From Big Law to Bootstrapping: Why Building a Resale Marketplace Was Her Best Career Move

WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.858 --> 00:00:04.801
Welcome to Between Two Burnettes, a show dedicated to highlighting Canadian voices.
2
00:00:05.261 --> 00:00:09.804
Together, we're sharing authentic conversations with the people shaping the future of Canada.
3
00:00:10.044 --> 00:00:11.025
We hope you enjoy the show.
4
00:00:11.526 --> 00:00:24.515
Joining us today, we have friend and founder, Devin Olin, who has birthed the coolest company ever, Cash, an AI-powered, influencer-led resale marketplace where you can buy and sell clothes.
5
00:00:24.675 --> 00:00:27.557
Buy and sell specifically influencer and tastemaker's clothes.
6
00:00:28.097 --> 00:00:29.399
influencer and tastemaker's clothes.
7
00:00:29.499 --> 00:00:30.640
Devin, welcome to the show.
8
00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:33.283
Are you ready for a conversation between three brunettes?
9
00:00:33.603 --> 00:00:34.424
Couldn't be more ready.
10
00:00:35.745 --> 00:00:42.613
For those who don't know you, who don't know Cash, what can people expect to get from the conversation today?
11
00:00:42.633 --> 00:00:42.733
Yeah.
12
00:00:42.973 --> 00:00:51.696
I hope that you walk away knowing that cash is the destination for resale, specifically to find pieces from the Internet's most coveted closets.
13
00:00:51.776 --> 00:00:59.759
And for anyone who's listening that has a built-in audience, know that we are the place to resell with ease and to keep your story and identity intact.
14
00:01:00.239 --> 00:01:03.500
And then for anyone else listening, I also hope that you take away that cash.
15
00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:08.941
You do not need a background in tech to be able to build the next tech company.
16
00:01:09.281 --> 00:01:14.723
And you can do anything you put your mind to as long as you sort of have a vision and figure it out.
17
00:01:15.183 --> 00:01:25.125
I want to just start super big picture and understand your why behind building in this industry, building a tech product in this industry as a JD MBA.
18
00:01:25.525 --> 00:01:31.106
And what drew, because there is a lot of like founder market fit when I think about you and where you're building.
19
00:01:31.486 --> 00:01:33.727
So what's your why in building this space?
20
00:01:34.207 --> 00:01:40.771
Yeah, well, I feel like to answer that question, I need to kind of take it back to what I've done and sort of how I got here.
21
00:01:40.911 --> 00:01:44.254
And really, I went to school and lived in New York.
22
00:01:44.454 --> 00:01:49.777
I really wanted to be there because I wanted to be close to and be able to work in the fashion industry.
23
00:01:49.857 --> 00:01:52.719
I've always been obsessed with the fashion industry.
24
00:01:52.739 --> 00:01:57.082
I had a fashion blog from eighth grade and I sort of grew up.
25
00:01:57.682 --> 00:02:02.845
being taken to secondhand stores by my mom and just really like loving the space.
26
00:02:02.925 --> 00:02:12.631
And so when I went to New York, I had the opportunity to work in fashion for the first time, doing a variety of different things from content creation at Elle Magazine to e-com at Moda Operandi, which is a
27
00:02:14.692 --> 00:02:23.955
Branding and strategy at an agency called Metier Creative that sort of specializes in fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands with a focus on influencer and activations and things like that.
28
00:02:24.015 --> 00:02:25.816
So those are really cool gigs, by the way.
29
00:02:25.856 --> 00:02:26.536
Really cool.
30
00:02:26.596 --> 00:02:28.717
And set you up so well for what you're doing now.
31
00:02:28.797 --> 00:02:29.117
Yeah.
32
00:02:29.157 --> 00:02:31.978
So I kind of touched the industry in a few different ways.
33
00:02:32.038 --> 00:02:32.498
Mm hmm.
34
00:02:32.718 --> 00:02:36.402
I always have also been a really big ideas person.
35
00:02:37.322 --> 00:02:43.568
When I'm obsessed with an industry or just obsessed with anything, really, I'm always thinking of ways that I can add impact or I can make it better.
36
00:02:43.748 --> 00:02:52.136
And so as somebody who has always been obsessed with the latest technology, I feel like my natural instinct to...
37
00:02:52.917 --> 00:02:58.001
basically think about how can I improve something by adding tech or data into it.
38
00:02:58.061 --> 00:03:10.069
And so when I, you know, thought about what makes me tick, it really was like trying to bring data innovation tech into this industry that I so naturally gravitate towards and participate in.
39
00:03:10.489 --> 00:03:18.354
And I went and I did my JD MBA because I ultimately knew long term I wanted to do something entrepreneurial.
40
00:03:18.855 --> 00:03:18.875
I
41
00:03:19.495 --> 00:03:29.018
Honestly, barely intended to practice law, if at all, come from a family with a couple of lawyers who parlayed that education into other things and knew that it would set me up for success.
42
00:03:29.078 --> 00:03:35.859
And so the idea for cash really became clear while I was articling at Stikeman Elliott.
43
00:03:35.959 --> 00:03:37.820
When were you like, I'm quitting Stikeman Elliott?
44
00:03:37.980 --> 00:03:42.065
So when I was articling at Psycho and Elliott, I started to make real money.
45
00:03:42.705 --> 00:03:44.027
I looked at the stock market.
46
00:03:44.107 --> 00:03:45.048
I wanted to invest my money.
47
00:03:45.088 --> 00:03:48.692
I thought, I don't want to invest in a tech stock or a mining stock.
48
00:03:48.852 --> 00:03:52.877
I wish I could invest in the thing that I know and that I track and do.
49
00:03:53.057 --> 00:03:54.998
deeply understand, which is fashion.
50
00:03:55.038 --> 00:04:01.242
And I wished I could buy stock in a Birkin bag or a Chanel bag because I know how those assets function relative to the market.
51
00:04:01.302 --> 00:04:02.703
I keep track of the value.
52
00:04:02.723 --> 00:04:10.227
I would know when to buy and sell, but there was no way for me to outright buy just like a piece of something or a stock in those items.
53
00:04:10.767 --> 00:04:14.089
And I didn't have the outright capital to go and buy a Birkin bag nor the access.
54
00:04:14.149 --> 00:04:18.772
So I started to become obsessed with this idea of building a fractional investment platform that would let you...
55
00:04:19.472 --> 00:04:22.453
own a piece of these assets without actually having them in your closet.
56
00:04:22.473 --> 00:04:25.454
So you could just benefit from the appreciation of them.
57
00:04:25.474 --> 00:04:40.280
I decided to decline my full-time offer to go back to the firm and ultimately pursue this by joining Antler, which was a startup accelerator, and use that as my sort of launchpad for A, testing the idea in the market, and B,
58
00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:45.644
really transitioning from this law ecosystem into this venture world.
59
00:04:45.924 --> 00:04:51.529
And I thought it would be sort of a really low risk way to test out a very high risk thing of being a founder.
