647: I Started a Jewelry Brand With $25K and the WRONG Business Model | Noura Sakkijha

About this episode

Noura Sakkijha discusses her journey of founding Mejuri and the lessons learned from pivoting her business model.

Noura Sakkijha is a third generation jeweler who realized the entire fine jewelry industry was fundamentally broken—built on the outdated idea that men buy diamonds for women, not that women buy the diamonds themselves. In 2013, she launched Mejuri with a radical mission: create fine jewelry for women to buy for themselves. What started as a crowdsourcing platform quickly pivoted after just one year when sales didn't materialize. Over 11 years, Mejuri has sold 6.5 million pieces of jewelry and is now expanding globally. In this interview, the founder and CEO of Mejuri breaks down why she completely pivoted the business model after realizing there was no product-market fit, the brutal 2021 lesson about hiring ahead of growth that forced her to revise her entire approach to team building, and why she now refuses to hire until the team feels real pain. What you'll learn in this interview: • Why Noura pivoted from a crowdsourcing platform to direct-to-consumer after one year • How she started Mejuri with a $25,000 CAD grant while working full time • The moment she realized building a brand requires a specific POV and staying consistent • Why she prioritizes culture fit over skills…

People in this episode

Host: Nathan Chan

Guest: Noura Sakkijha

Topics covered

• jewelry industry
• business model pivot
• direct-to-consumer
• team building
• hiring philosophy

Keywords

• jewelry
• business model
• Mejuri
• Noura Sakkijha
• hiring
• culture fit
• crowdsourcing
• direct-to-consumer

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mejuri, Foundr Media

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