[an error occurred while processing this directive]
BusinessWeek Logo
Better World Books

Better World Books

www.betterworldbooks.com

Xavier Helgesen, 30, and Christopher "Kreece" Fuchs, 29
Mishawaka, Ind.

Xavier Helgesen, the 30-year-old co-founder of Better World Books, says his Mishawaka (Ind.)-based online bookseller has donated over $5 million to literacy programs and libraries around the world since it launched in 2002. "Right now only one out of seven people is a potential customer—if we can bring people up to levels of equivalent literacy—we're helping our long-term business model," says Helgesen, who launched the business with fellow Notre Dame alum Christopher "Kreece" Fuchs. The 200-person company makes money by selling books it gets for free from a network of individuals and institutions across the country. Recently, it started giving stock options to its five major literacy partners, an innovation designed by Good Capital, the lead investor in a recent $2 million venture-capital round. Helgesen expects Better World, which has secured around $4 million in equity investment in total, to bring in $30 million in revenue this calendar year and be profitable in 2010. He credits the company's reasonable prices with its success ("Five used books for $15," reads a recent ad on its Web site). Better World sells about 10,000 books a day.