60
00:04:52.830 --> 00:05:00.117
Ultimately, after being there, I became obsessed with the idea of building something of my own and realized that
61
00:05:00.457 --> 00:05:11.679
The problem isn't so much the need to fractionalize these assets, but it's the friction in resale that's preventing us from buying and selling these goods with the same ease of stock and the same liquidity.
62
00:05:11.719 --> 00:05:15.960
And so I pivoted to basically build a product that would solve for the friction in resale.
63
00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:21.881
And from there, it has evolved into this niche of serving influencers and tastemakers.
64
00:05:21.901 --> 00:05:26.102
And that happened very organically as a result of just testing the market.
65
00:05:26.122 --> 00:05:26.422
Yeah.
66
00:05:26.442 --> 00:05:26.602
Mm-hmm.
67
00:05:27.222 --> 00:05:31.789
And what was the state of fashion tech more broadly when you were first getting started?
68
00:05:31.809 --> 00:05:36.736
Because now I feel like it's like a very prominent and popular vertical category.
69
00:05:37.117 --> 00:05:40.081
But at the time, like, what did it look like?
70
00:05:40.562 --> 00:05:41.543
So when I started building...
71
00:05:42.484 --> 00:05:47.448
the zero of cash, which wasn't even called cash in the early days.
72
00:05:47.468 --> 00:05:50.631
I feel like fashion tech wasn't even a buzzword.
73
00:05:50.651 --> 00:05:53.873
And that was at the end of 2023, which is crazy to say.
74
00:05:54.654 --> 00:05:59.418
I always just saw it as like fashion is an industry like any other.
75
00:05:59.678 --> 00:06:06.583
It is a vertical that, you know, uses technology, whether and I think traditionally people thought of the intersection of fashion and technology as
76
00:06:11.367 --> 00:06:16.408
like any business today that used to be that they don't function without Microsoft Word.
77
00:06:16.428 --> 00:06:18.509
And now, you know, when people are like, do you use AI?
78
00:06:18.529 --> 00:06:19.729
It's like, is the sky blue?
79
00:06:19.749 --> 00:06:30.392
I sort of think of fashion in the same way where, you know, people think of it as this like maybe superficial, more creative industry, but it's still a very commercial world that involves technology at every layer.
80
00:06:30.432 --> 00:06:34.693
And so I feel like more and more businesses just with the
81
00:06:35.273 --> 00:06:42.417
the rise of AI and the ways that it was possible to innovate in fashion using technology started to pop up.
82
00:06:42.437 --> 00:06:50.261
And then I don't know if she's actually the person to credit for this, but Mary Corlin Downs is sort of, she calls herself the Anna Wintour of fashion tech.
83
00:06:50.281 --> 00:06:53.622
She started a sub stack called All Things Fashion Tech.
84
00:06:53.963 --> 00:07:02.427
And I feel like she sort of started to bring this terminology to the space and started to pull in names of companies that were doing things in fashion.
85
00:07:02.447 --> 00:07:02.547
Yeah.
86
00:07:02.947 --> 00:07:10.277
That then sort of created this buzz around the ecosystem to call this industry fashion tech.
87
00:07:10.438 --> 00:07:12.961
I was going to double back because you went through an accelerator.
88
00:07:13.021 --> 00:07:13.222
Yes.
89
00:07:13.382 --> 00:07:14.003
Pros, cons.
90
00:07:14.043 --> 00:07:15.985
Like, what are your thoughts on accelerators?
91
00:07:16.446 --> 00:07:18.950
I mean, it's an interesting one because I think that
92
00:07:20.163 --> 00:07:37.732
A lot of people who have built before and have the benefit of 2020 hindsight will say, you know, accelerators are really cannibalistic of founders and they offer you really bad terms or really bad deals if you're going through them and they offer the opportunity for investment.
93
00:07:38.112 --> 00:07:38.973
But I think.
94
00:07:39.733 --> 00:07:52.619
I do think that a con of some of these places is, number one, if they are offering investment, because they're taking a chance on oftentimes really early and a lot of times first-time founders.
95
00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:59.562
Like, those terms aren't the best if you're, you know, building a company and taking charge of your cap table.
96
00:07:59.582 --> 00:07:59.962
Yeah.
97
00:08:01.162 --> 00:08:13.466
And the other con I would say is sometimes they have so many companies funneling through them that it can be hard to get that really hands on, personalized, tailored advice to you and your company.
98
00:08:13.847 --> 00:08:23.750
But I think I started with the cons, but the pros and I experienced this and I sort of alluded to this already is that, you know, as somebody who's never started a company before, you know,
99
00:08:23.830 --> 00:08:34.673
who had zero idea of like, I have this idea in my head, but like, how do I actually translate that into actionable steps to get something off the ground going zero to one, as they say?
100
00:08:34.713 --> 00:08:38.795
Like, that's you, you know, you're like, where do I even begin?
101
00:08:38.835 --> 00:08:44.496
And I think being in an accelerator around that, firstly, community that holds you accountable.
102
00:08:44.617 --> 00:08:49.238
Secondly, the mentorship that helps you translate the idea from your head into those actionable steps is,
103
00:08:49.518 --> 00:08:57.800
And it contained period of time where you are telling yourself, you know, you have this structure in a really structureless environment.
104
00:08:57.840 --> 00:08:58.180
Yeah.
105
00:08:58.560 --> 00:09:00.261
And I think those are major pros.
106
00:09:00.321 --> 00:09:08.823
And I do think now that I've done several, I've done Antler, I've done Next Canada, I've done Dream Ventures, I've done Elevate Plus.
107
00:09:08.843 --> 00:09:16.285
Like, I think I'm much more selective about, you know, if I were to apply to something, how my time is being spent and what I'm getting out of it.
108
00:09:18.506 --> 00:09:21.392
In the early days, and if you've never done this before, it can be amazing.
109
00:09:21.613 --> 00:09:25.582
And then in the future, you just have to understand like what value is it adding and what are the tradeoffs.
110
00:09:25.940 --> 00:09:30.121
How do accelerators in Canada compare to U.S. based on what you've seen?
111
00:09:30.781 --> 00:09:32.902
So I actually have the benefit of having done.
112
00:09:33.082 --> 00:09:35.763
So Antler runs a founder residency in Canada.
113
00:09:35.783 --> 00:09:38.903
It's a Canadian fund running that, but they are a global platform.
114
00:09:39.304 --> 00:09:42.725
Next Canada is a Canadian-focused accelerator.
115
00:09:42.765 --> 00:09:45.165
And then Dream Ventures that I did is based out of New York.
116
00:09:45.305 --> 00:09:47.846
So I kind of have the benefit of having had experience.
117
00:09:48.466 --> 00:09:55.170
I think that Next Canada, in particular, I'll focus on just in terms of being the most Canadian focus.
118
00:09:55.610 --> 00:10:04.615
I think they do a fantastic job of knowing the drawbacks and the pros of building in Canada.
119
00:10:04.795 --> 00:10:08.878
And so they're able to support you as being a founder in this country.
120
00:10:08.898 --> 00:10:12.800
And I also think it was really interesting because when I did the program...
121
00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:17.423
They experimented with something for the first time called Next SpeedTrack.
