Corporate Blog

Book of Odds Named "Best of the New"

Posted By: Amram Shapiro

Posted On: February 1, 2010

Book of Odds was named one of the “ Best of the New” by the Boston Globe, a great honor for a company launched in Boston. This numbers us among what the Globe calls the year’s “delightful debuts.” Spell our names right and alliterate all you wish!

The Boston Globe’s comments were as follows:

“Chances Are . . . Ever wonder how likely it is that a baseball fan is pulling for the Red Sox? Or whether your next flight out of Logan will take off late? You probably figured there was no easy way to find out. But there is now, thanks to Boston entrepreneur Amram Shapiro. The veteran Arthur D. Little business consultant recently launched Book of Odds ( bookofodds.com), a website that features 400,000 of life’s large and small probabilities—from your chances of winning the lottery to dying of pancreatic cancer. Shapiro says the site’s already attracted 150,000 unique visitors.”

This is our fourth award in as many months. First there was the Web Inno Audience Choice Award, which we hang proudly by our entrance, and then last month two awards from Trinity International for the “Best New Product/Service Website” and “Best Visual Functionality.” We are continuing to make major improvements to our site so many of you will have noticed our requests to fill out surveys to help us improve, but we are certainly feeling greatly appreciated already.

Amram Shapiro

President and Founder

Why Book of Odds? "Book of Odds began with a simple question: Why are we able to get information about so many subjects so easily, yet not about the most vital and interesting subject—the probabilities of everyday life? Answering this question became my mission and the business idea that followed met the criteria I had set for myself when I looked for the next thing to do in my life: it is worthwhile, meaningful and has a reason to exist long after my lifetime."

Favorite Quote -

"Chance favors the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur and a biased sample of world-class scientists

"The more I practice, the luckier I get." - Gene Sarazen and a biased sample of world-class athletes

As Founder and President of Book of Odds, Amram Shapiro, has seen Book of Odds from its birth in 2006, through its three-year development phase, to its launch in October 2009, to its present growth and redesign phase. Amram is responsible for setting strategic direction at Book of Odds and building strategic relationships with other organizations interested in the Book of Odds mission.

Prior to Book of Odds, Amram served as Director at Arthur D Little (ADL) and at Pittiglio, Rabin, Todd & McGrath (PRTM). At ADL he led the Strategic Management of Technology practice and developed the strategies of large, successful startups such as FlightSafety International. As part of PRTM’s management team, he helped grow a $20 million regional firm into a global firm with revenues over $250 million. As practice leader for PACE, he built it into the premier new product development consulting offering around the globe. He developed the PRTM benchmarking organization and helped launch the Asian Region. He was co-author of the ground-breaking "Product Development, Success through Product And Cycle-time Excellence" (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1992). He has also contributed to numerous journals including PRTM’s Insight, Research Technology Management and CFO.

Amram graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College and has received his Masters of Business Administration degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.

Favorite Odds Statement: The odds an adult has ever eaten cold pizza for breakfast are 1 in 2.56 (US, 5/2005).