Meet the Masters: Elliot Jordan
Elliot Jordan, Chief Financial Officer at Farfetch, won the Excellence in Finance trophy at the 2017 Digital Masters Awards. We caught up with Elliot to discuss Farfetch’s phenomenal success, their expansion to China, and how he has built out a world-class finance function.
What do you think has been key to Farfetch’s continued growth?
An amazing team of innovative Farfetchers; who constantly surprise our B2B clients with fantastic new products, always work together to deliver an amazing end-to-end experience for our customers and have the ability to execute an ambitious strategy in a complex, fast-paced and disruptive world.
What opportunities does increased funding present to the business?
To be able to continue to create and deliver revolutionary technology solutions for the luxury fashion industry. We are very fortunate to be the technology platform that brings together an exciting community of the world’s best creators, curators and customers of fashion. We continue to focus on what’s next, and where we can invest to improve the customer proposition across the industry, so all new funding gets deployed straight away to maximise the growth opportunity ahead of us.
Can you tell us more about your plans for China?
Our global community of over 500 boutique partners and 200 brand partners have created a highly curated selection of products for our customers worldwide, and now this offer is available to customers in China on Farfetch.cn, supported by the expert local knowledge from our strategic partner in JD.com. We have demand from all parts of the globe, but China is one of our biggest and fastest growing markets, so we put a lot of focus on getting the proposition right.
How have you built out the finance organisation at Farfetch?
The Finance team has been focused on delivering a strong control and reporting environment, being in the co-pilot seat to understand and maximise the trading performance across all our group companies (Farfetch.com, Browns, Black & White, and Store of the Future), helping to best deploy resources to deliver our long-term vision and also building the necessary governance and regulatory structure to enable Farfetch to meet its future ambitions (whatever they may be). We have continued to grow to always be one-step ahead of the business!
What qualities do you most prize in a potential hire?
First is always team fit, attitude and determination — my favourite of the Farfetch values is Be Brilliant, Be Revolutionary, Todos Juntos (all together) and Be Human — someone that can demonstrate these as their own inherent values is key. Plus, with Farfetch being under constant change, with new opportunities every week, all new hires need to be able to operate in a fast-paced environment. Most hires start with an opportunity to go after or a problem to solve; rather than a set of handover notes. So, you have to be able to dream big and apply yourself in a frenetic team environment.
What is your career highlight to date?
The Digital Masters Award for Excellence in Finance of course!
If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be doing instead?
Teaching dogs how to eat with chop-sticks, a definite gap in the pet-food market!
How have you built out the finance organisation at Farfetch?
The Finance team has been focused on delivering a strong control and reporting environment, being in the co-pilot seat to understand and maximise the trading performance across all our group companies (Farfetch.com, Browns, Black & White, and Store of the Future), helping to best deploy resources to deliver our long-term vision and also building the necessary governance and regulatory structure to enable Farfetch to meet its future ambitions (whatever they may be). We have continued to grow to always be one-step ahead of the business!
What qualities do you most prize in a potential hire?
First is always team fit, attitude and determination — my favourite of the Farfetch values is Be Brilliant, Be Revolutionary, Todos Juntos (all together) and Be Human — someone that can demonstrate these as their own inherent values is key. Plus, with Farfetch being under constant change, with new opportunities every week, all new hires need to be able to operate in a fast-paced environment. Most hires start with an opportunity to go after or a problem to solve; rather than a set of handover notes. So, you have to be able to dream big and apply yourself in a frenetic team environment.
What is your career highlight to date?
The Digital Masters Award for Excellence in Finance of course!
If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be doing instead?
Teaching dogs how to eat with chop-sticks, a definite gap in the pet-food market!
