Selling affordable luxury: from Secret Sales to 7879, with Sach Kukadia

Many founders dream of the moment their company is acquired. But no-one imagines that post acquisition they may be forced to fire the employees who helped build the startup over 10 years,  watch the company they built lose millions in value, and ultimately, have to buy it back to save their legacy. 

That was Sach Kukadia's journey in Secret Sales. Luckily, he was able to build back some of the value, for a second sale that was, as he describes "a gentle dismount". But, the process still left him and his co-founder/brother Nish, completely burned out. 

Luckily, he's  now recharged, without losing his entrepreneurial spirit, and recently launched a new investment jewellery brand, 7879. Within months of launching, it was the best seller in Selfridges latest concept event, and is on track for a 1.5 million run rate in 2022. 

In this episode, Sach shares: 

• Lessons learned from his first company, secret sales, including how not to lose your voice as a young founder
• What happens when you end up with Ebay on your board too early, and it puts off every other investor
• The emotional rollercoaster of selling the business, only to have to buy it back, but without the people who originally drove it to success
• How he tested his latest venture 7879 pre-launch
• And how you do data led design for a jewellery collection

Links

• https://7879.co/