I recently had the pleasure of speaking to Elizabeth Kolb, the CEO and Co-founder of Axion Now in its 10^th Anniversary year since it was founded in 2014. We talked about how her early career in marketing in the corporate world impacted her experience setting up, running and growing a business. I thought it was worth sharing this insight into the mindset of a successful CEO and business founder, and her tips and advice for those just starting out in business today.

Influences from the corporate world

Although Elizabeth had previously worked with some large brand names such as Mothercare, Bupa and the Youth Hostels Association (YHA), she actually worked within small business units in those large organisations. That meant she had experience of scaling strategies down whilst still developing a long-term plan. So the transition from working in large organisations to setting up her own small business was not as great as it might sound.

Elizabeth’s Co-founder Francois Hauchard had also been working in a large corporation (Cisco) but 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 experience) 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 focusing on the trading card game Magic: The Gathering was because Elizabeth identified a gap in the market in the UK. Elizabeth also 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 of the type run in the USA.

 

Starting up Axion Now

Elizabeth really enjoyed getting involved in the fledgling business especially because, as a small business, she could conceive an idea, quickly put it into place and make an immediate impact.

One of the key messages of Axion Now then and now is to create happiness and enable people to have fun. That’s quite a striking goal for a business to be focused on. That happiness and fun element is very rare as a motivation for someone to start up a business but is absolutely key for the co-founders and to everyone working at Axion Now.

 

Memorable moments on a 10-year journey

One of the most memorable moments in the company’s 10-year journey was establishing a junior Magic: The Gathering club inspired by Elizabeth’s passion as a mum and the joy of bringing families together to have fun.

 

Another highlight of the past 10 years was organising the largest national competition ever run for Magic: The Gathering in the UK. An achievement that made everyone at Axion Now extremely proud.

 

For Elizabeth, it was a special experience to bring together a huge cross section of people from so many internationally different backgrounds and from all sorts of demographics.

Elizabeth also remembers when the business hit £1m turnover in the middle of the pandemic in 2020. As they cracked open the champagne for a toast, they knew then that Axion Now would survive. In no small part because they had built up a fantastic community of people who obviously appreciated what they offered and supported the business.

 

 

The future of Axion Now

Axion Now are also considering expanding further afield to run events in other countries within Europe. Elizabeth’s Kolb’s co-founder Francois Hauchard is French and they are fortunate to have contacts elsewhere in Europe. This would be a major undertaking so the company is currently researching the viability of a European expansion.

 

Finally, a few business tips for startups

 

• The most important skills or 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.

 

Elizabeth summarised this as “Keep the passion in your heart, but the cashflow in your head.”