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Benjamin Cogan: Princeton Entrepreneur and Innovator

Princeton Education and Academic Achievements

Benjamin Cogan graduated from Princeton University in 2012 with a degree in philosophy, earning high academic honors. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude, reflecting a stellar academic record

ownersmag.com. During his time at Princeton, Cogan also pursued interdisciplinary interests with certificates in Judaic Studies and Values and Public Lifewww.princeton.edu. He was an active campus leader, serving as president of the Human Values Forum and co-founding the Princeton chapter of Giving What We Can, an effective altruism initiative promoting charitable givingwww.princeton.edu. In recognition of his contributions to campus life, Cogan was among the recipients of the 2012 Spirit of Princeton Award, an honor bestowed on students for their positive impact on the university communitywww.princeton.edu www.princeton.edu. These academic and leadership experiences at Princeton – especially his exposure to ethics through philosopher Peter Singer’s course – influenced Cogan’s worldview and laid an intellectual foundation for his approach to business.

Entrepreneurial Ventures and Companies Founded

After college, Ben Cogan embarked on an entrepreneurial career, co-founding and leading several direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses across diverse industries. His major ventures include:

Hubble Contacts (2016) – Co-Founder & Co-CEO. Cogan’s flagship startup, Hubble, is the first DTC contact lens brand in the U.S., offering affordable daily contact lenses via subscription

ownersmag.com. Launched in 2016, Hubble quickly became one of America’s fastest-growing e-commerce companies. Under Cogan’s leadership, Hubble raised about $73-74 million** in venture capital and scaled to serve customers in **30 countries**, reaching nine-figure annual revenues. This disruptive model - doing for contact lenses _“what Warby Parker did for glasses”_ - earned Cogan and his co-founder Jesse Horwitz a spot on Forbes’ **“30 Under 30”** list in 2016[ventureunplugged.com](https://ventureunplugged.com/ben-cogan-founder-hubble-contacts-podcast-mayra-ceja/#:~:text=Ben%20Cogan%20is%20the%20co,Warby%20Parker%20did%20for%20glasses). Key milestones for Hubble include selling over **$ n20 million worth of lenses in its first 13 months and being featured as a success story in Harvard Business School case studies.
Mockingbird Strollers (2019) – Co-Founder. Cogan co-founded Mockingbird, a direct-to-consumer baby stroller brand that launched in 2019. Mockingbird aimed to modernize the parenting products industry with high-quality strollers at lower cost than incumbents. The company gained traction in the competitive baby gear market, and by 2024 it had generated over $45 million in revenue, establishing itself as a strong player in the DTC space. Cogan’s role in Mockingbird extended his philosophy of bringing DTC models to new product categories.
Willow (2018) – Co-Founder. In 2018, Cogan teamed up with former Hubble colleagues to launch Willow, an adult incontinence products brand. Willow delivers stylish, affordable disposable underwear (adult diapers) directly to consumers, applying the subscription model to an $8 billion incontinence market. The venture raised a **$ n2.5 million seed round** (led by FirstMark Capital, Founders Fund, and others) to jumpstart its growth. Willow’s DTC approach addressed an underserved demographic with discretion and convenience, and the company was later acquired by Because Market, a larger player in the senior care e-commerce space. This exit marked a successful milestone for the startup.
Harper Coats – Co-Founder. Cogan also co-founded Harper Coats, a direct-to-consumer outerwear brand. While less publicized than his other ventures, Harper Coats is part of the portfolio of DTC companies that Cogan and his partners built, demonstrating their ability to replicate the DTC playbook in the apparel sector.
Agora Brands (2021) – Co-Founder. Cogan’s latest venture is Agora Brands, an e-commerce aggregator focused on acquiring and scaling small to mid-sized DTC businesses (primarily those on the Shopify platform). Founded in the early 2020s by Cogan along with Jesse Horwitz and Ray Cao, Agora takes a “house of brands” approach: it buys profitable niche e-commerce brands and grows them by centralizing resources and operational efficiencies

clay.earth. In 2023, Agora secured a $83.5 million growth investment led by Maverix Private Equity to fuel the acquisition of more brands and build out its infrastructure. This sizable funding round underscores the confidence investors have in Cogan’s team and their track record in the DTC arena. Agora represents the evolution of Cogan’s entrepreneurial journey from single-brand startups to managing a portfolio of brands at scale.