122
00:10:17.763 --> 00:10:26.609
And what happened was Next is really about like also bringing their alumni into the fold and making sure the alumni give back to the program and the alumni go on to build world class companies.
123
00:10:26.689 --> 00:10:33.113
And so one of such founder who started this SpeedTrack had the benefit of also having been in YC.
124
00:10:33.793 --> 00:10:49.898
And in Y Combinator in San Francisco, he thought the biggest difference between what's happening in San Francisco and the U.S. versus Canada is the speed in which people are building and how they sort of put that and build that into the program and force you to make decisions really quickly and try and fail quickly.
125
00:10:50.098 --> 00:10:50.558
faster.
126
00:10:50.678 --> 00:10:54.960
And so he brought that into this program in Canada as an experiment that year I did it.
127
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.041
Now it's mandated where every single week you have to set these really lofty goals.
128
00:10:59.061 --> 00:10:59.821
You meet with him.
129
00:10:59.861 --> 00:11:00.702
You meet with the team.
130
00:11:00.902 --> 00:11:02.242
You're held accountable to that.
131
00:11:02.922 --> 00:11:06.724
And I think that that is what I've learned is like the biggest difference.
132
00:11:06.744 --> 00:11:19.168
And I also think in at least in terms of my experience with the states is that there's a lot more focus on an access to capital raising opportunities than I found here.
133
00:11:19.458 --> 00:11:22.680
You are a vintage resale girlie through and through.
134
00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:33.825
For our listeners that maybe aren't, can you just explain the process, the friction in the landscape, just your articulation of what was going on in resale?
135
00:11:34.125 --> 00:11:34.886
Yeah, so...
136
00:11:35.866 --> 00:11:38.487
Resale is an all-encompassing term.
137
00:11:38.507 --> 00:11:46.750
There are so many things happening within that industry, but in terms of friction and the solutions that exist, it kind of boils down to a couple different categories.
138
00:11:46.910 --> 00:11:51.791
One being peer-to-peer resale marketplaces and another being sort of managed or consignment solutions.
139
00:11:51.872 --> 00:11:57.834
So peer-to-peer resale marketplaces are names you would recognize like Poshmark, Depop, eBay.
140
00:11:58.334 --> 00:11:59.734
They involve... Facebook marketplace.
141
00:11:59.754 --> 00:12:00.935
Yeah, Facebook marketplace.
142
00:12:00.975 --> 00:12:01.415
Exactly.
143
00:12:01.435 --> 00:12:01.895
They involve
144
00:12:02.215 --> 00:12:05.197
peers, you or I, selling to one another directly.
145
00:12:05.997 --> 00:12:14.143
And the friction in that is that they offer you this platform and this marketplace to transact, but you really have to do all the work to sell and even to buy.
146
00:12:14.183 --> 00:12:18.545
But it's worse on the sell side because you have to photograph, you have to write the listing, you have to set the price.
147
00:12:18.905 --> 00:12:26.490
You have to deal with oftentimes people making offers and then you're going back and forth haggling and then ultimately shipping that item off.
148
00:12:26.530 --> 00:12:28.892
In some cases, you have to create the shipping label.
149
00:12:28.912 --> 00:12:29.192
Yeah.
150
00:12:29.572 --> 00:12:31.153
That's the peer-to-peer side.
151
00:12:31.273 --> 00:12:44.082
On the consignment solution side, you have players like the RealReal or ThredUp or your local consignment boutique where you typically drop off your stuff in exchange for them taking a higher percentage of the earnings.
152
00:12:44.162 --> 00:12:47.705
The benefit of them is that you get the convenience of them doing all of the work for you.
153
00:12:48.045 --> 00:12:50.166
They anonymize your inventory.
154
00:12:50.246 --> 00:12:52.987
So it's not like under your profile in any sense.
155
00:12:53.748 --> 00:12:57.009
And they oftentimes also don't take everything that you have.
156
00:12:57.189 --> 00:13:02.592
So it's not a complete solution in the sense that you still sometimes end up having to use the Poshmarks, Depops, Ebays of the world.
157
00:13:02.712 --> 00:13:11.896
So that is sort of the friction that I've not only observed, but I have experienced firsthand as somebody who, you know, has bought and sold in this marketplace for a long time.
158
00:13:12.136 --> 00:13:16.860
And one more friction point when I sold, I won't name them, but I, so yeah, exactly what you said.
159
00:13:16.900 --> 00:13:18.261
I dropped off a pile of clothes.
160
00:13:18.401 --> 00:13:23.305
They took some, not everything, but I had to follow up every month.
161
00:13:23.345 --> 00:13:24.366
Like, did you sell?
162
00:13:24.466 --> 00:13:25.827
Is my check ready for pickup?
163
00:13:25.847 --> 00:13:27.468
You have to call back for weeks and weeks.
164
00:13:27.508 --> 00:13:29.670
And like for months, it was like, no update.
165
00:13:29.950 --> 00:13:30.611
Check back again.
166
00:13:30.871 --> 00:13:32.352
It's actually such a true point.
167
00:13:32.392 --> 00:13:35.054
And my mom has experienced the same thing.
168
00:13:35.154 --> 00:13:39.878
And not just that, but she'll ask for her stuff back and she'll get a bag with stuff that,
169
00:13:40.078 --> 00:13:41.680
wasn't hers.
170
00:13:42.100 --> 00:13:43.902
And she'll have to track down the piece that was missing.
171
00:13:43.922 --> 00:13:54.773
It's really interesting because, you know, as I experimented in the early days of building cash and pivoted so many times, one of the things I did experiment with was building more of a SaaS solution for like the inventory management side of things.
172
00:13:54.833 --> 00:13:55.474
And so I did...
173
00:13:56.034 --> 00:14:05.359
go under the hood in a lot of these places to understand what technology were they using already and what exists in the marketplace.
174
00:14:05.479 --> 00:14:21.548
And there are some players obviously trying to build in this space, but you would be surprised how archaic some of these inventory solutions are that I'm not speaking about the thread ups and the real roads of the world, but like your local consignment boutique where a lot of people resell these places in some cases are using
175
00:14:22.588 --> 00:14:23.448
Excel spreadsheets.
176
00:14:23.648 --> 00:14:28.549
One piece that you talked about, which is, you know, someone comes in, they go to sell their stuff at a consignment store.
177
00:14:28.949 --> 00:14:36.931
That connection of that, let's say, that dress to you, Germana, as someone of potential influence gets completely lost.
178
00:14:37.391 --> 00:14:50.793
From your perspective, like, can you just shed some light on the power of influencers and how much of a role they play in buying decisions from Gen Z, younger millennials today?
179
00:14:50.813 --> 00:14:51.013
Totally.
180
00:14:51.413 --> 00:14:58.595
Well, when I was talking about the friction, I didn't want to be long-winded, but the gap that we really noticed is exactly what you're touching on.
181
00:14:58.615 --> 00:15:06.138
There is no solution that offers you the convenience that the consignment solutions offer mixed with seller identity story context.
182
00:15:06.178 --> 00:15:10.659
And so to answer your question, you know, as you said, these people have influence for a reason.
183
00:15:10.679 --> 00:15:14.220
They have audiences for a reason and social capital that they've built up.
