Encore

University of Chicago, Booth School of Business

Industry: Marketplace / Resale / Collectibles (We’re primarily a mobile app)

MBA Founding Student Name(s): Will Anema

Brief Description of Solution: Encore is a marketplace for high-end resale collectibles that have a story, combining TikTok-style videos with the traditional eBay auction format to create an authentic, engaging experience for resale shoppers.

Funding Dollars: $2.15M

What led you to launch this venture? I worked in strategy consulting for large tech companies, where I identified the problems Encore addresses. My first business was in content creation, which gave me insight into the power of storytelling. Storytelling drives transactions on Encore. I funneled the revenue from that content creation business into Encore, which allowed me to quit my consulting job to start Encore while still supporting myself.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture? 10,000 users & $400,000 transacted!

What has been the most significant challenge you’ve faced in creating your company and how did you solve it? Recruiting and hiring great team members has been time-intensive and challenging. I don’t think there’s one single solution to this, but we’ve made a lot of progress in various ways. The most successful strategy to date has been to drive home the long-term vision for Encore in both recruiting conversations and in the nets we cast to find them. An ambitious vision and hard problems that have not been solved attract great team members.

How has your MBA program helped you further this startup venture? The Booth network and specifically Booth’s professors have dramatically increased Encore’s success. Professor Steve Kaplan told me to apply to the New Venture Challenge. I initially thought that since I already raised a pre-seed round, Encore might not be a good fit for the program. However, I applied and went through the rigorous process of refining my business model & pitch, with the help of Professors Kaplan, Tebbe, and other great mentors affiliated with the New Venture Challenge. Encore placed 2nd in the New Venture Challenge, receiving $350,000. Within 2 weeks of the final competition, a VC who participated in judging the competition agreed to lead our seed round. It’s hard to say what would have happened to Encore without the New Venture Challenge, but I can safely say Encore is a much stronger company today directly due to Booth and the New Venture Challenge.

Which MBA class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? Entrepreneurial Selling, taught by Professor Michael Alter. One of the biggest problems I had early on was being able to sell my vision for Encore on customer discovery calls without digging into customers’ most pressing pain points and qualifying these customers in terms of whether Encore provided a “nice to have” solution or “need it now” solution. Professor Alter’s class gave me hands-on experience practicing qualifying an entrepreneurial idea on sales calls, which then translated into me refining Encore to better align with a “need it now” solution instead of a “nice to have” solution.

What professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? A number of professors have. One who stands out is Professor Scott Metcalf, who spent a significant amount of time helping us refine our value proposition to customers, testing early versions of the Encore app and providing feedback, and leading the Encore team through a product design/strategy sprint.

How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success? The startup ecosystem through Booth has been invaluable, through both Booth’s network and entrepreneurship resources and programming, like the New Venture Challenge.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? Replace eBay.

Looking back, what is the biggest lesson you wished you’d known before launching and scaling your venture? Focus more time on hiring, earlier. You don’t need a lot of funding or traction to find a great teammate or co-founder. You just need to present an ambitious vision and interesting problems to solve. I waited far too long to build the Encore team, and our timeline would have been accelerated considerably if I had started with building the core team instead of fundraising and product development.

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