11 - Adam Bohbot & David Benayoun, Ana Luisa

In Episode 11 of Earned, Conor chats with David Benayoun and Adam Bohbot, co-founders of fast-growing, carbon neutral jewelry brand Ana Luisa. In the episode, Adam and David reveal their fateful meeting sharing a cab to a nightclub in Shanghai while both attending business school at EMLYON. After pursuing different career paths post-graduation (Adam entered the VC  world before joining an influencer marketing software company, while David dove into e-commerce and jewelry design and manufacturing), we learn why the two decided to leverage their complementary skill sets and create Ana Luisa in 2018. Adam and David discuss the challenges of entering a market they did not grow up in, and share their experience taking outside investments. They then give insight into Ana Luisa’s unique weekly product drop strategy, and divulge their product co-creation process with influencers—a pillar of the brand’s DNA. We learn more about how the brand’s YouTube strategy powered hyper growth, the inventory planning challenges that resulted, and why Adam and David prioritize influencer partners’ “value fit” over follower count.