Ben Jabbawy

Ben Jabbawy is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder of GRO (formerly Grocers List), a commerce platform for food creators based in Boston, Massachusetts.^[1] He is best known as the founder and former CEO of Privy, an e-commerce marketing platform that served over 600,000 merchants in 180 countries before its acquisition by Attentive for a reported ~$120 million in June 2021.^[5][5]

Jabbawy co-founded his first company, Tiverias Apps, immediately after graduating from Cornell University in 2008, then founded Privy in 2011 and spent a decade scaling it from a local marketing tool into one of the most-installed apps in the Shopify App Store.^[13][5] Following the Attentive acquisition, he launched the Zero to Exit newsletter and angel investment fund, and in 2023 co-founded GRO to build commerce infrastructure for food creators.^[6][1]

Jabbawy grew up in a multi-generational entrepreneurial family. Both sets of grandparents ran small businesses, and both of his parents operated their own companies.^[5] His father, an Iraqi immigrant who came to the United States alone and put himself through MIT, regularly encouraged his three sons to take risks.^[5][13] Growing up as the technically inclined sibling, Jabbawy became the family's de facto technology resource, building websites and setting up digital advertising for his parents' businesses — an experience that gave him early exposure to the challenges facing small business owners.^[5]

Jabbawy attended Cornell University from 2004 to 2008, earning a B.S. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering.^[23] He has cited an "Entrepreneurship for Engineers" course at Cornell as a turning point, noting that he "wasn't that excited by the typical on-campus recruiting opportunities" and realized he wanted to combine his technical, creative, and interpersonal skills in a startup rather than pursue a conventional engineering career.^[23]

Tiverias Apps (2008–2011)

Immediately after graduating from Cornell in 2008, Jabbawy co-founded Tiverias Apps with Yoni Gontownik, incubating the company at GreatPoint Ventures in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[23] The company's flagship product, GPush, was a push notification app for Gmail on the iPhone, launched in August 2009.^[9] GPush reached number 17 on Apple's top paid apps chart and accumulated approximately 100,000 downloads, but competition from larger players eroded its position.^[9][5] The experience gave Jabbawy confidence in building consumer-facing products and reinforced his interest in creating tools for small businesses.^[23]

Privy (2011–2021)

Jabbawy founded Privy in 2011 at age 25, quitting his job and moving back into his parents' house to fund the early days.^[23][5] The company initially built marketing tools for brick-and-mortar businesses, helping local merchants run promotions and collect customer data.^[13] In 2012, Privy was accepted into 500 Startups Batch 5, which Jabbawy later credited with sharpening the company's focus.^[23] In July 2013, Privy raised a $1.7 million seed round from Atlas Ventures, 500 Startups, and other investors.^[13]

The company's first three years produced little traction. By 2014, Privy was down to $1,000 in the bank, and Jabbawy had to tell his ten employees that expected funding had fallen through.^[15] The turning point came when a customer call revealed demand for e-commerce-focused tools. Jabbawy pivoted Privy to serve online merchants, listing the product on the Shopify App Store around 2015.^[5][23] The distribution channel proved transformative: Privy grew from roughly 50 businesses to over 10,000 in a single year.^[23] The company raised additional funding in 2016^[13] and a $4.25 million Series A in 2018 led by Accomplice, bringing total funding to approximately $8.3 million across seven rounds.^[14][15]

Privy's product suite expanded to include website popups, email marketing automation, and SMS tools, all designed for small and mid-market e-commerce brands. By 2020, the company had reached $11.4 million in annual recurring revenue, up from $9 million in 2019.^[16] At its peak, Privy served over 600,000 merchants in 180 countries, was adding approximately 12,000 new Shopify installs per month, and had helped merchants collect over 500 million email addresses.^[21][5][18] Jabbawy also hosted the Ecommerce Marketing School podcast, which accumulated nearly one million downloads.^[5]

In June 2021, Attentive acquired Privy for a reported ~$120 million.^[5][5] The company had approximately 70–80 employees at the time of the sale.^[5] Jabbawy has said that watching competitors Attentive and Klaviyo raise hundreds of millions in 2021 convinced him that competing at scale would require a level of fundraising he did not want to pursue.^[5]

Attentive — Privy Division (2021–2023)

Following the acquisition, Jabbawy remained as CEO of the Privy division within Attentive through the end of 2022, overseeing the integration and continued operation of the product.^[15][5] He then transitioned to an advisory role, departing Attentive fully in 2023.^[5]

Zero to Exit (2022–present)

In late 2022, while still advising at Attentive, Jabbawy launched Zero to Exit, a newsletter and blog documenting the lessons from his decade building and selling Privy.^[6] The publication covers topics including acquisition mechanics, fundraising, and capital efficiency, and Jabbawy has described it as "the blog I wish I had at each step."^[6] Zero to Exit also functions as a small investment fund focused on the Shopify SaaS ecosystem. Through it and his personal angel investing, Jabbawy has made investments in at least eight startups, including Rebuy, Chargeflow, Monocle, and Gadget.^[19]

GRO, formerly Grocers List (2023–present)

After stepping back from Attentive, Jabbawy spent time cooking at home and noticed how difficult it was for consumers to find and purchase ingredients from recipes discovered on social media. He has said the insight came from realizing that food creators were "growing quickly and using a lot of software tools, but they weren't built for food."^[1] In 2023, he co-founded Grocers List (later rebranded to GRO) with Michael McGrath, launching the product publicly in May 2024.^[20][1] The platform turns recipe content into shoppable ingredient lists and helps food creators build owned audiences and generate affiliate revenue through Instagram and Facebook direct messages.^[21]

GRO raised a seed round from Founder Collective, Impellent Ventures, and NextView Ventures.^[22] As of early 2026, the platform had sent over 100 million DMs for creators, with reported click-through rates exceeding 70%, and worked with over 1,000 food creators reaching a combined audience of approximately 100 million followers.^[21][1] The company had approximately seven employees.^[22]

PostPilot — Board Member (2024–present)

In August 2024, Jabbawy joined the board of directors of PostPilot, a direct mail marketing platform for e-commerce brands.^[19] The role reflects his continued involvement in the Shopify and e-commerce marketing ecosystem following the Privy exit.

MailSnail (2024–present)

Jabbawy is listed as a co-founder and board member of MailSnail, a venture launched in 2024.^[19] Limited public information is available about the company's product or operations as of early 2026.

Jabbawy is based in Boston, Massachusetts, where he has lived throughout his entrepreneurial career.^[23] He is married with two daughters.^[5] His father, an Iraqi immigrant, is someone Jabbawy has described as his "hero in life and in business," citing his journey of arriving in the United States alone and putting himself through MIT.^[13] His cousin is Dave Gerhardt, the former CMO of Drift, whom Jabbawy brought in as Privy's CMO.^[24]