# Justin Yoshimura

> Justin Yoshimura is the founder, chairman, and CEO of CSC Generation, an AI-native retail holding company that acquires and modernizes established brands such as Sur La Table, Z Gallerie, and One Kings Lane. A high-school dropout who built a million-dollar cell-phone marketplace as a teenager, he went on to found the Y Combinator-backed loyalty platform 500friends (acquired by Merkle in 2014) and made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Today he runs CSC Generation as a Constellation Software-style roll-up, buying distressed retailers and rebuilding them on data, automation, and CSC's proprietary Genesis platform.

- **Role:** Founder, Chairman & CEO at CSC Generation
- **Organizations:** CSC Generation, 500friends, CellsWholesale.com
- **From:** Torrance, California, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Attended; dropped out in junior year, Palos Verdes High School
- **Known for:** Built CellsWholesale.com to $1M in revenue while still in high school, Founded 500friends and took it through Y Combinator to a Merkle acquisition, Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Social/Mobile category (2011)

## Career timeline

- **2006** — Launched CellsWholesale.com as a high schooler; hit $1M in first-year revenue
- **2008** — Sold CellsWholesale.com
- **2010** — Founded 500friends, a cloud-based loyalty and incentive platform for e-commerce
- **2011** — 500friends launched via Y Combinator; named to Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social/Mobile)
- **2012** — 500friends raised $4.5M Series A led by Crosslink Capital with Intel Capital
- **2013** — 500friends raised further funding; total funding reached about $12M
- **2014** — 500friends acquired by Merkle Inc.; Yoshimura became SVP of Loyalty
- **2016** — Founded CSC Generation as a retail and e-commerce holding company
- **2017** — CSC acquired DirectBuy; company reached roughly $150M in sales
- **2019** — Acquired Z Gallerie and later One Kings Lane and Sur La Table
- **2021** — CSC acquired Amerimark Holdings (AmeriMark Direct, Dr. Leonard's, LTD Commodities)
- **2022** — Made public bids for Flexsteel and Bassett Furniture; both rejected
- **2023** — CSC reports $1B+ annual revenue; positions company as AI-native retail platform
- **2025** — Continues building CSC Generation around its Genesis AI platform and 'Commerce AGI' vision

## Achievements

- Built CellsWholesale.com to $1M in revenue while still in high school
- Founded 500friends and took it through Y Combinator to a Merkle acquisition
- Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Social/Mobile category (2011)
- Became one of the youngest founders backed by Crosslink Capital and Intel Capital
- Founded and scaled CSC Generation to over $1 billion in annual revenue
- Assembled a retail portfolio including Sur La Table, Z Gallerie, One Kings Lane and DirectBuy

## Latest updates

- **2023-01** — Business of Home profiles CSC Generation as a billion-dollar home retail company most consumers have never heard of.
- **2025-01** — CSC Generation positions itself publicly as an AI-native retail holding company built around its Genesis platform.

## Links

- Website: https://www.cscgeneration.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoshimuraj

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/justin-yoshimura
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-16