184
00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:20.102
And in large part, it is because of the style and their point of view that they put out into the world.
185
00:15:20.502 --> 00:15:29.734
91% of Gen Z look to creators for the latest trends and 75% of U.S. consumers have actually made a purchase because of a creator posting it.
186
00:15:29.754 --> 00:15:30.555
That is crazy.
187
00:15:30.675 --> 00:15:31.657
I mean, that's so funny.
188
00:15:31.717 --> 00:15:33.599
I mean, it's the only way I find my stuff.
189
00:15:33.980 --> 00:15:34.220
Really?
190
00:15:34.380 --> 00:15:34.641
Yeah.
191
00:15:34.881 --> 00:15:35.221
Yeah, fair.
192
00:15:35.281 --> 00:15:36.323
I think most of my stuff too.
193
00:15:36.403 --> 00:15:36.543
Yeah.
194
00:15:36.623 --> 00:15:39.986
I almost like I'm disillusioned by just how much they're influencing me sometimes.
195
00:15:40.006 --> 00:15:40.146
Yeah.
196
00:15:40.387 --> 00:15:46.332
Like I'm probably going into stores and picking out clothes because of something I saw, but like you're not connecting the dots always.
197
00:15:46.533 --> 00:15:48.755
Like I'm like fully like going in and clicking.
198
00:15:48.835 --> 00:15:49.536
Where's our shop?
199
00:15:49.556 --> 00:15:50.076
My link.
200
00:15:50.256 --> 00:15:50.577
Yeah.
201
00:15:50.617 --> 00:15:51.177
Save.
202
00:15:51.377 --> 00:15:51.597
Yeah.
203
00:15:51.618 --> 00:15:51.758
Yeah.
204
00:15:52.218 --> 00:16:01.281
But I also I think this is a good time to also speak about like what is influence and who has it because you say you don't always or maybe you do like get influence.
205
00:16:01.301 --> 00:16:04.663
But even think about how many times you've been influenced by what your friend is wearing.
206
00:16:04.683 --> 00:16:04.963
Totally.
207
00:16:05.183 --> 00:16:06.603
And I choose today.
208
00:16:06.804 --> 00:16:07.044
Right.
209
00:16:07.144 --> 00:16:12.666
And it's like you see something somebody's wearing or you love the product that they use in their makeup and you're like, where did you get that?
210
00:16:12.746 --> 00:16:12.946
Yeah.
211
00:16:12.966 --> 00:16:13.066
Yeah.
212
00:16:13.426 --> 00:16:27.075
what we're sort of doing with cash is like, I think that the term influencer is, we sometimes say it's almost become like a dirty word where people think that you're just famous for creating content, but we really see influence as somebody who has taste and trust.
213
00:16:27.435 --> 00:16:30.497
And so it's not just the person who has 300,000 followers on Instagram.
214
00:16:30.557 --> 00:16:37.942
It could be your friend who has a couple thousand followers, but really great style and a point of view and is a person that you trust and will convert
215
00:16:38.282 --> 00:16:44.107
you to buy something and or in this case, if she was selling her closet, you might actually want the thing that she wore.
216
00:16:44.167 --> 00:16:49.071
If you asked about her shirt rather than going out to get it, if she was willing to sell it to you, you would buy it.
217
00:16:49.091 --> 00:16:49.831
Totally.
218
00:16:49.911 --> 00:16:51.593
I would buy it from your closet.
219
00:16:51.713 --> 00:16:52.133
Exactly.
220
00:16:52.153 --> 00:16:54.595
Well, I would buy it from Devin's more, but sorry.
221
00:16:54.975 --> 00:16:57.717
It's all cash, so you could buy it.
222
00:16:58.098 --> 00:17:00.900
But sort of that's really like what we're picking up on here.
223
00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:04.983
And so I also think it democratizes this idea of influence, but also –
224
00:17:05.523 --> 00:17:14.914
Like in this new age, influence is not just somebody who's a full time content creator or even just in the fashion world in terms of having if you have good style, you could be a podcast host.
225
00:17:15.215 --> 00:17:16.376
You could be a chef.
226
00:17:16.416 --> 00:17:17.497
You could be an author.
227
00:17:17.817 --> 00:17:18.899
You could be a founder.
228
00:17:18.979 --> 00:17:22.483
You can be all of these things and have that social capital and built in audience.
229
00:17:22.523 --> 00:17:23.844
And that's who we're building for.
230
00:17:23.864 --> 00:17:23.964
Yeah.
231
00:17:24.485 --> 00:17:25.426
That's a really good distinction.
232
00:17:25.747 --> 00:17:35.658
I want to also touch on for a sec the like the big pivot that this actually was for you, because there was a point when you were talking to us and you were thinking about building the like mass market version of this.
233
00:17:36.099 --> 00:17:41.385
So walk through the signal to pivot the business to just be influencer led.
234
00:17:41.465 --> 00:17:41.825
Yes.
235
00:17:42.106 --> 00:17:43.007
Obviously, anyone can buy.
236
00:17:43.367 --> 00:17:49.409
So we were building this mass market resale product after I sort of pivoted from fractionalization to friction.
237
00:17:50.129 --> 00:17:56.512
And to start testing going to market with that product, I was hosting influencer closet sales.
238
00:17:56.532 --> 00:18:04.895
I did that because everybody knows influencers are the modern sales channel and they are often used primarily as a form of distribution.
239
00:18:05.055 --> 00:18:05.475
And so...
240
00:18:06.255 --> 00:18:10.297
I hosted a couple pop-up events as a form of marketing.
241
00:18:10.357 --> 00:18:16.019
And what started to happen after that was I started to get inbound demand from other influencers who saw what we were doing and wanted me to resell for them.
242
00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:19.900
So I was like, let me just follow these leads and see where it takes me.
243
00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:26.623
We ended up doing five pop-up events in four months, did 40k GMV in that timeframe, all with zero paid marketing.
244
00:18:26.643 --> 00:18:26.943
Explain what
245
00:18:26.983 --> 00:18:27.524
GMV means?
246
00:18:27.544 --> 00:18:27.864
Sorry.
247
00:18:27.904 --> 00:18:29.766
GMV is gross merchandise value.
248
00:18:29.866 --> 00:18:36.772
So marketplace nomenclature is to speak in terms of gross merchandise value, the total value of the goods you're selling.
249
00:18:36.832 --> 00:18:38.574
It's not what we ultimately take home.
250
00:18:38.594 --> 00:18:40.816
The way we make money is a percentage of that.
251
00:18:41.216 --> 00:18:41.637
And so...
252
00:18:42.237 --> 00:18:51.344
We did $40,000 basically with sales in those four months and spent $0 to bring people to those events to actually make those sales.
253
00:18:51.364 --> 00:18:54.466
That's what sort of zero customer acquisition cost means.
254
00:18:54.846 --> 00:19:06.535
And that's when the light bulb sort of went off in my head where I was like, you know, influencers clearly have the same pain point as everybody else, but they almost have this deeper felt pain point because influencers.
255
00:19:06.955 --> 00:19:09.998
They have typically like three to five times the amount of stuff in their closet.