Career Progression and Leadership Roles

Ben Cogan’s career progression highlights a blend of corporate experience and serial entrepreneurship. After Princeton, he began his career as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he honed his analytical and strategic skills. Seeking hands-on experience in consumer startups, he next joined Harry’s, the direct-to-consumer razor company, as a Senior Associate on the Customer Insights team

ownersmag.com. At Harry’s, Cogan learned the intricacies of subscription-based retail and consumer behavior, helping to build out the insights function by surveying customers and modeling new business opportunitiesownersmag.com. This role at a fast-growing DTC company – founded by Warby Parker alumni – exposed him to the power of cutting out the middleman, a lesson that would directly inspire his own venture.

In the summer of 2011, Cogan met Jesse Horwitz during an internship at Bridgewater Associates (a New York hedge fund), forming a friendship that later turned into a business partnership

ownersmag.com ventureunplugged.com. By 2016, armed with industry insight and a viable concept, Cogan reached out to Horwitz to co-found Hubble Contactsownersmag.com. As co-CEOs, Cogan and Horwitz led Hubble from concept to launch, leveraging Cogan’s consumer marketing savvy and Horwitz’s finance background. Their complementary partnership proved successful, and they continued to collaborate on new ventures: together they co-founded Mockingbird, Willow, and Agora Brands in quick succession, often teaming up with other domain experts (such as Will Herlands for Willow and Eric Osman for Mockingbird). Cogan’s role in these companies has typically been at the executive and strategic level – setting up the business model, raising capital, and guiding growth strategy. He also extends his expertise as an angel investor and advisor to emerging startups (for example, he advises Resolved CX, a customer service platform for DTC firms).

Overall, Cogan’s career trajectory moved from consulting to corporate startup, and then to founding multiple companies. This progression illustrates how he built on each experience: consulting provided business rigor, Harry’s provided DTC operational know-how, and his successive startups allowed him to apply these lessons in new markets. Today, as co-founder of Agora, Cogan occupies a leadership role that consolidates his entrepreneurial journey – steering a company that in turn manages a collection of e-commerce brands.

Professional Achievements, Recognitions, and Industry Contributions

Ben Cogan has amassed an impressive list of professional achievements and accolades by his early thirties, solidifying his reputation in the startup world:

Forbes “30 Under 30” Honoree (2016): Cogan (along with Horwitz) earned a spot on Forbes’s 30 Under 30 list in the Retail & E-Commerce category for the year 2016. This recognition came shortly after Hubble’s launch and highlighted the impact of their innovative work in the contact lens industry. Being named to this list signified Cogan as one of the brightest young entrepreneurs in the consumer startup space.
Pioneering DTC Business Models: Through Hubble and subsequent ventures, Cogan contributed to disrupting traditional industries by applying the direct-to-consumer subscription model. Hubble Contacts, for example, transformed the way consumers buy lenses – “doing for the contact lens space what Warby Parker did for glasses,” by cutting out intermediaries and dramatically lowering costs

ventureunplugged.com. Similarly, Mockingbird brought DTC convenience and pricing to strollers, and Willow to adult healthcare products, demonstrating Cogan’s role in expanding the DTC revolution to new sectors. These contributions have influenced competitors and prompted legacy players to re-think their models in response to the customer-friendly innovations his companies introduced.
Rapid Growth and Business Milestones: Cogan’s startups have achieved remarkable growth metrics. Hubble scaled internationally within its first couple of years, extending its footprint to around 30 countries and reaching over $100 million in annual revenue**. Notably, Hubble sold about **$ n20 million worth of contacts in its first 13 months, an almost unprecedented pace in its industry. The company’s success was substantial enough to be studied in Harvard Business School case studies, where Cogan and Horwitz were cited as visionary founders in the DTC arena. Meanwhile, other ventures like Mockingbird and Willow hit significant milestones (revenue and exit, respectively) in their early years, underscoring Cogan’s execution capabilities across ventures.
Major Funding Rounds and Investor Confidence: Cogan has a proven track record of raising capital from prominent venture investors. At Hubble, he and his team attracted funding from top-tier firms such as Founders Fund and Greycroft, accumulating over $70 million to fuel growth

