Disrupt Magazine
Disrupt Magazine
Robert Nikic Featured in Disrupt Magazine
Disrupt Magazine on Robert Nikic's rise from hotel and resort jobs to launching his own e-commerce platform in 2011, focused on clear pricing.
2011
Platform launched
At a glance
- Outlet
- Disrupt Magazine
- Format
- Contributor
- Topic
- From hotel jobs to a 2011 launch
- Robert's role
- Founder and CEO
- Launched
- 2011
- Focus
- Shipping, suppliers, pricing
Last updated
What Disrupt Magazine reported about Robert Nikic
From Yugoslavia to hotels
Disrupt follows Robert from childhood in Yugoslavia to hotel and resort jobs in the United States. It was in those jobs that he first heard about online retail.
Frustrated by the tools
When he tried it, the tools frustrated him. They were complicated and expensive. "I felt like I needed to take a semester-long course to figure them out," he told Disrupt.
Building his own
So he built a team and launched his own platform in 2011. Disrupt reports it focused on three things he found missing: faster shipping, better suppliers and clear pricing.
Related: Entrepreneur on the 2011 launch · Digital Social Hour on simpler selling
"I felt like I needed to take a semester-long course to figure them out."
In Robert's words
I told Disrupt I felt like I needed a semester-long course just to use the tools, and that's not an exaggeration. My family came from the Balkans as refugees and started over with nothing. I failed at startups as a teenager and was working 18-hour shifts in hotels when I first heard about selling online. Nothing out there was built for someone like me, so in 2011 I built it, without outside investors. Years later it made the Inc. 5000 at #418 and #35. Since 2026 I've worked on SDG 8 & 9, to make digital tools cheap and simple for small businesses everywhere.
Robert Nikic
Key takeaways
01
Discovered on the job
Hotel and resort work introduced him to online retail.
02
Tools were too hard
Complicated, expensive software pushed him to build his own.
03
The 2011 launch
Faster shipping, better suppliers and clear pricing.
Where this fits in his story
2011
First platform launched
This feature
2018
Relaunched as a full platform
2023
Inc. 5000 debut at #418
2024
Climbs to #35
2026
Steps away to work on SDG 8 & 9
Where it led
Then, he simplified the tools. Now, under SDG 9.c, he works on cheap and simple digital tools for small businesses selling across borders. The frustration he described to Disrupt, software that needs a course to use, is the problem he still works on, now at the level of policy and markets.
Then
Then, he simplified the tools.
Now
Now, he works on SDG 9.c, cheap and simple digital tools for small businesses.
See Robert's SDG 8 & 9 workQuestions
What did Disrupt Magazine report about Robert Nikic?
His path from Yugoslavia to U.S. hotel jobs and the 2011 launch of his own platform.
Why did he build his own platform?
Existing tools were complicated and expensive.
What does Robert Nikic do now?
He works on SDG 8 & 9, including digital tools under SDG 9.c.
Original article
Read the original article · Published in Disrupt Magazine
Disrupt Magazine contributor
About Disrupt Magazine
Disrupt Magazine is an online publication covering entrepreneurship and technology.
About Robert
Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and Advisory Council Chair at Reseated Councils (United Nations SDG 8 & 9). He came to the United States as a refugee, and from 2011 to 2026 he built and led an e-commerce company that was twice named to the Inc. 5000. Today he works to make it easier for anyone, anywhere, to start a business and grow it.