256
00:19:10.018 --> 00:19:21.427
They have a higher turnover of their wardrobe because they have so much coming in, whether it's from gifting or partnerships or purely because they're consumers that take photos in their stuff and then post it and then they have nothing to do with it.
257
00:19:21.447 --> 00:19:22.107
They're done with it.
258
00:19:22.708 --> 00:19:30.975
And most meaningfully, they have this built in distribution where their audience will show up to participate in what they put out in the world.
259
00:19:30.995 --> 00:19:31.115
Right.
260
00:19:31.715 --> 00:19:34.416
And then I started to look at the market as I described it to you earlier.
261
00:19:34.456 --> 00:19:37.837
And I realized like everyone uses influencers as a form of marketing.
262
00:19:37.877 --> 00:19:39.958
Nobody has built a resale product for them.
263
00:19:40.058 --> 00:19:47.401
Everybody's focused on affiliate commerce, sort of meaning how can these influencers take a percentage of everything they recommend to the world?
264
00:19:47.501 --> 00:19:51.623
But what if they have that thing and they're actually done with it and they want to resell that thing itself?
265
00:19:51.963 --> 00:19:53.363
Nobody has built a product for that.
266
00:19:53.443 --> 00:19:57.765
And that sort of was why and how we pivoted to do what we're doing now.
267
00:19:58.205 --> 00:20:04.287
When you think about the influencer and creator economy, and we touch on this all the time, just how it's growing, how it's evolving.
268
00:20:05.067 --> 00:20:07.888
And I was reading some stats the other day that were just crazy.
269
00:20:07.928 --> 00:20:19.812
So in the U.S., I think it was roughly 10 percent of people identified as some sort of influencer or creator, which ends up being like 30 million people if you take into account their population.
270
00:20:20.153 --> 00:20:23.534
Versus in Canada, it was 0.25 percent.
271
00:20:23.654 --> 00:20:25.895
And you see it like I can name like three, like Emma Leger.
272
00:20:25.955 --> 00:20:26.775
I can barely name them.
273
00:20:27.375 --> 00:20:28.756
And she moved to the States.
274
00:20:29.276 --> 00:20:30.097
Yeah, exactly.
275
00:20:30.457 --> 00:20:38.062
Canada did not have the pickup in the creator economy that the U.S. had, even on like a per capita basis when you like normalize it.
276
00:20:38.422 --> 00:20:41.684
So does that for you and where you're building, do you think about that?
277
00:20:41.724 --> 00:20:45.687
Like, is this a North America play, a Canada play first to start?
278
00:20:45.847 --> 00:20:46.047
Yeah.
279
00:20:46.207 --> 00:20:49.830
Because it's not that there's for sure influencers here, but like the scale.
280
00:20:50.010 --> 00:20:50.730
Totally.
281
00:20:50.770 --> 00:20:51.731
It's a great question.
282
00:20:52.211 --> 00:20:53.352
Today on the platform.
283
00:20:53.812 --> 00:21:00.457
We sell for influencers across North America and buyers can also buy from us across North America.
284
00:21:01.277 --> 00:21:05.720
In terms of where we've started, we I mean, firstly, we are a Canadian based company.
285
00:21:05.760 --> 00:21:07.962
We are proud to be building in Canada.
286
00:21:08.262 --> 00:21:17.409
But as you mentioned, it's just in terms of the market that we're in, it makes no sense for us to just be serving Canadian influencers.
287
00:21:17.809 --> 00:21:22.132
And so, you know, we're set up to service people across North America.
288
00:21:22.532 --> 00:21:23.493
the whole continent.
289
00:21:23.833 --> 00:21:39.487
And when I think about what we're building, like I'm really focused on making sure that our infrastructure supports that because, you know, you see so many great businesses built in Canada, but servicing the entire continent.
290
00:21:39.527 --> 00:21:40.828
And we want to be one of those.
291
00:21:40.888 --> 00:21:45.992
And fashion just generally is like everyone knows the epicenters are New York, London, Milan.
292
00:21:46.112 --> 00:21:48.895
Like I hope we can also be in Europe one day as well.
293
00:21:49.235 --> 00:21:58.137
how do you compete against some of the other companies that do rentals that influencers could be taking advantage of, like Pickle, for example?
294
00:21:58.337 --> 00:21:58.537
Yeah.
295
00:21:59.177 --> 00:22:06.879
So I don't even see us as being, like, I'd rather position us as, you know, complementary, not necessarily as competition.
296
00:22:07.859 --> 00:22:16.561
I think that although there are similarities in terms of the cataloging process and getting your clothing up there, I see it as a fundamentally different business model.
297
00:22:16.581 --> 00:22:17.361
The idea of,
298
00:22:17.961 --> 00:22:21.823
you know, renting something out means that you're constantly making money on it.
299
00:22:21.863 --> 00:22:25.365
And then they're dealing with the reverse logistics aspect of it that we don't touch.
300
00:22:25.765 --> 00:22:30.607
And so I think that we're part and parcel to this general circular economy.
301
00:22:30.867 --> 00:22:37.750
And we're really focused on the idea of just, you know, getting rid of the thing, seeing your closet almost as a form of an asset.
302
00:22:37.890 --> 00:22:42.753
And yes, while you can be monetizing that asset through rental, you can also be monetizing that through resale.
303
00:22:42.773 --> 00:22:45.034
It's no different than the housing market, so to speak.
304
00:22:45.354 --> 00:22:46.855
And so it's just part and parcel of
305
00:22:47.855 --> 00:22:59.042
How long on average do you typically have a piece of clothing or an item in inventory from time of collecting it from an influencer to the point that you resell it?
306
00:22:59.282 --> 00:23:04.105
I don't have like we're too early to have conclusive data on that front.
307
00:23:04.125 --> 00:23:07.167
What I will say is we are working on 90 day sales cycles right now.
308
00:23:07.267 --> 00:23:08.808
So we're holding inventory for 90 days.
309
00:23:09.568 --> 00:23:10.709
Just taking a step back.
310
00:23:10.749 --> 00:23:12.610
So you started building cash what year?
311
00:23:13.411 --> 00:23:18.395
I mean, I left my job in law and I started officially building something at the end of 2023.
312
00:23:18.415 --> 00:23:19.976
At the end of 2023.
313
00:23:20.036 --> 00:23:24.059
Obviously now in 2026, what have been kind of the biggest milestone?
314
00:23:24.099 --> 00:23:25.360
Yeah, it is crazy.
315
00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:31.124
But the biggest kind of milestone highlights of the last little bit, which like, let me know if you agree.
316
00:23:31.144 --> 00:23:33.586
Like we would categorize it as the zero to one stage.
317
00:23:33.606 --> 00:23:35.848
Like you really are trying to figure out what is this?
318
00:23:35.908 --> 00:23:36.128
Yeah.
319
00:23:36.228 --> 00:23:37.289
Does it resonate?
320
00:23:37.369 --> 00:23:38.310
Who does it resonate with?
321
00:23:39.231 --> 00:23:41.333
what has the zero to one really looked like?
322
00:23:41.433 --> 00:23:45.318
I mean, I think kind of when you're asking me, like, why did you pivot?
