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About AVA

The story of AVA

From four students and a lash lift kit to a 7,000 m² warehouse in Kjellerup. Here’s how it all happened.

250,000+

sent orders

5,000+

customer reviews

4.8/5

on Trustpilot

7,000m²

warehouse in Kjellerup

2021

How it began

AVA started in 2021. At the time, there were four of us: Melina, Thorbjørn, Oliver and Sebastian. Oliver and Sebastian knew each other from high school and later studied Business Development Engineer in Herning together with Thorbjørn. Sebastian had already dabbled in web commerce, but the idea for what became AVA actually came from Oliver’s little sister Melina. She thought we should sell beauty products. We obviously thought it sounded like a great idea. That’s how it started.
The first name was SimplyCosmetics, and the first product was a lash lift kit. We bought a few hundred and put about 70,000 DKK into the first order. That was quite a lot of money for four students. And quite a lot of lash lift kits.

2021

Lion's Den and MELI Beauty

Later, the range grew and the name was changed to MELI Beauty, named after Melina. In 2021, we also sent a video to Løvens Hule and actually entered into a dialogue with the production. We never made it into the program. Our best theory is still that four students with a large amount of lash lift kits was not quite dramatic enough for Danish prime time. In retrospect, it probably went very well anyway.

2022

Then we discovered that four people also want to get paid

There was one minor problem with the plan: the company couldn’t pay four people. So in 2022, Melina and Thorbjørn stepped down. Oliver found a regular full-time job, while Sebastian continued to run AVA.
The strategy became simple: Spend as little money as possible. Do as much as possible yourself. And don’t spend money we didn’t have. It doesn’t sound like something that would make the front page of the Danish Stock Exchange. But it worked. We never took in money from external investors. It also meant that our first “logistics center” was a bit unconventional.
At first we used a package hotel. It was very easy. It was also very expensive. So the warehouse was moved back home to Sebastian’s parents’ old farm from 1906, into a shed that had previously been a horse stable.
Sebastian’s mother, Charlotte, picked and packed the orders every day, between trips out to the horses. In the winter, we packed in big jackets, while patio heaters tried to convince us that the building could be used as a workplace. The farm cats stopped by regularly. They didn’t contribute much to productivity. It wasn’t Amazon. But the packages got delivered.

2022–2023

The office was Sebastian's apartment.

While Sebastian ran AVA full-time, Oliver still worked his regular job. He would come by several days a week after work, and we would spend the evenings talking about products, customers, advertising, and all the other things you suddenly realize you need to know when running a business.
We took out almost no money. On the other hand, more money slowly started to come back into the business every month. There wasn’t one big moment where everything exploded. It just got a little better. And then a little better again. At some point we started to think: This could actually be something.

2023–2024

First employee. Still no office.

In 2023, we hired Sarah for customer service. We just didn’t really have an office yet. So the office was still Sebastian’s apartment in Silkeborg. There are probably entrepreneurship books that recommend a different solution. We just hadn’t read them.
By 2024, AVA had grown big enough for Oliver to quit his job. He had also gotten tired of working for other people, so the timing was good. For the first time, AVA was able to pay him a normal salary. We rented a small three-person office in Silkeborg for Sebastian, Oliver and Sarah.
At the same time, the approximately 250 m² at home on the farm had become too small. After all, there was a limit to how many shelves we could squeeze in between old horse boxes. The warehouse therefore moved to 1,500 m² in Bording.

2026

From 250 m² to 7,000 m²

In 2026, Bording also became too small. So we moved again. This time to a 7,000 m² warehouse in Kjellerup, about 15 minutes from Silkeborg. It honestly felt a bit absurd the first time we stood there. A few years earlier, the goods were on Sebastian’s parents’ farm. Now we could almost get lost in our own warehouse.
On a normal day, there are about 5–7 people in the office in Silkeborg. In the warehouse, typically 4–6 people work to receive goods, pick, pack and ship orders. We have received telephone support. Customers can pick up their goods directly from us. And AVA has been e-labeled. It is a little more space than the horse stable.

2023–2024

First employee. Still no office.

In 2026, Bording also became too small. So we moved again. This time to a 7,000 m² warehouse in Kjellerup, about 15 minutes from Silkeborg. It honestly felt a bit absurd the first time we stood there. A few years earlier, the goods were on Sebastian’s parents’ farm. Now we could almost get lost in our own warehouse.
On a normal day, there are about 5–7 people in the office in Silkeborg. In the warehouse, typically 4–6 people work to receive goods, pick, pack and ship orders. We have received telephone support. Customers can pick up their goods directly from us. And AVA has been e-labeled. It is a little more space than the horse stable.

The team

Say hello to our team

In addition, AVA consists of Linthu, Emmeline, Sofie, Simone and our colleagues in the warehouse, among others.

Director

Oliver Theibel

The extrovert. People, ideas and big plans that the rest of us will have to figure out how to implement afterwards.

Director

Sebastian Poulsen

The quiet half. Technology, the website, the systems and the things no one else wants to read the terms and conditions for.

Marketing Manager

Thorbjorn Sorensen

Co-founder, left us and came back. The screens on his desk are necessary. For his AI agents.

Development Manager, Customer Service

Sarah Stockholm Larsen

The extrovert. People, ideas and big plans that the rest of us will have to figure out how to implement afterwards.

Office dog

Lily

Very small. Two responsibilities: tennis balls and sleep. Good at both.

Thank you for shopping with us.

Sebastian, Oliver and the rest of the AVA team

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