#Luminaries – Michael Dubin

Michael is an entrepreneur & creative executive who was the Founder and former CEO of Dollar Shave Club, an omnichannel men’s personal grooming & personal care business. Michael is incubating new enterprises in both the non-and-for profit spaces while also developing a few creative writing projects. Most notably, Michael is building out SafeWoods, a non-profit dedicated to the eradication of devastating wildfire in collaboration with the US Forest Service, congress, and members of the private sector.

He also serves on the boards of Madison Reed, Stance, Inc., and formerly Papa Johns, Inc and as an advisor to several other companies. He was the recipient of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2016 and has been recognized by Forbes 40 Under 40, Ad Age, Webby, Shorty, and CLIO. Michael earned his BA in history from Emory University in 2001. Emory awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 2018, when he delivered the university’s 173rd commencement address. He is a member of the 2022 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.

Dollar Shave Club was founded by Mark Levine and Michael Dubin. The pair met at a party and spoke of their frustrations with the cost of razor blades. With their own money and investments from start-up incubator Science Inc., they began operations in January 2011 and launched their website in April 2011.

Dollar Shave Club was backed by a variety of venture capitalists. In March 2012, seed investors provided $1 million in funding from groups that included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Andreessen Horowitz, Shasta Ventures, and others. The same group, joined by Venrock, provided $9.8 million in series A funding in October 2012. A year later, a $12 million series B round was raised led by Venrock, Comcast Ventures, New World Investors and Battery Ventures. Amidst the fundraising announcement, Dollar Shave Club announced it would be expanding its product line to include a dozen other men’s products in 2014. In June 2015, the company secured $75 million in series D funding.

On July 19, 2016, Dollar Shave Club was acquired by Unilever for a reported $1 billion in cash.