# Ben Jabbawy

> Ben Jabbawy is a Boston-based entrepreneur who founded Privy in 2011, rebuilt it around ecommerce merchants after a failed sale, and led its 2021 acquisition by Attentive. He now builds GRO, formerly presented as Grocers List, and invests in commerce software through Zero to Exit.

- **Role:** Co-founder at GRO
- **Organizations:** Privy, GRO (Grocers List), Zero to Exit, PostPilot, Tiverias Apps
- **Education:** BS, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, Cornell University
- **Known for:** Led Privy’s 2021 acquisition by Attentive; disclosed a $120 million sale price in a 2024 interview., Scaled Privy to over 100,000 Shopify stores, as described in his own retrospective., Built a customer-support and coaching model that began with him personally answering live chats.

## Career timeline

- **2004-2008** — Studied at Cornell University; an Entrepreneurship for Engineers class helped shape his interest in founding a business.
- **2008-2011** — Co-founded Tiverias Apps, according to his Crunchbase profile.
- **2011** — Founded Privy.
- **2015** — Rebuilt Privy with two developers around a free ecommerce list-building product after an acquisition fell through.
- **2016** — Remained the sole live-chat support operator until late 2016, at approximately $1 million ARR.
- **2021-06** — Led Privy’s sale to Attentive; later stated the transaction value was $120 million.
- **2023** — Published operational lessons and investment memos through Zero to Exit.
- **2024** — Publicly introduced Grocers List with former Privy colleagues.
- **2026** — Public professional profile identifies his current company as GRO.

## Achievements

- Led Privy’s 2021 acquisition by Attentive; disclosed a $120 million sale price in a 2024 interview.
- Scaled Privy to over 100,000 Shopify stores, as described in his own retrospective.
- Built a customer-support and coaching model that began with him personally answering live chats.
- Launched and hosted Ecommerce Marketing School.
- Backed commerce software businesses including Junip, Rebuy, and PostPilot.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Research snapshot: his public LinkedIn profile lists GRO as his current company and describes building a commerce platform for creators, publishers, and brands; this is a verification month, not a claimed announcement date.
- **2026-10** — Research snapshot: Flavor Media Summit’s 2026 speaker page lists Jabbawy with a creator-revenue session; this is the verification month, not an announcement date.
- **2024-05** — Publicly introduced Grocers List and thanked backers of its initial $1 million funding round.

## Links

- Website: https://www.zerotoexit.co/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminjabbawy
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/jabbawy
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jabbawy/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ben-jabbawy
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14