Kyle Vucko co-founded Vancouver-based online suit-retailer Indochino in 2007 when he was a 22-year-old, third-year commerce student at the University of Victoria.
He and co-founder Heikal Gani have since grown the venture to more than $10 million in revenue and more than 50 employees thanks in part to landing about $5 million in angel investment funding from movers and shakers such as Abe Books CEO Hannes Blum, W Media Ventures CEO Boris Wertz and former Yahoo! Inc. president Jeff Mallett.
Vucko moved to Shanghai, China, soon after founding Indochino but he kept the official head office of the venture in Vancouver even though, in the early days, there were no employees based here.
That changed in early 2010 when Vucko returned to Vancouver and went on a hiring spree. The company now has 22 staff in Vancouver and more than 30 employees in China. It also contracts manufacturers who have hundreds of employees.
“You can’t have a Canadian company and not have staff in Canada,” Vucko said.
“Investors aren’t going to invest in a company like that, typically. If you’re Baidu.com and you’re listed publicly, they might.
“But, I personally would be hesitant about sending $1 million to China unless you’ve really got something established.”
Vucko had extra-curricular leadership roles such as president of UVic’s commerce student society in the lead-up to launching Indochino.
He has also taken steps to share his success, donating nearly $300,000 worth of clothing to charitable organizations.
To fuel future sales by helping customers overcome the fear of ordering via the Internet, he has done things such as launch pop-up locations, such as one in Vancouver in November.
Customers were able to touch fabric samples and ensure that they were measured accurately.
“I’m a pretty simple guy,” Vucko said. “I work a ton. I visit my family in Victoria on a fairly regular basis, and there’s not much else.” •
