Ben Bassi is the Founder and CEO of CommonPlaces Interactive. With over 30 years of Internet technology industry leadership and strategic planning experience, Ben has led two companies to Inc. 500 status (#1 and #446). Ben has been involved in raising $125 million of private and public capital, joint ventures, Public Offerings and an acquisition by Microsoft. He has built web-based systems for the DOD and security agencies. He was on the founding management team of Lycos and has served as EVP of the Firefly Network, the web's first social network and developer of the .Net platform. He was a leader in developing Internet Privacy legislation with Congress and the White House.
Ben founded CommonPlaces in 1998, which merged with a public company to form YouthStream Media Networks (NASDAQ:NETS) as a roll up of acquisitions. YouthStream is best known for the social networking patents and technology that powers LinkedIn. CommonPlaces has delivered over 750 Internet based projects specializing in B2B Customer Engagement in high technology, manufacturing, healthcare and nonprofit industries.
I love being in an industry where each day is different. The web development and digital marketing industry changes every day and CommonPlaces gives me a chance to embrace, enhance, and learn new skills.
One of my business goals is to always look for ways to enhance my skills and inspire my colleagues to do the same. From attending conferences and taking online classes, I believe it is the key to success in business.
I look forward to meeting with my clients (current and prospective) to help them bring their visions of success to life through web development project planning.
As the Business Manager at CommonPlaces I love working here because of the culture. It is important for me to work in an environment where employees are valued for their skills and experience. I enjoy being surrounded by a team that is intelligent and hard working, yet likes to have a good time. I love feeling like I have learned something new everyday!
One aspect of my job is developing solutions that satisfy both the needs of the company and employees. It definitely can be a challenge at times, but it feels good when you can help come up with a solution that makes everyone happy in the end; such as planning company outings and sending client appreciation gifts. Being the employee in charge of Finance and Human Resources is rewarding, fast-paced and interesting - every day!