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He Lost His Company. Became an Employee. Then Made Millions.
+ weekly list of handpicked startup events for founders and investors in London
Vasily Alekseenko
April 30, 2025
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He Lost His Company. Became an Employee. Then Made Millions.
One of the wildest founder stories shared at Friday’s London’s Largest Demo Day.
Last Friday at London’s Largest Demo Day, we heard a story that had the whole room quiet. It was raw, messy, and completely real — a perfect example of how startup life can flip on you overnight.
Nick built one of London’s first wellness lifestyle brands before wellness was even a buzzword. His store, Calmia, opened in the early 2000s. Think yoga gear, teas, spa treatments — all under one roof. People loved it. They did £20k a week in sales from day one. Within a year they were inside Selfridges. Revenue hit £2.5M. They had 50 staff. A real brand, growing fast.
But they needed more money to scale. That’s when it all started to fall apart.
They raised £3.65M from a fund — or so they thought. After months of dragging due diligence, the fund changed the deal last minute and demanded 62% of the company. His co-founder — a longtime friend of 16 years — sided with the fund.
Nick signed, hoping to keep control of the vision.
Instead, he lost everything.
The fund pushed him out as CEO. His wife, who was the creative brain behind the brand, quit soon after. The new team killed their expansion plans and wasted the funding. Within 12 months, the business collapsed — £3M in debt, liquidated.
But the story didn’t end there.
Nick found a backer in Singapore. Together, they bought the company out of liquidation for £474k — beating the original investors who had tried to asset-strip it.
The twist? He didn’t own any shares. He was now an employee in the company he founded.
They tried to go wholesale, but it didn’t work. The Singapore investor ran out of money. Nick asked to buy everything back — company and stock — for £40k.
He did. And he’d already pre-sold the entire stock to TK Maxx for £50k.
From there, things took off. TK Maxx kept ordering. They funded production. Nick ran everything solo from his kitchen table. No staff. No office.
Over the next few years, he made between £8–10 million in profit — from something he never planned: selling wellness products to discount retail.
His advice?
💡 Don’t assume your co-founder will stay loyal.
💡 Investors play games — watch the red flags.
💡 And sometimes, the thing that ruins your business is exactly what sets you up to win.
The line that hit hardest?
“I lost my company. Became an employee. Then bought it back, sold the stock, and made millions. All because I refused to give up.”
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Vasily Alekseenko
Founder
@ Rare Founders
Rare Founders - building the bridge between founders and investors via regular in-person and online events, meetups, conferences.
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