Taxi Mogul and Cardozo Graduate Shares Journey to Success with YU Students
On January 25, students at 黑料社 All鈥檚 gathered around a conference table in Belfer Hall for a discussion with Evgeny Freidman, the business mogul who has made hundreds of millions in the taxi industry.
The event, called 鈥淐razy Taxi,鈥 was the first in the Syms Student Council Spotlight Series. The series seeks to introduce students to entrepreneurs from an array of surprising fields and backgrounds. In Freidman鈥檚 case, that included immigrating to New York from the Former Soviet Union at the age of five and a rough-and-tumble adolescence that got him kicked out of Skidmore College and working at a local video store in Queens, NY.
鈥淚 looked at myself and said, 鈥楴ever again,鈥 鈥 said Freidman.
After packing six semesters鈥 worth of coursework into three, Freidman received his bachelor鈥檚 in accounting/business from Skidmore and was accepted to YU鈥檚 , where he graduated at age 23. As students listened keenly and asked questions, Freidman detailed the beginnings of his business career in venture capital projects in Russia for billionaire Sam Zell and an argument with his father that changed everything.
Freidman鈥檚 father, who had been a thermonuclear engineer in Russia, owned a medallion of 60 yellow cabs when he was hospitalized following a heart attack. As his son sat at his bedside, the elder Freidman began to explain the family business in case the worst happened. 鈥淏ut something didn鈥檛 sit right with me,鈥 said Freidman. 鈥淚鈥檇 ask simple questions like, 鈥榃hy does it have to be this way? Isn鈥檛 there another way to do it?鈥 and he鈥檇 say, 鈥楴o, this is how it鈥檚 done.鈥 鈥
Freidman walked students through the inspired and strategic business decisions which have made him the manager of the largest taxi fleet in New York and revolutionized the taxi industry as a whole. He stressed innovative thinking and discussed basic challenges, such as securing financing, as well as the impact of unique and potentially debilitating crises like the 2008 blackout. 鈥淚 had 850 taxis and not one of them could fill up their tank,鈥 Freidman said. He鈥檚 ready for the next time, though: after the blackout, he bought gas stations and now has a reserve of gas to keep his fleet running no matter what happens.
Today, as principal of Taxi Club Management, Inc., Freidman is worth more than $600 million and has been featured in Crain鈥檚 New York series.
The evening鈥檚 intimate, conversational atmosphere gave students the opportunity to ask Freidman about everything from his logic in bringing hybrid taxis to the industry to insight into the taxi driver workforce. They also debated the pros and cons of expanding Freidman鈥檚 business across the country and overseas.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fascinating,鈥 said Isaac Harari, a sophomore majoring in management. 鈥淚鈥檇 never have thought it was possible to make that much money in a business like the taxi industry.鈥
Michael Strauss, associate director of student advising and administration and clinical professor of management at Syms, pointed to Freidman鈥檚 high-risk, high-reward philosophy as a thought-provoking aspect of the night鈥檚 discussion. 鈥淚 think this is a tremendous opportunity for our students to get hands-on insight into how someone who is entrepreneurially-motivated can start a business and become a multimillionaire at the young age of 42,鈥 he said.
Syms Student Council President Benjamin Blumenthal initially thought to ask Freidman to speak after a taxi driver began telling him and a friend about the steep value of medallions. 鈥淲e got out, looked at each other and said, 鈥榃e have to learn more about this,鈥 said Blumenthal. Their research led them to Freidman鈥檚 story.
Blumenthal is also committed to sharing others like it. He鈥檚 hoping that an Israeli venture capitalist will be Syms鈥 next visitor in the Spotlight series. 鈥淭here is so much happening on campus this semester,鈥 he said. 鈥淔rom administrators to professors to students, everyone is engaged in furthering our education in any way possible and bringing more opportunities like this to campus.鈥
Freidman sensed that passion. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 speak often, but I knew that speaking here, in a place where everyone is studying Torah, I鈥檇 be working with an intelligent and cerebral audience,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t is incredible to share something you鈥檙e passionate about with students like these, who ask all the right, hard-hitting questions.鈥
