Last Updated on:
I recently had the pleasure of speaking to Elizabeth Kolb, the CEO and Co-founder of Axion Now in its 10th Anniversary year since it was founded. We talked about her early career in the corporate world and how that influenced Axion Now. Also, her experience setting up, running and growing a business. Read on for an insight into the mindset of a successful CEO and business founder and her tips and advice for those just starting out in business today.
Elizabeth did a business degree straight after school because marketing was her passion and she liked the psychology element of the industry and its application to business.
After a stint as a retail graduate trainee, she moved into a marketing role with the Conran Design Group who, at the time, owned major brands that were familiar household names in the UK, such as British Home Stores, Richard Shops, Mothercare and Habitat.
It was a very innovative, design-led business headed up byTerence Conran who championed absolutely cutting-edge design and innovation. Elizabeth spent 12 years at the Conran Design Group before taking a career break to have a family and then studying full-time for a Master’s degree in Marketing Strategy.
That was followed by a role in marketing for private hospitals with the BMI group, then setting up her ownmarketing consultancy. As a marketing consultant she met her Axion Now co-founder Francois Hauchard, who had sought her help with his idea for a new business. They eventually became co-founders of the new company Axion Now.
As Elizabeth described it, she was, quite simply, “bitten by the bug”. She really enjoyed the fledgling business that she had become involved with, which was focused on creating happiness and fun through playing trading card games. But she also enjoyed the fact that, as a small business, she could conceive an idea, put it into place (often within a few hours) and make an immediate impact.
Elizabeth’s Co-founder Francois Hauchard had bought a business interest in a small hobby comic shop called Axion Comics and Cards. His vision was to expand the eCommerce side of the company and because of local brand awareness of the Axion name Elizabeth (with her marketing hat on) wanted to take advantage of that. Some simple online research revealed Axion Now as an available domain name and a name that resonated – people would, and do, remember it.
The reason for having a particular business focus on the trading card game Magic: The Gathering was because Elizabeth identified a gap in the market in the UK. There were the inevitable challenges of local High Street gaming stores that run local events and sell trading card game cards, but Elizabeth identified an opportunity to build a community of like-minded people on a regional and national level who would buy from their eCommerce store but, more importantly for a business with big ambitions, attend major national events. The focus, initially, to specialise in only Magic: The Gathering, was also partly driven by having a limited budget to invest.
Axion Now run the largest national events for Magic: The Gathering in England but have an internationally diverse customer base. Magic: The Gathering is the most played card game in the world so when people reach a new country it’s easy to carry around their Magic cards; and events are a fantastic way to meet new people.
At the Axion Now events there are people from all over the world, and whilst the majority live in England, people also fly in from all over Europe for these events because of the great experience and the great prizes.
The event venues are also carefully chosen to make it easy to travel to them by air. Twickenham Stadium, for example, is close to Heathrow Airport and Edgbaston Stadium is not far from Birmingham Airport. Iconic venues like these, with their sporting associations, are a big attraction in themselves for both British and overseas players, especially if they are cricket or rugby fans.
The most important skills and attitude needed when starting up a business are to be positive, believe in your vision and to keep persevering.
Perhaps contradictory to that is you have to be light on your feet and be able to identify an opportunity when it arises.
Also be prepared to take a risk, but equally, you have to keep your business head on because cashflow is so important to a small business. So, take that risk but ensure it’s a calculated risk.