ventureunplugged.com ventureunplugged.com. For Agora Brands, Cogan helped secure an $83.5 million investment in 2023 to drive its acquisition strategy. These successful raises not only provided resources for expansion but also serve as recognition from the investment community of the strong business models and leadership behind Cogan’s companies.
Thought Leadership and Industry Influence: Beyond financial metrics, Cogan is recognized for his emphasis on sustainable and profitable growth in e-commerce. He has spoken about prioritizing profitability over growth-at-all-costs, reflecting a maturing DTC sector’s values. His philosophy-trained background contributes to an ethical approach to entrepreneurship, ensuring that business decisions consider long-term impacts and responsible practices. Additionally, Cogan’s work exemplifies the power of co-founder partnerships; he often cites the importance of having a co-founder to share the challenges of building a startup

ventureunplugged.com. Through interviews and mentorship (he has been a startup mentor and advisor), he has shared insights on building customer-centric brands and scaling companies smartly, thus contributing knowledge back to the entrepreneurial community.

Personal Background and Insights into His Entrepreneurial Journey

On a personal level, Benjamin Cogan’s background and values have played a significant role in shaping his journey as an entrepreneur. Raised in New York City, Cogan grew up with early exposure to diverse cultures and ideas in the urban environment

ownersmag.com. His decision to study philosophy at Princeton – sparked by an influential ethics course – reflects a deep interest in understanding values and making principled decisions. This academic grounding in ethics is evident in how Cogan approaches business: he has a reputation for ethical entrepreneurship, striving to build companies that are not only profitable but also principled in their practices. For instance, in building e-commerce brands, he has emphasized fair pricing, transparency, and customer well-being (as seen in Hubble’s mission to make vision care more affordable).

Cogan is also deeply committed to philanthropy and social impact, which provides insight into his motivations beyond profit. As an undergraduate, he took the Giving What We Can pledge in 2011 (becoming one of the early members of this effective altruism community) and co-founded the second U.S. chapter of the organization at Princeton. This meant pledging to donate a significant portion of his future earnings to effective charities – a choice that exemplifies his “earn to give” philosophy. Today, he continues this involvement as a Director and Treasurer of Giving What We Can USA, helping to lead the non-profit’s mission of encouraging impactful giving. Such engagement shows that Cogan views entrepreneurial success as a platform to give back and drive positive change.

Moreover, Cogan’s personal journey includes global and cultural exploration. After Princeton, he spent time in Israel studying Jewish texts and history at the Pardes Institute, deepening his understanding of his cultural heritage and ethics

www.princeton.edu. He also volunteered in India during college, teaching children at an orphanage in New Delhiwww.princeton.edu. These experiences abroad broadened his perspective and resilience – qualities that are valuable in entrepreneurship. They likely reinforced his appreciation for community and human values, which translates into how he builds company cultures and treats stakeholders.

In summary, Ben Cogan’s path reflects more than just serial business success; it is underpinned by a rich tapestry of personal convictions and experiences. His Ivy League education and accolades gave him a strong start, but it’s his combination of analytical skill, ethical grounding, and collaborative spirit that fuels his ventures. From his New York City upbringing to his Princeton leadership roles and global experiences, each chapter of Cogan’s background has informed the kind of entrepreneur he is: one who aims to innovate responsibly, lead with integrity, and use his success as a means to contribute to society. This blend of professional drive and personal principle is a defining feature of Cogan’s journey as an entrepreneur.

Sources:

n1. Princeton Entrepreneurship Council – Profile of Benjamin Cogan ’12 n2. Clay.earth – Professional bio for Benjamin Cogan (education and career overview) n3. Giving What We Can – Bio of Ben Cogan (entrepreneurial ventures and early career) n4. Owner’s Magazine – Interview with Ben Cogan (Princeton graduation honors and pre-Hubble experience)ownersmag.com ownersmag.com n5. Get Sh!t Done (event page) – Ben Cogan’s startup portfolio and funding highlights n6. Agora Brands website – Team About page (list of DTC companies co-founded by Cogan) n7. BetaKit News – Maverix leads $83.5M investment in Agora (Agora’s model and Hubble’s scale) n8. The Hustle – Hubble startup story (Hubble’s launch year, funding, and HBS case mention) n9. Ventured Unplugged (Podcast) – Ben Cogan interview digest (Warby Parker analogy and co-founder story)ventureunplugged.com ventureunplugged.com n10. Princeton University News (2012) – Spirit of Princeton Award announcement (Cogan’s student leadership)www.princeton.edu www.princeton.edu n11. PR Newswire / Markets Insider – Willow launch press release (description of Willow and seed funding)