Roman Kirsch is one of the exceptional talents in the German startup scene. After graduating from business school, he started Casacanda in 2011 and sold it to Fab.com after only six months at a presumed valuation of $10m. After leaving Fab, he started his second e-commerce startup Lesara in 2013 - at the time being only 25 years old. As a digital store for trendy fashion and lifestyle products that is able to identify trends online and to manufacture and ship new products accordingly within only ten days, Lesara is successfully disrupting the fashion industry. The startup delivers latest brand quality products at unbeatable prices, making exclusive fashion and lifestyle trends affordable and available to everyone. Lesara is active in 24 countries and reaches 1.5m active clients with its 100,000 listed products. The company has by now raised funding of 55m€ - among others from well-known VCs like Mangrove Capital Partners, Vorwerk Ventures, Cherry Ventures and Northzone.

In our episode, we are talking with Roman about his lessons learned from Casacanda's exit and building up Lesara at high speed. Roman explains how he and his team managed to start and sell Casacanda within just six months and why company culture is an important factor for Lesara’s growth and competitive advantage. He also shares his view on the current trends in the e-commerce space and gives insightful advice to aspiring founders.

Here is the full list of topics that we cover with e-commerce expert and fashion industry disruptor Roman Kirsch:

[00:59 – 01:33] Introduction of Roman and his background

[01:34 – 03:02] Who the entrepreneur behind Lesara is in his private life

[03:03 – 04:38] What Roman fundamentally disagrees on with other people

[04:39 – 08:55] On the behind-the-scenes process of selling Casacanda to Fab.com

[08:56 – 10:44] What founders should be aware of when they try to sell their business

[10:45 – 13:31] On the decline of Fab.com

[13:32 – 17:58] The disruptive concept of Lesara explained

[17:59 – 19:25] Advice on how to create a great company culture

[19:26 – 21:30] On the challenges of setting up a team in China [Listener Question]

[21:31 – 23:41] How Roman structures his work day and how that has changed over time [Listener Question]

[23:42 – 25:23] On Lesara’s 45m€ investment into an own distribution centre in Germany

[25:24 – 26:26] On the VC funding raised by Lesara and the startup’s exit potential [Listener Question]

[26:27 – 28:12] Current e-commerce trends with big future potential

[28:13 – 30:25] What to consider when creating an e-commerce company nowadays [Listener Question]

[30:26 – 32:00] Roman’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and first-time founders