323
00:23:45.358 --> 00:23:50.485
It was because we had this inbound demand, which is the best possible signal of a pain point.
324
00:23:50.765 --> 00:23:53.488
And also generating real money.
325
00:23:53.749 --> 00:23:54.670
People don't
326
00:23:55.236 --> 00:23:57.917
pay for things willingly, so to speak.
327
00:23:58.017 --> 00:24:09.020
And so I think when we're able to not only sell something to somebody who wants it, which is a signal, but make somebody money for something that we promise to make them money on, again, that is a signal.
328
00:24:09.140 --> 00:24:12.681
And simultaneously, when people see that return and they're like,
329
00:24:13.501 --> 00:24:14.642
Can I give you more stuff?
330
00:24:14.702 --> 00:24:15.763
I want to resell again.
331
00:24:15.783 --> 00:24:28.432
That is another validation point that for us is like, even if the product is going to continue to evolve clearly, we are building in a space where there is a problem and we are helping to provide a solution to that problem.
332
00:24:28.592 --> 00:24:31.234
And we are also dealing with a customer now.
333
00:24:32.275 --> 00:24:35.078
our understanding is our ICP.
334
00:24:35.138 --> 00:24:42.006
And so I think that, you know, as we move from zero to one, some of the things that I'm looking for is like, everyone talks about finding product market fit.
335
00:24:42.366 --> 00:24:47.132
And while maybe we're not at the point of like 100% product market fit, I do feel like we have
336
00:24:48.013 --> 00:24:49.115
customer market fit.
337
00:24:49.455 --> 00:24:58.208
And I think that that is the most important thing to have anyway, because at the end of the day, you cannot get attached to the product that you're building.
338
00:24:58.228 --> 00:25:02.594
You have to be attached to the problem that you're solving and the customer that you're solving it for.
339
00:25:03.215 --> 00:25:04.916
I'm trying to think if there's any other sort of early signals.
340
00:25:04.956 --> 00:25:11.620
I mean, also just like people giving us that verbal feedback at these pop-up events where they're like, I love it.
341
00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:12.540
When's the next one?
342
00:25:12.861 --> 00:25:21.666
Signing up for our newsletter to stay in touch with us, following us on Instagram and giving us, you know, I use our Instagram oftentimes and our sub-stack channel to get product feedback.
343
00:25:21.686 --> 00:25:25.108
I'll say like, should we, you know, keep this button or delete it?
344
00:25:25.188 --> 00:25:26.889
Should we bring this feature in or not?
345
00:25:26.989 --> 00:25:30.411
And, you know, getting so many responses to a poll when you can...
346
00:25:31.051 --> 00:25:34.113
I think everybody knows how easy it is to post a poll and have zero responses.
347
00:25:34.153 --> 00:25:37.615
But so like getting those responses to has been a form of validation.
348
00:25:37.955 --> 00:25:41.917
The other piece of this, too, it's so funny, like marketplaces have been the theme of the day today.
349
00:25:41.937 --> 00:25:44.298
It's what we've spent five hours talking about.
350
00:25:44.778 --> 00:25:47.640
But everyone talks about the chicken and the egg.
351
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:50.461
Obviously, you solved it by like thinking about influencers first.
352
00:25:50.481 --> 00:25:52.943
But there's also the element of selection.
353
00:26:01.247 --> 00:26:02.207
actually looking for.
354
00:26:02.368 --> 00:26:12.211
How do you think about like, how much do you need to set the supply infrastructure up or inventory up to be able to just grow the demand at the same pace?
355
00:26:12.491 --> 00:26:13.271
It's a good question.
356
00:26:13.371 --> 00:26:17.913
I think it's something that we're actively trying to solve for as we speak.
357
00:26:18.073 --> 00:26:25.116
I think something that we've realized is we operate in a sort of drop model where this is also a
358
00:26:26.556 --> 00:26:34.121
more traditional peer-to-peer resale or consignment where things aren't, if you go on the app every single day, like things aren't popping up new here and there.
359
00:26:34.381 --> 00:26:36.943
We're very intentional about when- Very curated.
360
00:26:36.983 --> 00:26:40.705
Very curated, but also intentional is, you know, this drop is going live next week.
361
00:26:40.745 --> 00:26:43.547
We're going to promote it for the five to seven days leading up to it.
362
00:26:43.727 --> 00:26:46.309
And the influencer is engaged in that promotion.
363
00:26:46.329 --> 00:26:50.031
And so there's all of this hype around the moment that the stuff comes live.
364
00:26:50.412 --> 00:26:53.974
And then all of this hype when it is live that turns into transactions.
365
00:26:54.074 --> 00:26:55.475
But to your point- And probably urgency.
366
00:26:55.615 --> 00:26:56.155
like high volume.
367
00:26:56.195 --> 00:26:57.196
An urgency, yeah.
368
00:26:57.336 --> 00:27:07.583
And that was a learning from our in-person pop-ups that we've taken and tried to replicate online because one-day pop-up events really drive a sense of urgency to show up and transact.
369
00:27:07.683 --> 00:27:17.849
And how do you mimic that in an online atmosphere without, you know, sacrificing your TAM and your total addressable market, your ability to like actually drive transactions that grow your business?
370
00:27:17.989 --> 00:27:21.472
And so just to go back to the question in terms of the supply, it's like,
371
00:27:22.352 --> 00:27:35.496
We have this model to be more curated and intentional, but also how do we make sure that those are happening on a regular basis so that if you are somebody who's loyal to cash and you show up on the app tomorrow, you're not like, oh, I've seen all this stuff.
372
00:27:35.536 --> 00:27:36.197
I'm bored.
373
00:27:36.217 --> 00:27:37.337
There's nothing new for me.
374
00:27:37.417 --> 00:27:42.118
So it is about that balance, and we're trying to figure it out right now.
375
00:27:42.178 --> 00:27:46.980
And I think it's also about making sure that we get that timing right between the drops.
376
00:27:47.280 --> 00:27:47.500
Yeah.
377
00:27:47.880 --> 00:28:04.091
When you're doing outreach to influencers and curating who gets to sell on your platform, are you looking at what are the trends right now and trying to align with what the market and the market is focused on?
378
00:28:04.351 --> 00:28:12.917
Or are you more so saying we want to have breadth and variety so that regardless of what your personal style is, you're going to find an influencer that fits you?
379
00:28:12.937 --> 00:28:13.037
Yeah.
380
00:28:13.713 --> 00:28:13.993
Yeah.
381
00:28:14.413 --> 00:28:18.915
Right now, you know, our application or invitation process is holistic.
382
00:28:19.055 --> 00:28:31.719
So like I was saying at the beginning, when I talk about defining influence, when somebody wants to sell on cash or we reach out to somebody, we're not primarily concerned with, do you have 100,000 followers and are you going to be able to drive 100,000 eyeballs to our platform?
383
00:28:32.019 --> 00:28:33.880
We're also looking at, as you said, like
384
00:28:34.280 --> 00:28:35.701
how engaged is your audience?
385
00:28:35.821 --> 00:28:37.822
What kind of inventory do you have?
