From $60,000 in Debt to a $100 Million Empire: The Showpo Story
Jane Lu, the founder and CEO of the wildly successful online fashion retailer Showpo, hasn’t had a typical entrepreneurial journey. Starting from humble beginnings as an immigrant child who didn’t speak English, she navigated the challenges of poverty, a demanding corporate career, and a devastating business failure before ultimately building a nine-figure business. Her story is a testament to resilience, determination, and the power of adapting to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. Her journey offers a powerful lesson for aspiring entrepreneurs, highlighting the importance of perseverance, embracing new opportunities, and leveraging the right tools for success in today’s market.
Key Takeaways: The Rise of Showpo
- From Corporate to Entrepreneur: Jane Lu’s journey began in the corporate world, but her true passion lay in entrepreneurship. She juggled a demanding accounting role with a side hustle before taking the leap into full-time entrepreneurship.
- Failure as a Stepping Stone: Lu’s first venture, Fat Boye Group, ultimately failed, leaving her in significant debt. However, this experience became invaluable, teaching her crucial lessons and shaping her approach to Showpo.
- The Power of Social Media: Recognizing the limitations of traditional marketing, Lu cleverly leveraged social media to build Showpo’s brand and reach a wider audience, a decision critical to its success.
- Adaptability and Resilience: Facing setbacks ranging from a failed business to a partner leaving, Lu showed exceptional adaptability and resilience, constantly adjusting her strategies and persevering through difficulties.
- A $100 Million Success Story: Starting from near financial ruin, Lu built Showpo into a company generating over $100 million in annual revenue, showcasing the remarkable potential for success with grit, innovation, and a clear vision.
Humble Beginnings: Overcoming Adversity
Lu’s childhood was far from easy. As the only child of immigrant parents in Australia, she faced the challenges of language barriers and economic hardship. “You don’t realize you’re poor until… some kid makes you realize you’re poor,” she shared, recalling her mother’s work as a cleaner for some of her schoolmates’ families. The experience of feeling different and isolated fueled her ambition and determination. This early struggle instilled in her a fierce drive to succeed and ultimately shape her entrepreneurial spirit.
5 to 9 After the 9 to 5: Balancing Ambition
Even before launching her own ventures, Lu demonstrated exceptional drive. During university, she secured a role at KPMG, one of the “Big 4” accounting firms, followed by a corporate finance position at Ernst & Young – all while diligently pursuing her studies. This period laid a strong foundation for her future business skills, particularly in financial management. In 2009, a friend’s business idea, a pop-up store called “Fat Boye Group,” ignited her entrepreneurial spark, setting the stage for her leap into self-employment.
The Grind of a Side Hustle
This “side hustle” demanded incredible dedication, requiring her to work her corporate job during the day, manage the pop-up store on weekends and dedicate evenings to handling operational needs including sourcing inventory and managing logistics. “The way the pop up worked was, it was set up and packed down on a daily basis. So, it was like so much manual work,” she recalled, highlighting the immense effort required to balance her commitments. She even used her parents’ garage as storage, emphasizing her commitment to the venture early on.
Quitting her Corporate Job in Secret
As her passion for entrepreneurship grew, Lu found her corporate job increasingly unsatisfying. “I just hated it. I found it so boring, so dry,” she admitted. The demanding nature of her role intensified during the global financial crisis, as colleagues faced redundancies. The final straw came when she spent a significant amount of time fixing a seemingly trivial error in an Excel spreadsheet. This incident made her question her priorities and realize she was working in a job that didn’t serve her purpose or utilize her passions.
A Secret Transition
Instead of immediately informing her parents, Lu opted for a more gradual transition, maintaining an appearance of normalcy. For months, she kept her employment decision secret, maintaining the daily routine of going to her corporate job and commuting with her mother, leaving the office to dedicate her time to her business. This speaks to both her dedication to her professional plans and her deep familial respect and desire to avoid causing worry for those closest to her.
Hitting Rock Bottom: Learning from Failure
Just a month after taking the leap into full-time entrepreneurship, Lu received a devastating blow. Her business partner decided to leave the company after vacationing abroad, stating that she was ready to pursue a more stable career, leaving Lu with an immediate existential crunch and forcing her to shut down Fat Boye Group. This experience propelled her into significant debt, approximately $60,000, leaving her feeling defeated and questioning her capabilities.
A Crucial Turning Point
Lu’s failure was not just financial; it was also emotional. “I was a failure… I was embarrassed, ashamed, and I also couldn’t get another job because it was the middle of the global financial crisis,” she explained. This low point, however, became the catalyst for her future success, serving as a powerful learning experience that shaped her approach to building Showpo.
From $60,000 in Debt to a $100 Million a Year Business
Two months later, still unemployed, Lu sought new opportunities. Ironically, instead of a job, the networking led to a connection with someone in the online fashion industry. This chance encounter would change her life forever. This networking experience provided a crucial introduction leading to the creation of Showpo. The initial brainstorming session over a few glasses of wine led to the concept and the name for this new fashion venture, “Show Pony,” later coined as Showpo.
Showpo’s Strategic Advantage
Instead of costly traditional marketing, Showpo utilized social media, a decision that proved critical to its success. “We did traditional marketing for [the first business] and that just drained the business out of money, and that’s why Showpo, having no money, had to do social media,” Lu explained. The online-first approach and strategic use of social media were key differentiators that put Showpo onto a trajectory that drastically improved its odds of success.
Revealing the Secret: A Father’s Day Surprise
For two years, Lu kept the truth about her quitting her high-profile corporate job a tight secret from her family. Fear of disappointing her parents kept the truth under wraps, but eventually, with Showpo’s success becoming undeniable, she decided to share the news. This moment of shared triumph showcases the deep and lasting importance of family relations as a motivational factor driving her entrepreneurial ambitions. The shared experience of this success created a powerful bond between Lu and her parents, emphasizing the value of family support throughout Lu’s journey.
Shared Triumph and Gratitude
The revelation took place on Father’s Day in a high-end Sydney restaurant. Lu took her parents there, and made a series of monumental announcements. Her commitment to her parents’ material well-being through paying their mortgage and buying a new car demonstrated the impact of her business success on the family’s financial stability, highlighting the journey, and the impact of financial freedom.
“They were just in shock,” Lu recalled, describing their disbelief at her secret venture. Years after the initial revelation, Lu and her family are still enjoying the fruits of her resilience and business acumen, providing a testament to the value of hard work, perseverance, and faith in oneself.
