7/9/2004 » Entrepreneurs, Profiles

Varsha Rao is on the inaugural cover of BusinessWeek Small Biz. Zoelle is the 34-year-old entrepreneur’s own jewelry brand. That’s unlike her first startup, Eve.com, which retailed cosmetics online. Eve.com was bought out by its main investor, Idealab, for $110M and was eventually shuttered.

In contrast, Zoelle is a small business; it’s reportedly on a $500K top-line revenue run rate, with a new, lean ethos and just two employees. Rao attended Penn (math & econ) and Harvard b-school.

Rao aims to create a "younger, hipper Tiffany" by appealing directly to women rather than the men who often buy jewelry for them... She runs a tight, almost virtual ship and contracts out most tasks, including jewelry design.

Zoelle’s female-centric strategy sounds like the mirror image of Blue Nile’s. This company, which just went public, offers diamonds at an online discount as well as expert advice to men bewildered by jewelry stores. (Disclosure: A college friend co-founded Blue Nile.)