Alumni Aim to Make Impact with Tire Consumers, Small Businesses

Jason Abrahams remembers first going to his father’s car dealership when he was five years old. Growing up enchanted with automobiles, he worked at the dealership as a teenager and later went on to help build CarGurus into an international company. Now, he is the founder and CEO of TireTutor, a startup that recently participated in MassChallenge and is hiring Wentworth students.  

“My dad would always say that tires and wheels make a car. It wasn’t until I had my own car that I realized how important tires actually are,” said Abrahams, Management ’09. 

At 18, Abrahams started a small e-commerce business for tires. Providing consumers the ability to compare tires and buy them online would lay the foundation for TireTutor. Abrahams recognized the demand side of the industry, but college would afford him the chance to learn more about the supply side and the skill needed to navigate the nuances of a vertical software solutions company. 

A Wentworth alum who would also earn an MBA from MIT Sloan, Abrahams led the B2B sales and support team as a director for CarGurus, the largest car-shopping site in America. . “At CarGurus, we really helped pave the way for more transparency in the automotive shopping process,” he said.  

He eventually launched TireTutor, which connects consumers directly with independent tire dealers, providing more choice to the buyer and offering a technology to traditionally low-tech tire shops so that they can compete with larger chains and online retailers.  

“We’re trying to solve an opaque buying process for consumers,” said Abrahams. 

Abrahams explains that the e-commerce tire market has been in existence for roughly 20 years, but that it mostly catered to auto enthusiasts. Around 2015, though, more buyers gravitated to the web, where they have been met with giant retailers who often ship the tire somewhere else to be installed. The process, according to Abrahams, means that two separate groups would have to be paid for the same tire.  

“It certainly doesn’t make the local shop happy—they just lost out on a sale,” he said. “For the consumer, it’s a disjointed process.” 

Ralph Ghannam, Computer Engineering ’20, is another Wentworth alum helping to grow the company. He joined TireTutor in the fall as a developer and has taken the lead on several web projects.  

“He’s an amazing colleague to work with, and it's been great to see how quickly he embraces new concepts or projects and really makes them his own,” said Abrahams.  

The company also employs Wentworth co-ops, most recently bringing in Jesus Esgueva, Computer Engineering ’21, for developer work, Jeremy Aubin, Business Management ’21, for sales and account management, and Marc Ghannam Computer Engineering ‘21, as a developer. 

Abrahams has stayed connected to Wentworth in more than one way. He and his partner established the Jason B. Abrahams and Jacqueline Normandin Expendable Scholarship to benefit Business Management students. And he has served as a senior project mentor to Business Management students, as well as an adjunct professor for the Computer Information Systems program. Wentworth additionally honored him with its 2020 Young Alumni Award.  

Last year, TireTutor was named a finalist in MassChallenge, a nonprofit that helps accelerate startups. Selected startups “go through a four-month period of curriculum, mentorship, and exhibition events designed to produce avenues of growth, funding, and third-party collaboration,” according to the MassChallenge site.  

“We were honored to participate in the program. MassChallenge is unique in that it's equity-free and impact-focused. That word ‘impact’ really resonated and made us apply to the program,” said Abrahams. “Part of the impact we aim for is to help these local businesses compete online.”