How To Build A $2 Billion Unicorn In Under 3 Years with Ankorstore’s Nicolas d'Audiffret

“Before you scale, you need to make sure you are solving big pains with a great value proposition.” 

It’s not every day you get to speak to someone who turned their Startup into a Double-Unicorn with over 500 employees in just 3 years. 

Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Nicolas d'Audiffret, one of the Co-Founders of Ankorstore - the marketplace taking on e-Commerce giants like Amazon. Ankorstore was founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs and is a partner to more than 200,000 retailers, florists, coffee shops and other concept-stores across 23 countries in Europe. 

Ankorstore have been on an incredible journey and reached their $2 billion valuation after just two years of launching their wholesale marketplace, and are backed by world-class VCs like Bond, Tiger Global and Index Ventures, to name a few.

JBM have had a front row seat to their incredible Scaleup journey over the last years and we’re so excited to have Nicolas on the podcast to share some candid Founder insights and mentorship, including: 

• How Nicolas pivoted from being a consultant to an entrepreneur [06:15]
• The story behind his first Startup, A Little Market, and how he ended up selling it to Etsy [10:08]
• Why, even though the sale to Etsy looked like a huge success, Nicolas didn’t only see it as such [11:45]
• How Ankorstore was born and more about their brilliant mission [13:23]
• What the dynamic between the four Co-Founders looks like and Nicolas’s advice for any fellow Co-Founders listening [17:10]
• Why the pandemic was such a great opportunity of growth for Ankorstore and how they got to their $2 Billion evaluation in such a short amount of time [18:38]
• The crucial attributes Ankorstore look for when interviewing talent [22:40]
• His advice on building a truly authentic community [26:05]
• What the future of retail will look like and Nicolas’s advice for anyone looking to break into the industry [28:32]

💙 A big thank you to our Sponsors:

Chipper Cash - an African cross-border payments company trusted by over 4 million users. The team have been on an incredible expansion journey and is hiring for some exciting roles. If you want to be part of their mission to unlock global opportunities and connect Africa, one transaction at a time, head over to https://bit.ly/40mmsponsor to find out more.

⛳️  Helpful links:

➡ ️To find out more about Ankorstore, head to: https://www.ankorstore.com/

➡ ️To learn more about Nicolas, check out his LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasdaudiffret/

➡ ️Our episode with Chipper Cash’s Founder & CEO, Ham Serunjogi - https://jbmc.co.uk/insights/40-minute-mentor/unlocking-global-opportunities-with-chipper-cashs-ham-serunjogi/

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