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E-commerce entrepreneur Dave Nash walks us through his journey running businesses. From selling sheet music in middle school to scaling a 7-figure beauty company, Dave shares lessons learned along the way.
Dave Nash is the CEO and co-founder of Zeus Ventures, an e-commerce company. He previously co-founded Mount Lai, a skincare and beauty company – starting the company while he was working full-time at J.P. Morgan.
We discussed how Dave got his start in entrepreneurship right in middle school, how he ran a fashion e-commerce business throughout college, and his application of the “Nike for X” business model as co-founder of Mount Lai, balancing running a company while maintaining a full-time job. We wrap up with Dave’s tips for those who are currently working a job and looking to start a business.
Episode Highlights
Timestamps:
- 4:09 – How Dave bounced back from getting fired from his first internship in finance to only land a better position
- 8:30 – How Dave used his time in college to run a side hustle selling clothing plus advice for college students to make the most out of their time
- 15:32 – Why Dave built a professional foundation in finance even though he knew he wanted to eventually do something more entrepreneurial
- 17:20 – The story behind Dave meeting his co-founder and getting started on beauty company Mount Lai
- 32:02 – The realities behind starting and scaling a business to seven figures
Dave’s tips on starting a business while working:
- Never stop learning – listening to podcasts on business, reading, speaking with others
- Building skills in Digital Marketing – SEO, Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads
- Managing finances, and learning from failure – use your full-time job as a security blanket to fund your business; also, learn from what you’ve done, so if you fail, try and try again to be ready for when you do succeed
Dave’s view on taking risks while employed full-time:
The best part about taking risks when you have a job is if you fail a business and you lose money, you’ll literally make it back in a few paychecks. So treat your job as a sort of security blanket.
Business learning from this episode: market arbitrage
Being able to buy low from one market and sell high in another – Dave was able to do this by buying used clothing in Japan, where people didn’t place much value on them, and sell them in the USA, which had a thriving vintage market.
More about Dave
You can find Dave on Instagram at @cozy.nash or dave@zeusventures.io
Dave’s website on e-commerce covering digital marketing, private label, and dropshipping.
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