A Nick for a Nick

Nick Robertson

The Guardian reported that Asos, the British on-line retail company founded as: "As Seen on the Screen", has replaced Nick Robertson, its founder who stepped down, with its COO Nick Beighton, who appears to have been groomed for this role since early last year.  Robertson recently sold a significant part of his holding (worth approx $30million US) in January of this year, although still retains almost 10% of the capitalization.

According to the article, a person familiar with the company praised Robertson for the move, noting that he realized he didn't have the skills to run the business at this time.  The company was founded in 2000.  Beighton joined in 2009 as its finance director.

We praise the company for establishing a long runway for its transition founder and for Nick Robertson for being a self-aware founder and  understanding his evolving role in the success of the company.  Now we will need to wait and see how the company fares under this new leadership,