2004 - 2010

    In late 2004 I co-founded this company with an old friend. TSS-Radio is a leading online retailer of SIRIUS satellite radios and accessories, known for wide selection and excellent service. TSS-Radio was #94 in the Inc500 in 2009.

  • Associate

    2005 - 2006

    Investing in Software, Internet and Media. Completed deals - Sermo and Innovectra. Longworth typically leads an investment in a company’s first or second round of funding. We invest $1-3 million in that first round and, if appropriate, recruit another top-tier investor to syndicate additional capital. We reserve sufficient funds to support your company in future financings.

  • Associate

    2003 - 2005

    At BCG I worked mainly in Financial Services and Retail. The Boston Consulting Group is an international strategy and general management consulting firm whose mission is to help leading corporations create and sustain competitive advantage. As a truly international firm, our strong global presence offers clients and employees a wealth of cross-cultural experience.