Athan Didaskalou - Chief Strategy Officer for July, Founder and Managing Director of Three Thousand Thieves.
Athan is a business strategist turned entrepreneur. He's worked with some of the biggest businesses in Australia, including Google, Telstra, NAB, and Coles, to assist them with commercial growth strategies, and becoming more human-centric.
Athan is the founder and managing director of Three Thousand Thieves, a service that curates Melbourne's best artisan coffee and delivers them to the masses via a membership.
Athan is also taking on luggage giants with July, a direct to consumer business that focuses on design and customer service. July is disrupting the legacy luggage industry with their considered travel products, and redesigned way of purchasing.
Athan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/athand/
July on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/july/
Three Thousand Thieves on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/3000thieves/
Verbatim from the transcripts — each quote links to the moment.
“Samsonite's 90% of the market share, um, they make ridiculous margins and they're ripping people off once you know how, how that's made. Can we do something better?”
“Know what your weaknesses are and have an ego big enough to not worry about it. That's, that's probably for me the biggest lesson I've ever learned for myself.”
“Pull the sail with your stronger arm, you know. So in order to progress, so, you know, in order to keep going, you just got to grab what you're good at, get your strongest arm, and just go forward with it.”
“Ideas are fun to have and they're cheap. Ideas are super cheap. So you can have a million ideas and be and have a good time with them and chat about them.”
“It's very easy to see where the man is, but you always want to go where the ball's going.”
“Maybe you're not looking for another thing, maybe you're looking for another you.”
How should a business handle unhappy customers in support interactions?
Always acknowledge the customer's concern first so you're on the same team with them, rather than treating them as an adversary, then use your own personality to help resolve the issue.
How should founders think about their personal weaknesses in a business?
Know what your weaknesses are and have an ego big enough not to worry about them—outsource the things you're not good at so you can focus on what you do well, which leads to more enjoyment and better results.
How can you keep track of business receipts easily?
Take a photo of receipts on the day you get them, then use the Google Photos app's search function, which automatically recognises and lets you search for 'receipts.'
Should a business focus on competitors when building strategy?
Actively avoid constantly watching competitors; instead look at brands and people that inspire you, because being fixated on 'where the man is' distracts from going 'where the ball's going.'
How can someone decide whether to keep looking for new opportunities or stick with their current path?
Happiness and satisfaction come from autonomy, mastery and purpose; if those three things are present in what you're doing, you'll find creative fulfilment there rather than needing to constantly look elsewhere—restlessness may be more about looking within yourself than for another external thing.
Athan recounts rocking up to Vespa House on Johnston Street in his Jeep wanting a small 50cc scooter, but the shop owner Frank convinced him a low-powered bike was more dangerous and sold him a 250cc instead.
Athan compares the moment of deciding to start a business to a wobbly table at a cafe — a small irritation that builds until you're compelled to fix it, which is how the July idea began at a cafe called 'A Coffee' near Easy Street.
Athan recalls manually running an SMS marketing strategy for 3000 Thieves while working full-time, describing the manual volume of replies as chaotic before automation and bots became more common.
A customer's suitcase was delayed by Australia Post with her trip the next day, so July paid $130 for a premium Uber to rush the case from their Homebush warehouse to Bondi to make sure she had it in time.
Drawn from the episode transcripts.
Athan and his business partner Richard, who was running Brose Furniture at the time, kept meeting at a local Melbourne cafe and got talking about direct-to-consumer business models and underserved manufacturing categories like luggage and furniture, eventually deciding to build a luggage brand named July after the idea that July is a popular time to travel.
From episode 470→Every episode featuring Athan Didaskalou on The Daily Talk Show.
