[Start-up Stories] Alexander Friedhoff (MiM 19), Co-founder & CEO of Etaliy

First, a short presentation of Alexander and Etaily...

"I'm the co-founder and CEO of Etaily, launched in 2020. Drawing on early career experience at luxury shirt‑maker van Laack and spearheading Zalora’s “Fulfillment by Zalora” program, he founded Etaily to offer global brands a seamless, end‑to‑end e-commerce solution across Southeast Asia.

By 2022, Etaily had tripled its client base—onboarding L’Oreal, Levi’s, Fila, Skechers, Croc’s on platforms such as Tiktok, Lazada, Shopee, Zalora, and brand-owned sites. Etaily plans to target $230 billion in annual sales by 2026. "

👉 What are the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs today?

"One of the biggest challenges today is building real businesses in a landscape still driven by vanity metrics. Founders are expected to scale fast, raise capital, and show constant growth — but doing that without compromising fundamentals is rare. At Etaily, we made an early decision to prioritize sustainability and operational depth.

That meant slower capital burn, but stronger control. Another persistent challenge: hiring people who think like owners. The mindset of the people, I call them the Etailyers, is what makes us where we are today. Forbes ranking, Financial Times recognitions, all of this is not because of me, it's because of the team we build. So biggest challenges: Fundamentals + People."

👉 How did you build your business model?

"Etaily is a digital-native retail platform that enables global brands to enter Southeast Asia with speed and precision. We run a modular model: performance marketing, eCommerce management, warehousing, retail operations, content, and more — bundled into a scalable infrastructure. Our revenue model is equally flexible: we earn through take-rates, service retainers, and brand licensing.

The asset-light structure gives us reach without the drag of fixed costs. It also lets us pivot across markets quickly, which has been key to our regional rollout from the Philippines to Malaysia and Singapore and soon other markets in the region which i often call the "epicenter of growth"."

👉 How did you finance your start-up and what advice would you give on this subject?

"I raised from what I call “smart capital” — not just money, but conviction and deep market understanding. We started with one of the most respected and historic business houses in the region: the Spanish-Filipino Ayala family. What made it unique was that the investment came directly from their balance sheet — not through a fund or family office. That early endorsement gave us credibility and momentum.

It also helped attract some of Southeast Asia’s most strategic families and institutional investors, including Pavilion Capital, a Temasek-linked entity, and other regional groups with deep expertise in distribution, regulatory landscapes, and infrastructure. From day one, we weren’t just looking for capital — we were looking for leverage. My advice: treat fundraising like building a leadership team. Choose partners who stay steady when it’s tough and add real value beyond the wire transfer."

👉 How did you find your first customers and develop your market appeal?

"Etaily’s first wins came from being hyper-practical. We weren’t selling consulting decks; we were delivering traction. Founders and GMs of global brands needed a way to enter Southeast Asia — but without burning money on market learnings. We came in as a plug-and-play operating layer.

Before Etaily I worked at Zalora, Southeast Asias "Zalando", our first clients knew me and my peers somehow. That pitch resonated. It’s how we landed accounts like Crocs, Levi’s, and Skechers. Trust was built by showing what we’d already executed — not by overpromising. And that still holds true today. Btw, I made some of the clients the Investors, that was a massive credibility push on following fundraises, imagine you sit in front of an Investment Committee and say,"I made my clients my investors" - these investors love this."

👉 What technological or economic trends do you think could redefine entrepreneurship in the coming years?

"AI-native ops: Commerce will be increasingly automated. We’re already running AI-generated creatives, auto-response customer support, and dynamic pricing.

Regional infrastructure: The next Southeast Asia based unicorns won’t necessarily be global, they’ll be regional leaders with deep operational strength in 2-3 key markets. Etaily is built around that cluster logic (hopefully it will work out).

Profit-first capital: The market is shifting toward profitable growth. A very difficult trend, imagine, just 2-3 years ago investors were recommending to "grow at all cost" but then they expect to pivot from one quarter to another. Valuations are now tied to real revenue and defensible margin.

Offline redefined: The offline store isn’t dead — it’s just being reborn. For us, the playbook is clear: online-first entry, followed by asset-light offline expansion, driven by data."