386
00:28:37.982 --> 00:28:39.503
Do you have the volume that we need?
387
00:28:39.603 --> 00:28:45.906
Like, we're not necessarily that interested right now in somebody who has five pieces to resell as opposed to 50.
388
00:28:46.526 --> 00:28:47.667
Yeah, right.
389
00:28:47.687 --> 00:28:48.527
That's that supply.
390
00:28:48.667 --> 00:28:48.907
Yeah.
391
00:28:48.947 --> 00:28:53.749
I mean, we'll get there when we sort of have the infrastructure to keep this going and scale this larger.
392
00:28:53.790 --> 00:28:56.831
But but ultimately, those are things that we're considering now.
393
00:28:56.871 --> 00:28:57.972
But when it comes to
394
00:28:59.012 --> 00:29:00.793
Things like trends and taste.
395
00:29:01.153 --> 00:29:09.236
We are I don't think we're in the business of like I want to be, you know, somebody who's an authority on style and resale, whatever.
396
00:29:09.256 --> 00:29:21.781
But I don't think it's my job to tell people what is cool and what they should be shopping in the sense of like, I don't think I should gatekeep somebody from reselling on my platform if her audience or his audience determines that they like their stuff.
397
00:29:22.281 --> 00:29:24.622
And it's not for me to say what's fashionable and what's not.
398
00:29:24.922 --> 00:29:29.324
And I have my own personal taste and there are so many things on this platform that I would personally not wear.
399
00:29:29.504 --> 00:29:30.444
And yet they've sold.
400
00:29:31.024 --> 00:29:39.348
And I think that my job is in the business of making sure it is quality supply in the sense that we're not reselling things that are stained, torn, tattered or misrepresented.
401
00:29:39.648 --> 00:29:44.450
And that we're bringing people onto this platform whose communities will appreciate this and actually convert.
402
00:29:45.050 --> 00:29:45.330
Awesome.
403
00:29:46.110 --> 00:29:50.991
stepping to the world of tech for a second, I want to talk through what it's actually like to build an app.
404
00:29:51.091 --> 00:29:51.591
Yeah.
405
00:29:51.771 --> 00:29:53.012
How did this get going?
406
00:29:53.212 --> 00:29:54.112
And are you building?
407
00:29:54.512 --> 00:29:57.232
It's actually... Are you building the app as a non-technical?
408
00:29:57.432 --> 00:30:08.175
I'm like, who's the... No, sometimes I look at the app in the app store and I'm just like, this is so crazy that I birthed this or like, this is mine.
409
00:30:08.195 --> 00:30:09.275
Like, it feels like... Yeah.
410
00:30:09.355 --> 00:30:13.838
When you're young, like I remember when the iPod Touch came out and like the concept of the app store was a thing.
411
00:30:13.858 --> 00:30:15.820
And you're just like, how does this happen?
412
00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:17.141
Like who's building the app?
413
00:30:17.241 --> 00:30:18.642
So now I have one.
414
00:30:18.882 --> 00:30:19.102
Weird.
415
00:30:19.342 --> 00:30:22.044
How do they get approved?
416
00:30:22.205 --> 00:30:22.385
Yeah.
417
00:30:22.525 --> 00:30:23.205
Yeah.
418
00:30:23.225 --> 00:30:24.546
So I have a team.
419
00:30:24.706 --> 00:30:25.627
I'm really lucky.
420
00:30:25.987 --> 00:30:27.889
And we're scrappy and we're small.
421
00:30:27.989 --> 00:30:28.930
When we started...
422
00:30:29.550 --> 00:30:33.375
I had a friend build the entire product using AI.
423
00:30:34.236 --> 00:30:39.723
And then I had this fractional engineer come in and he took it over and has continued to build.
424
00:30:39.763 --> 00:30:43.187
But everything that we built is using AI.
425
00:30:43.387 --> 00:30:43.527
And...
426
00:30:45.249 --> 00:30:53.738
Because of that, and I know how to vibe code now, and I participate in that build in my own ways and channels.
427
00:30:53.798 --> 00:31:00.164
We use Lovable right now to host our web app and landing page, and so I'm able to...
428
00:31:01.025 --> 00:31:09.228
like an hour, an hour after this podcast, if I want, go change the color of the buttons or the functionality of something just by prompting it.
429
00:31:09.288 --> 00:31:12.169
And so it has been in this case, a labor of love.
430
00:31:12.629 --> 00:31:22.633
But when I first started Cash, when it wasn't Cash and I pivoted to this resale product, I at one point had a technical co-founder.
431
00:31:23.213 --> 00:31:23.993
And then I didn't.
432
00:31:24.593 --> 00:31:28.494
And I struggled with the decision of like, how am I going to build this?
433
00:31:28.534 --> 00:31:31.175
Like, do I build this myself?
434
00:31:31.375 --> 00:31:32.355
Do I need somebody?
435
00:31:32.395 --> 00:31:34.496
Do I have to go pay an engineer to do this?
436
00:31:34.516 --> 00:31:37.496
Do you lose credibility not having a technical co-founder?
437
00:31:48.520 --> 00:31:53.149
is wildly different for the better for somebody like me and just, I think, for the market in general.
438
00:31:53.229 --> 00:31:57.779
But nevertheless, when I looked at building it myself, like even two years ago,
439
00:31:59.231 --> 00:32:02.974
The tools that were available were not even what they are today.
440
00:32:03.014 --> 00:32:10.480
And I was looking at like a platform called Bubble at the time where you could like no code this, but no code was different than vibe coding.
441
00:32:10.560 --> 00:32:13.583
And so it was like no code, low code.
442
00:32:13.943 --> 00:32:14.544
Exactly.
443
00:32:14.864 --> 00:32:15.324
Exactly.
444
00:32:15.364 --> 00:32:17.506
And even that felt out of reach for me.
445
00:32:17.646 --> 00:32:24.472
And now if I had a different idea tomorrow, I know I could build it myself, at least the early stages of it.
446
00:32:24.812 --> 00:32:25.453
No matter what it is.
447
00:32:25.473 --> 00:32:26.854
Which is an incredible thing to say.
448
00:32:26.874 --> 00:32:27.274
A car.
449
00:32:27.414 --> 00:32:27.534
Yeah.
450
00:32:27.574 --> 00:32:34.900
I think like five years ago, like when you would have business ideas pop up in your brain, it was like, this is going to be 100K if I wanted to do an MVP.
451
00:32:35.101 --> 00:32:35.541
Totally.
452
00:32:35.781 --> 00:32:37.222
Because I would have to pay someone to do it.
453
00:32:37.282 --> 00:32:44.348
And you have to like RFP, like if you don't want to bring someone on, like a billion different contractors to figure out what engineering firms write for your fit.
454
00:32:44.368 --> 00:32:44.609
It is.
455
00:32:44.629 --> 00:32:44.809
Yeah.
456
00:32:45.429 --> 00:32:59.604
the most empowering thing to know that I can take what is in my brain and not just like draw it out or do what I think is within my wheelhouse, but I can actually speak to a machine and build something that is functional.
457
00:32:59.744 --> 00:33:00.545
Yeah.
