Categories
Press Coverage

MarketOrders quoted in LGT article on winning business idea

Our Co-Founder & COO, Sukhi Jutla, was recently quoted in LGT article ‘How to know when you have a winning business idea’.
The journalist wrote:

But talking to prospective customers can also be a double-edged sword, as Sukhi Jutla, founder of Market Orders, knows firsthand. When she started her business, an online marketplace like Amazon or Alibaba for the gold and diamond industry, she was told that she should approach people in the industry. So she did. She spoke with very successful people in the gold and diamond industry, but their reception was not at all what she hoped.
“They couldn’t see what I wanted to do. My business was disrupting their business, and they didn’t want to know anything about it,” she said.
If she had followed their opinion, she wouldn’t have continued, but Jutla had confidence in her vision and persisted. The gold and diamond industry has been relatively untouched by digitization. Small independent jewelers, which make up 90% of the market, still need to go in person to trade shows to buy gold and diamonds and often pay in cash. Jutla wanted to connect suppliers with independent jewelers through an online marketplace and use blockchain to provide transparency.
In her case, Jutla said being “an outsider” was an advantage because she was able to look at the industry with a fresh perspective. “I was working in banking in the tech area so I was able to see something different,” she said. Those who are entrenched in the industry get used to existing problems and think it’s normal.
Market Orders is Jutla’s third iteration of her vision for an online marketplace. She’s now noticed a mind shift with younger jewelers who have taken over the family business and want to be able to buy supplies online. Because she didn’t give up or listen to naysayers, she’s now in a position to catch the wave of digitization she believes is hitting the market now. “It was trial and tribulations and pushing back barriers until I hit the sweet spot,” she said.
Listening to negative feedback can be valuable, but founders need to be able to sort through the feedback, keeping in mind who is giving feedback and why.
Read the full article here.