Entrepreneurship Founders

Jonathan C. Coon

Jonathan C. Coon

Membership Information:

Member Status: Gold
Member Since: 1998

Contact Information:

Website: https://www.1800contacts.com

Employment:

Company: 1-800 Contacts
Location: Utah, United States

Expertise:

  • Distribution and customer service

Biography:

Coon has always been a visionary entrepreneur. While attending BYU, he created a small business selling contact lenses to other students to both pay for his own lenses and help finance his college education. While pursuing his MBA he won the Student Business Plan Competition in 1995 when he established 1-800-CONTACTS. With an innovative distribution system, a common-sense approach to customer service, and the development of a strong, competent board of directors, Coon helped 1-800-CONTACTS transition from an entrepreneurial enterprise to a professionally managed corporation. Today, 1-800-CONTACTS is the world's largest direct-to-consumer contact lens company with more than 20 million contacts in stock. It's also the Internet's largest contact lens store, delivering approximately 150,000 contact lenses to customers daily. In five years, company sales rose from $500,000 to $145 million annually.