If you ask Anubh Shah his philosophy, he says: “Be nimble. Be humble. Be transparent. Be authentic.”
The CEO and cofounder of direct-to-consumer jewelry brand With Clarity notes that he strives daily to embody those words. Shah is transparent about his deep connections with the industry as a third-generation diamond jeweler. He also is nimble, using his college education in economics and subsequent work in finance to shape who he is in the jewelry business.
Shah makes an effort to be humble and authentic as well in leading With Clarity. That means determining the way he wants to market and sell jewelry based on his background in his family’s jewelry company and his own personal experiences. That means offering both natural and lab-grown diamonds in engagement rings and fine jewelry.
“With Clarity has grown rapidly and evolved numerous times, adapting to the fast pace of changing trends in today’s diamond and bridal industry,” Shah says. “We’ve built one of the only true direct-to-consumer brands in this space that designs and crafts authentic and accessible fine jewelry for life’s everyday moments and those in between.”
The company is based in New York City; Shah’s father had landed in Queens upon immigrating from Jaipur, India. “My father came to this country to pursue his dream of becoming a diamond trader on 47th Street,” he says. “He had a legacy of jewelry behind him as his father was also from within the jewelry industry. I was always reminded of my heritage and legacy.”
Shah, who has two sisters, grew up mostly in the New York suburb of Scarsdale. Summers were spent in his dad’s office, collecting the little melee accent diamonds that fell off of the table. Shah’s first real job for the family company was delivering diamonds to his father’s business-to-business customers in the city.
He attended Babson College, earning a bachelor of science in finance and economics. “I had a very entrepreneurial education, tailored toward out-of-the-box thinking, experiential learning, and real-world application,” he says. “We started our first business [a curated discount card for the Boston area] my freshman year with real funding, real revenues, and real results. I managed the sales team.”
After graduating in 2009, Shah joined Fidelity Investments, with a position in the institutional equities trading and sales group of Fidelity’s capital markets division. Working in such a fast-paced and aggressive environment taught Shah about work ethic, accountability, and hustle, he says.
“I was almost always first in the office and last out. I also sharpened my critical skills, including the ability to pitch and sell, manage clients and expectations, and thinking in numbers, data, and metrics,” Shah says. “These would all ultimately be crucial for my path in the jewelry industry.”
He chose to leave Fidelity in 2012 and embrace his family’s business. His biggest takeaway from those two-plus years at Fidelity? Be decisive. He also says that by hiring people smarter than you, you can learn more and work with people who bring fresh ideas to the table. That’s what Shah has sought to do at With Clarity.
His first order of business was to go to India, where he spent six months learning how to cut and polish diamonds in a city called Coimbatore. He also learned how to assess and grade diamonds, and received his Graduate Gemologist certificate from GIA. He worked with his father for three years before founding With Clarity in 2015.
As CEO, Shah has steered the company through multiple fundraising rounds, a rebranding, and introduction of new product verticals as well as its first-in-the-industry engagement ring home preview feature, which uses 3D-printed replicas. He heads the company’s overall business strategy, marketing, customer acquisition, and technology (as de facto CTO).
Shah says helping With Clarity clients through the ring-buying process may be his most important duty, because it’s one of the reasons he started the brand.
“My wife Slisha [Kankariya] and I were our own first customers. In-store shopping felt high-pressure and limited in selection, and online felt analytical and unemotional,” Shah says. “We set out to bridge that gap.”
Top: Anubh Shah founded With Clarity after working in finance but has a family background in diamonds and jewelry. (Photos courtesy of With Clarity)
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