Long Story Short is a private shopping club with membership dues of $1,000 per month. Our goal is to advance luxury retail in the way that is most likely to benefit consumers, unconstrained by a need to generate ecommerce profit margins.

Unlike traditional online shopping companies, we do not mark prices up or take a cut of sales. Since we rely strictly on membership dues and are free from traditional marketplace economics, we can better focus on a positive consumer experience.

We believe online shopping should be an extension of traditional brick-and-mortar retail and, in the spirit of luxury, the experience should be as-special-as-possible. Our membership admissions process is strict and the dues are steep, but we believe the goal and the structure are right. We hope this is what matters most to our members.

When you buy something, we acquire and inspect it before sending it on to you. That way, you never deal with sellers and they never learn your identity. What's more, unlike everyone else, we don't mark items up or take a cut of sales. That's because we make our money from membership dues only. Long story short.. shop an eclectic array of new products added daily, buy them all in one place anonymously, and don't worry about overpaying along the way.

While Long Story Short maintains only a fraction of the product range of Amazon, what we do have is a discerning global community who, like me, enjoy hunting, sharing and buying the coolest stuff in the world. I am also the Founder of loot - a comic book studio for kids.

I recently built an Artificial Intelligence system at Sound Ventures and CoFounded Way to Go - a social network for people who like walking.

Before that, I was CoFounder of The Archivist , CoFounder of Fancy, CoFounder of Inform and the first employee of Capital IQ.

Long Story Short would not exist without the tireless support of my friend Edward Lando. Ed is a co-founder and founding investor in Misfits Market and others and an early angel investor in 850+ companies globally.

I dare you to try to visit Long Story Short without buying anything - or at least being seriously tempted. That trip to Saint-Tropez? A robot that can crack almost any safe? Maybe that Tron motorcycle you've always had your eye on? Long Story Short has it all.

While most of our handpicked items will never be seen by the general public, we're sharing a sneak peek of some special pieces that can only be found on Long Story Short, including: NBA legend Chris Mullin's iconic sneaker collection, spanning shoes signed by his Dream Team teammate Michael Jordan.

Keith Haring's 'Radiant Baby' from the iconic Mudd Club. At the end of 1980/beginning of 1981, a young Keith Haring began hanging out at the Mudd Club. Steve Mass gave him the 4th floor to curate shows, which resulted in two landmark graffiti exhibitions — The Lower Manhattan Drawing Show (February 1981) and Beyond Words (April 1981). Sometime around then, Keith spray-painted a 'Radiant Baby' on the first-floor wall across from the bar. While Haring had a penchant for drawing babies, and spaceships irradiating things, it was arguably the first, or at least amongst the earliest Radiant Baby seen publicly.

When the Mudd Club was dismantled, Steve cut down the piece of plywood wall and had it put into a frame for safekeeping. It was sold to a collector at the time to raise money to support the new Mudd Club being built in Berlin.

While the Berlin club failed, the ‘Radiant Baby' lived on in New York City and is now available. It is accompanied by an authentication certificate issued by Julia Gruen; while against Foundation policy to certify graffiti pieces, she did so to support the Mudd Club mission.

More than any other symbol, the Radiant Baby is the pure essence of Keith Haring. For him, it embodied purity, innocence, and potential. While it evolved from this early primitive version, it remains central and iconic.

This particular Radiant Baby, cut down from the wall of the historic 1980s club and artistic hub, is more than just a painting; it is an artifact — a testimony to the unparalleled creativity of the time in New York City.

When you buy something, we acquire and inspect it before sending it on to you. That way, you never deal with sellers and they never learn your identity. What's more, unlike everyone else, we don't mark items up or take a cut of sales. That's because we make our money from membership dues only. Long story short.. shop an eclectic array of new products added daily, buy them all in one place anonymously, and don't worry about overpaying along the way.

With a deep-rooted understanding of the luxury arena and long-standing relationships with the world's leading brands, LSS can secure nearly anything you desire. We are curators of ideas and talent, activating a team of experts centered around the needs of each and every member.

LSS aims to create a unique relationship with each of our members, one which has meaning and conveys positive emotions.

