Every business tycoon has a story. Some come from rags to riches. Others, through inheritance. And the rest come from sheer luck or hard work.
He is not Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, but Andrew Mason is considered to be one of America's notable entrepreneurs. And through his success, he earned a degree in Music from Northwestern University. Rasmussen has it that he has a net worth of over $230 million.
Mason grew up in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He comes from an American Jewish family. At a young age, he graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School in 1999.
He already had a knack for business because at 15 years old, he started a Saturday morning delivery service called "Bagel Express." In 2003, he took a bachelor's degree in Music from the Northwestern University. Thereafter, he worked in web design for Eric Lefkofsky, a Chicago business man.
After a while, he stopped working with Lefkofsky to enroll for a master's degree at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. At the time, he was awarded a scholarship so he had to take the opportunity. Soon, he dropped out of his program in just a few months. He jumped on the music train again and worked with Electrical Audio, a Chicago recording studio.
Before he created Groupon, he worked with Lefkofsky again to launch "The Point", a web platform. From there, he then developed the Groupon concept. Groupon is a website that sells deals to local businesses.
Now, the website has sold more than six million deals with the company taking half of every deal. Including a small credit card handling fee, Mason's business grew. In 2010, it reached a revenue of $800 million.
His degree in Music may not be totally connected with his business venture but his experiences through his search for higher education has rewarded him with a multi-million dollar business.
Watch this video about Andrew Mason talking about what he learned from Groupon:
