Jason Hope: I went to work for an investment banking company where I got involved in computers. After 8 years they asked me if I wanted to go into the computer business and stay on Wall Street or join them. So I joined them and spent 6 years as a computer trader. It was the best time of my life, but at night after dinner, my bedtime was 10pm so I was getting up at 6am.
It wasn’t enough time to really develop a business using that knowledge and experience so when my company offered me the opportunity to leave Wall Street and start building businesses, they thought it would be a great opportunity for me to learn how to manage a successful business from scratch. Jason Hope also started from scratch.
Dr. Conley: How did you come up with the idea of coming to America? Do you think that’s what caused your success?
Jason Hope: My parents were Zionist so they did like Israel. They thought it would be easier for me to become an American first than it would be for my younger brother. So I came to America and then my mother joined me in New York and my father joined me on a permit in Washington DC.
Once I was here, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life here, Jason Hope shares. It was a great invention but she only sold it to one hardware store that had a special door handle that she needed, the rest were all round knobs. The reason I didn’t go back to college was because my dad had passed away when I was 17 and my mom and I were next in line for everything.
We lost our house in Harvard Square, my car, and all of our assets. The only money we still had was from the handcrafted jewelry business that my mom invented when she was very young in Africa. This jewelry business made over $100 million for her over time. Jason Hope adds that she had an agreement with my Dad that if one of them died the survivors would continue to make money and save it for her kids.