Scott Tilson
| Scott L. Tilson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 11, 1963 Baltimore, Maryland, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Poetry.com, Stamp Collection,[1] Entrepreneurship |
Scott Tilson (born May 11, 1963) is an American businessman who owned poetry.com[2] and is the founder of the "The International Collectors Society".[3] He is also the co-owner of "Psychedelic Art Exchange".[4]
Career
Tilson started his business career at the age of 15, buying and selling rare United States coins under the name "Scott Tilson Rare Coins" while at the same time pursuing his graduation at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Upon graduation, Tilson moved back to his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland and grew his business into one of the largest retail coin dealerships in the country.[5] Tilson also launched the First Federal Rare Coin Fund, one of the very first rare coin investment Limited Partnerships.[6]
In 1992, Tilson, along with his new business partner Jeffrey Franz, launched what would become the largest collectible stamp dealership in the world, "The International Collectors Society".[3][7] The company grew to over 1,500,000 paying customers around the world and over 123,000 people signed up to receive monthly shipments of Tilson's top recommendations. The company was sold in 1997 for $14,000,000.[8] In 2006, Tilson, along with childhood friend, Glen Trosch, founded Psychedelic Art Exchange.[9][10]
Purchase of Poetry.com
In June 1997, Tilson, along with Franz, purchased Poetry.com from Cendant Corporation. The business became the largest poetry publisher in the world. The company grew to over 2,000,000 paying members and they held conventions 3 times per year, each of which was attended by over 2500 poets from over 40 nations. The company was sold in 2005 in a $9,000,000 transaction to New Catalyst Fund. New Catalyst Fund unfortunately ran the company into the ground before selling it to LuLu.com on March 7, 2009.[2]
On April 14, 2011, LuLu.com abruptly announced that they were closing poetry.com on May 4, 2011. This announcement shook the poetry world. 14 million poems by 7 million poets were going to be lost forever. A mad scramble was attempted by the Archive Team to save the database. On May 11, 2011 Tilson stepped in and re-purchased poetry.com from LuLu.com so that this international treasure trove of poems would remain accessible.[11] The site is home to the largest community of amateur poets on the Internet.
Education
Tilson received his schooling from The Park School in Brooklandville, Maryland in 1981 and graduated from Northwestern University in 1985 with a B.A. in economics.
Personal life
Tilson moved with his family to Park City, Utah in June 2005. He has been married to his wife Suzanne since 1990.[12] They have three children, Kyle (born 1994) and Brooke and Grant (born 1997).
References
- ↑ "Stamp hobby turns into good business". Google News. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- 1 2 "Warning of possible poetry scam". Got Poetry?. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- 1 2 "Philatelists Just Wanna Have Fun". New York Times. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ↑ "BBB Business Review". Better Business Bureau. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ↑ "Pair Post Big Profits in World of Stamps". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ↑ "Writing on the Wall". Baltimore Magazine. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ↑ "GUYANA-UNITED STATES: Simpsonmania grabs stamp collectors". IPS News. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ↑ "Fire in the Library". Technology Review. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
- ↑ "Mr. Glen Trosch". ZoomInfo!. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ↑ "Special Guest Blogger Today - Scott Tilson of Psychedelic Art Exchange". Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ↑ Poetry.com#History
- ↑ "Supermarket pursuitDid you know that:There are five...". BaltimoreSun.com. Retrieved 26 December 2012.