Jay Steinfeld

Jay Steinfeld is the founder and CEO of Global Custom Commerce, a direct marketing and technology company with tools to sell and service hard-to-buy, configurable products and services. One of the company's owned websites, Blinds.com, is the current industry leader in online window covering sales.
Early life and education
Jay Steinfeld (b. December 8, 1953) was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and spent his early life in Rutherford, New Jersey. His family moved to Dallas, Texas, when he was 11. Steinfeld received a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from the University of Texas. He graduated with Honors in 1976 and began working for accountancy firm KPMG-Peat Marwick.
Business career
Meineke Discount Mufflers
In 1979, Steinfeld moved to Houston, Texas, and began working for the Meineke Discount Mufflers franchisor as VP of Finance. During Steinfeld’s seven-year tenure, Meineke Discount Mufflers grew from 35 franchises to over 900 locations nationwide. He left Meineke following their 1983 acquisition by GKN.
Laura’s Draperies/NoBrainerBlinds
After leaving Meineke, Steinfeld and his wife decided to purchase and run a chain of drapery and blinds stores called Laura’s Draperies. In 1990, Steinfeld merged the businesses into one location and took sole responsibility for store management.
In 1993, he set up a website, www.Lauras.com, and establish an online presence for the physical Laura’s Draperies location. The original website did not include e-commerce components; instead it displayed an advertisement for the store and a detailed catalog of products. He started selling his products online in 1996 after investing $3,000 to have a second website, www.NoBrainerBlinds.com, built to make “buying blinds and shades a no-brainer.”
In 2001, with the increasing success of his internet venture, Steinfeld sold Laura’s Draperies to focus on his online business. He acquired Blinds Wholesale, another e-commerce window covering retailer based in St. Augustine, FL, .
Blinds.com
In 2004, Steinfeld supplemented NoBrainerBlinds.com and Blindswholesale.com with the website “blinds.com.” The company gained quick recognition and was named as one of the internet’s fastest growing “e-tailers” by Internet Retailer in 2005.
In January 2014, Blinds.com was acquired by national home improvement retailer The Home Depot.
Global Custom Commerce, Inc. (GCC)
GCC is a 20-year old technology and direct marketing organization, which specializes in driving the sales of hard-to-buy configurable products. Its e-commerce platform was built in-house and the company operates from a domestic-based contact center operation.

Acquired in January 2014 by The Home Depot, this wholly owned B2B subsidiary drives seamless integration of home-improvement retail via internet, over the phone, and in physical Home Depot locations.
Philanthropy
Steinfeld is actively involved in several charitable organizations in and around Houston, Texas. He also works with the Los Angeles, California-based XPrize Foundation as a member of their Innovation Board. The Innovation Board defines the annual XPrize Grand Challenge and determines areas of focus for the XPrize Board of Trustees’ Visioneering.
Steinfeld is also involved with the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, in which executives volunteer their time to meet with inmates in Texas prisons to help them understand business and increase their odds of success outside of prison.
Recognition
In 2006, Jay Steinfeld was honored as the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He has written a regular column called Chief Effective Officer for Inc.com since 2011.
On May 14, 2014, the Houston Technology Center honored Steinfeld with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
His engagement on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram earned Steinfeld a spot on LinkedIn’s 2014 “Top 60 CEO’s on Social Media.”
Blinds.com, one of Steinfeld’s companies, has been featured on the National Association of Business Resources’ Best and Brightest Companies to Work For list every year since 2012. Additionally, Blinds.com was ranked #10 Best Company to Work for in Texas in March 2016.

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