Despite dropping out of university, having no publishing experience and not even being a book lover, Tony Nash decided he could take a punt on the commercial possibilities he saw in online book-selling, in the internet’s infancy. Shrugging off the risks of going up against the already dominant player in that same market – Amazon – Tony convinced a few family members to support his vision, and started Booktopia, an entirely Aussie home-grown online book seller. What began as a small hustle on the side – Tony’s brother gave him a budget of $10 a day to create Booktopia, & he had to continue doing his day job at the same time – was built over the next 15 years into an e-commerce success story. Booktopia is set to achieve almost $220 million in revenue this financial year, employing 250 people, with a healthy chunk of all online book sales. But along that journey to success for Booktopia, exactly what impact did Jessica Seinfeld’s best-selling memoir have? And was there ever a single lightbulb moment for Tony Nash? Well, listen and you’ll find out. Hope you enjoy Part 1 of Tony Nash’s unorthodox entrepreneurial story
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