ABSTRACT
In 1985, Jay Steinfeld was forced out as vice president of finance of Meineke Discount Mufflers after the company was acquired by GKN, a multinational British company. An entrepreneur by nature, Jay joined his wife, Naomi, who had started a mom-and-pop drapery and blinds business called Laura’s Draperies. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, they worked from a storefront and visited people’s homes, as they helped their customers select and purchase blinds and draperies. Jay launched a website in 1993 that essentially served as an online brochure for the business. By 1996, he realized people were selling things online, so he launched NoBrainerBlinds.com, one of the early ventures into e-commerce.
