# Matt Rutledge > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Matt_Rutledge > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Matt_Rutledge.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Rutledge > Source revision: 1331183090 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) American Internet entrepreneur (born 1972) Matt Rutledge Born 1972 (age 53–54) San Antonio, Texas Occupation Internet entrepreneur **Matt Rutledge** (born 1972) is an American Internet entrepreneur, best known as the founder and former CEO of the [daily deal](/source/Deal_of_the_day) site [Woot](/source/Woot). Woot was acquired by Amazon in 2010, and Rutledge resigned his position at Amazon in 2012. Rutledge launched a new daily-deal site, Meh, in 2014. ## Early life Rutledge grew up in [San Antonio](/source/San_Antonio) and [Carrollton](/source/Carrollton%2C_Texas), [Texas](/source/Texas). He was an undistinguished high school student.[1] He then moved to the [St. Louis](/source/St._Louis), [Missouri](/source/Missouri) area to live with his mother, but returned to Texas to avoid paying some $8,000 in traffic tickets.[1] ## Origins and Founding of Woot While working at a [Dallas](/source/Dallas)-area computer retailer called Resource Concepts, Rutledge began attending the monthly First Saturday swap meets, selling refurbished PC parts from a truck in the wee hours of the morning. In 1994, Rutledge launched his first company, Synapse Micro, wholesaling tech products to primarily mom-and-pop computer shops.[1] In 2004, Rutledge launched Woot as an outgrowth of Synapse Micro, offering a single product a day at steeply discounted prices. "I wanted it to be a blog and a store at the same time," Rutledge told [Inc. Magazine](/source/Inc._Magazine).[2] To that end, he encouraged the site's copywriters to be entertainingly frank about the shortcomings of the often obsolete products sold on the site. "We feel that if we don't do a good job describing what's wrong with a product, people will assume we just don't know. That's where most retailers fail. To them, every product is perfect."[2] After four years of rapid growth, in 2008 Woot was named the #1 Fastest Growing Private Retail Company in America[3] and the #1 Fastest Growing Private Company in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area by *Inc.*.[4] ## Acquisition by Amazon In June 2010, [Amazon](/source/Amazon.com) acquired Woot for a reported $110 million.[5] Rutledge remained as CEO. The company's headquarters remained in Carrollton, although the creative and [web development](/source/Web_development) team, previously based in St. Louis, moved to the Amazon campus in [Seattle](/source/Seattle).[6] Amazon's ownership of Woot was characterized by increasing complexity of the company's simple [business model](/source/Business_model), moving away from the deal-of-the-day approach to a broader collection of flash sales. Critics claimed that the post-acquisition Woot lost much of its appeal. Woot "was just too eccentric to slot smoothly into a big company that thrives on being orderly. So all those crazy edges got hacked off until it did fit," wrote [CNET](/source/CNET) blogger Amanda Kooser in 2013. "This approach is all Amazon knows. It's just too bad it had to stomp out a fun little corner of geek commerce and camaraderie in the process."[7] Rutledge largely agreed with these criticisms and took some of the responsibility for them, saying he was "unable to represent our needs in a succinct, convincing manner" within Amazon. "The goal-based tactical needs of Amazon were unable to appreciate a relatively small artful business model with different growth drivers."[8] ## Founding of Mediocre Laboratories and meh.com Rutledge left Woot in 2012 citing his greater interest in creating and growing new companies than in managing an Amazon subsidiary.[9] His first public project after leaving Woot was A Mediocre Corporation, so named, in Rutledge's words, "to lower expectations with the brand".[10] Rutledge paid $100,000 for the meh.com domain in June 2014.[11] A Mediocre Corporation launched Meh.com in July 2014,[12] preceded by a [Kickstarter](/source/Kickstarter) campaign describing Meh as a revival of "The Classic Daily Deal Site". "The underlying premise is that we're building a store that you don't need to buy anything from to have fun," Rutledge told *[Business Insider](/source/Business_Insider)*.[12] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-D_Magazine_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-D_Magazine_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-D_Magazine_1-2) Rogers, Tim (July 2014). ["This Internet Millionaire Has a New Deal For You"](http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2014/july/matt-rutledge-woot-has-a-new-deal-mediocre-corporation?single=1). D Magazine. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Inc_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Inc_2-1) Tiku, Nitasha (September 1, 2008). ["How I Did It: Matt Rutledge, Woot"](http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080901/how-i-did-it-matt-rutledge-woot.html). Inc. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Archive_Inc_3-0)** ["Top 100 Retail Companies"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080827102516/http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/lists/retail-companies.html?o=0&c=200800250). Inc.com. 2008. Archived from [the original](http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/lists/retail-companies.html?o=0&c=200800250) on 2008-08-27. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Archive_Inc2_4-0)** ["Top 100 Businesses in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080827100633/http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/lists/dallas-fort-worth-arlington-tx.html?o=0&c=200800250). Inc. 2008. Archived from [the original](http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/lists/dallas-fort-worth-arlington-tx.html?o=0&c=200800250) on 2008-08-27. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Nosowitz, Dan (June 30, 2010). ["Amazon Buys Daily Deal Shopping Site, Woot for $110 Million"](http://www.fastcompany.com/1665608/amazon-buys-daily-deal-shopping-site-woot-110-million). Fast Company. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Woodcock, Tim (July 27, 2010). ["The World of Woot"](http://www.stlmag.com/The-World-of-Woot/). St. Louis Magazine. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Kooser, Amanda (April 24, 2013). ["Why I can't root for Woot anymore"](https://www.cnet.com/news/why-i-cant-root-for-woot-anymore/). CNET. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Corbin, Kenneth (October 7, 2013). ["Woot Founder Dishes on New Venture and Amazon Stewardship"](http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y13/m10/i07/s02). eCommerce Bytes. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Lawler, Ryan (June 15, 2012). ["Woot Founder And Daily Deals Pioneer Matt Rutledge Leaves Amazon"](https://techcrunch.com/2012/06/15/woot-founder-leaves-amazon/). Tech Crunch. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Lawler, Ryan (September 13, 2013). ["Woot's Founding Team Returns As Mediocre Laboratories To Experiment With E-Commerce"](https://techcrunch.com/2013/09/13/mediocre/). Tech Crunch. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Zoch, Jamie (June 27, 2014). ["Matt Rutledge Buys MEH.com For $100K"](http://dotweekly.com/matt-rutledge-buys-meh-com-100k/). Dot Weekly. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-BI_12-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-BI_12-1) D'Onfro, Jillian (July 10, 2014). ["After Selling His Daily-Deals Site To Amazon For $110 Million, This Man Left The Company A Year Early To Start A More Ridiculous Version Of His Original Idea"](http://www.businessinsider.com/matt-rutledge-meh-interview-2014-7). Business Insider. Retrieved March 25, 2015. ## External links - [Mediocre Laboratories](https://mediocre.com/) - [meh.com](http://www.meh.com) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Matt Rutledge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Rutledge) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Rutledge?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.