We create experiences that are at the intersection of entertainment, education and commerce.

We have assembled a team to serve our members who share common values: a passion for innovation, a drive for excellence, and a sense of commitment to uphold the utmost standards of luxury.

Each is the best at what they do and together we form a powerful creative force that harnesses culture and technology to establish meaningful associations.

When a new member joins, we get together to build the agenda, outlining each step needed to drive impact, from sizing and preferences through to shipping and logistics.

Apple's move to allow users to opt out of tracking continues to impose far-reaching consequences, directly impacting companies relying on targeted advertising revenue, such as Google and Facebook.

This downturn exacerbated existing challenges within the online luxury market, where platforms were already grappling with negative unit economics.

The increased cost of acquiring customers from Facebook and Google further strained profitability.

Consequently, these platforms resorted to passing on these challenges to sellers by imposing higher listing fees and taking larger cuts of sales, ultimately resulting in inflated prices for consumers.

This situation underscores a multi-layered system of intermediaries, each dependent on that system for survival, all at the expense of the authentic heritage of luxury brands.

In light of all these shifts, the traditional online luxury business model is over. Luxury brands are increasingly focused on defending their heritage and maintaining control over pricing and distribution channels.

That's why they are – and while continue to be – the best brands in the world. Meanwhile, online luxury platforms are fading away as brands and consumers seek alternative solutions.

At Long Story Short, we're proposing a novel membership club model as a solution. No one is doing yet; but they will, because there is no other way. Our approach ensures the alignment of interests among all parties involved.

Traditional e-commerce platforms prioritize (1) overpaying to buy hit-and-run customers from Google and Facebook with bait-and-switch ads and (2) overcharging vendors and consumers to cover the associated costs. LSS does not make any money from orders. We only make money from membership dues. Ours is a relentless focus on: (1) delighting members by offering the best products and experiences this world has to offer; (2) enabling members to conveniently buy across all genres in one session; and (3) providing a buffer between our members and the ‘wild, wild web’ by handling negotiations and acquisition on their behalf. The only success metric that matters to traditional e-commerce platforms is how much profit margin they make off of sales. The only success metric that matters to LSS is the satisfaction of our members.

Together we build the agenda, outlining each step needed to drive impact, from event production through to amplification on and offline.

The world has never had so many rich people and their investments in soaring stock markets have made them wealthier than ever recorded, according to a study published on Wednesday. The number of "high net worth individuals" (HNWI) — defined as people with liquid assets of at least $1 million — rose by 5.1 percent last year to 22.8 million, according to consulting firm Capgemini. Their total wealth reached $86.8 trillion in 2023, a 4.7 percent increase from the previous year, according to the annual World Wealth Report. The number of HNWI and their total wealth are the highest since Capgemini began the annual study in 1997.

Their fortunes have risen as stock markets have surged: New York’s tech-heavy Nasdaq soared 43 percent in 2023 while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 24 percent. The Paris CAC 40 grew 16 percent while the Frankfurt DAX advanced by 20 percent. The number of HNWI and their wealth had each fallen by more than three percent in 2022, a year of macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, the report said. The decline in their wealth was the steepest in a decade as equities fell.

"However, 2023 brought economic growth and improved fortunes for major investment sectors to reverse the falloff," the report said. "Despite ongoing interest rate uncertainty and rising bond yields, equities surged along with the tech market, fueled by enthusiasm for generative AI and its potential impact on the economy." Rising wealth and inequality in the world have fuelled debates on making the rich pay their fair share of taxes. Brazil and France have pressed fellow G20 countries to set a global minimum tax on the world’s wealthiest people.

Long Story Short is dedicated to a pair of unforgettable chihuahuas who filled my life with joy (and naps) for 16 years. I like the idea of them living forever here now, cozying up to the richest, most famous people in the world.

Fun fact: When Marilyn Monroe signed a six-movie contract with Columbia Pictures in 1948, it was a breakthrough moment in her career, and the animal lover celebrated by getting her own Chihuahua. Though she named the dog, "Josefa", everyone knew the dog as "Choo Choo."