458
00:33:00.925 --> 00:33:03.108
So that's the app, the product side of things.
459
00:33:03.128 --> 00:33:04.909
When it comes to the like
460
00:33:05.670 --> 00:33:16.494
business model, the revenue model, like things that maybe you're still actually working through, like what percentage you take, how much of that is still an iteration versus you've kind of set it?
461
00:33:16.914 --> 00:33:20.735
I would say everything is evolving and a work in progress.
462
00:33:20.835 --> 00:33:23.997
And that is, I think, how you have to be at this stage.
463
00:33:24.057 --> 00:33:27.058
And I honestly hope that even when we are
464
00:33:27.878 --> 00:33:38.001
you know, $100 million company that we still think like this because like I said, I think the most important thing you can do when you're building anything is listen to your customer.
465
00:33:38.141 --> 00:33:46.023
And obviously when you're a $100 million company with a larger team and processes in place, you're not going to change things left, right and center.
466
00:33:46.284 --> 00:33:57.687
But at the same time, I also think if things aren't working or if people are giving you feedback that are signaling that like something should be adjusted, you shouldn't just dig your heels in unless you have a valid reason
467
00:33:57.927 --> 00:33:58.528
to do so.
468
00:33:58.568 --> 00:33:59.669
And so... That's good advice.
469
00:33:59.869 --> 00:34:00.070
Yeah.
470
00:34:00.490 --> 00:34:03.433
When you think about the next year, what are the big goalposts?
471
00:34:03.493 --> 00:34:05.055
So app is up and running.
472
00:34:05.295 --> 00:34:06.937
Influencer side is there.
473
00:34:07.117 --> 00:34:08.038
The business model's there.
474
00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:13.023
What are you just in growth mode with, like, do you start deploying marketing dollars at this point?
475
00:34:13.043 --> 00:34:13.504
Do you hold off?
476
00:34:13.524 --> 00:34:13.744
So...
477
00:34:14.665 --> 00:34:20.068
Our biggest focus right now is on a lot of like what we just spoke about, which is the internal processes.
478
00:34:20.148 --> 00:34:35.357
So we now have a sense of what works and it's about turning those things into playbooks and processes that will allow us to grow and scale more sustainably and then by extension, expand the team so that
479
00:34:36.537 --> 00:34:42.562
If we have a process written out or a playbook written out, it's not something that I necessarily have to do myself every single day.
480
00:34:42.843 --> 00:34:45.605
I now have a formula for how somebody else could implement it.
481
00:34:45.685 --> 00:34:50.649
So it's really thinking about how we can build a sustainable foundation to then allow us to scale.
482
00:34:50.669 --> 00:34:54.352
It's also a lot of focus on the products out there.
483
00:34:54.752 --> 00:35:01.518
But we have, as anyone I think would, like 51 different things and features and roadmap decisions that we want to make.
484
00:35:05.801 --> 00:35:10.382
thinking most critically about the seller experience and seller acquisition.
485
00:35:11.023 --> 00:35:18.025
So how can we acquire sellers most effectively, most efficiently, but also at scale and make their experience the best it can be?
486
00:35:18.045 --> 00:35:35.510
Because I truly believe that while we are this two-sided marketplace, of course, and I don't think you can offer anything in the consumer world today that doesn't feel like 100 million bucks and an amazing consumer experience, and I want the buyers to feel that, we are focused on providing an amazing seller experience because when they show up, the buyers show up.
487
00:35:35.770 --> 00:35:36.671
That's a seller experience.
488
00:35:36.731 --> 00:35:46.382
And then from a buyer point of view, like when you talk, when you were saying processes earlier, is that like tagging, photography, customer service, like delivery?
489
00:35:46.582 --> 00:35:56.072
So part of the benefit of having done all of these things in person is that I was able to not just guess what should be automated and built into the product.
490
00:35:56.412 --> 00:35:56.613
I was.
491
00:35:57.093 --> 00:36:06.176
was physically, I still am physically, you know, getting the inventory, inspecting it, writing the descriptions, doing the research to set the price according to market.
492
00:36:06.216 --> 00:36:07.457
Then I tag everything.
493
00:36:07.737 --> 00:36:08.737
Then I store everything.
494
00:36:08.757 --> 00:36:12.139
And then when the shipping happens, I'm generating the labels and I'm shipping them out.
495
00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:15.440
And so once I figured out, you know, how do I get from A to Z?
496
00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:22.422
Now I know what does AI need to build or what process of what piece of this in the photography I forgot too.
497
00:36:22.742 --> 00:36:23.443
That's still happening.
498
00:36:23.463 --> 00:36:24.263
Yeah, because it's all very uniform.
499
00:36:24.323 --> 00:36:25.685
I'm like, damn, who's doing this?
500
00:36:25.705 --> 00:36:27.467
There's like no background on them.
501
00:36:27.707 --> 00:36:35.637
Normally, I'm used to like pink sheets, you know, when people put clothes out on their bed, like pink sheets, and you're just like trying to make stuff out.
502
00:36:35.677 --> 00:36:37.199
Also, like, thank you.
503
00:36:37.219 --> 00:36:38.581
That's nice feedback.
504
00:36:38.601 --> 00:36:39.462
I think also like...
505
00:36:40.423 --> 00:36:52.390
The way that AI can improve your photography and make everything consistent and beautifully stylized while something that we're making sure of, again, is I've experimented with, you know, the on AI model shots and whatever.
506
00:36:52.450 --> 00:37:03.417
And I don't ever want the stuff that we're selling to feel like it's been computer generated because I think a big piece of selling something secondhand is people need to actually see and understand the quality of what they're buying.
507
00:37:04.097 --> 00:37:07.679
But anyway, so we're playbooking all of that.
508
00:37:07.739 --> 00:37:14.062
And when I say playbooking also, it's like from the moment a seller is engaged and they say, yeah, I want to do this.
509
00:37:15.063 --> 00:37:16.964
What is the flow of emails that go back and forth?
510
00:37:17.004 --> 00:37:19.245
How do we get the agreement signed?
511
00:37:19.485 --> 00:37:22.687
Once we have that agreement signed, how does the inventory collection work?
512
00:37:22.727 --> 00:37:23.907
Now we have the inventory.
513
00:37:23.987 --> 00:37:26.989
How do we get that thing from the bag to on the app?
514
00:37:27.369 --> 00:37:37.015
And then once it sells, like, what is the process for making sure that the customer is, you know, getting that piece, getting their receipts, any sort of customer disputes or anything that we have to deal with?
515
00:37:37.075 --> 00:37:38.276
How is that taken care of?
516
00:37:38.716 --> 00:37:50.704
And then these activations that we've been putting on, like, how can we make sure we could be running 10 of those at a time where it's not me and my team, my immediate team every single time, you know, building rolling racks?
517
00:37:50.744 --> 00:37:53.066
But if we were to hire people to help us run these, like.
518
00:37:53.726 --> 00:37:56.349
I want to be able to give them this process and say, go.
519
00:37:56.489 --> 00:38:04.798
And I'm just in charge of making sure that it feels like a cash experience and that it's all taken care of according to how we would want it to look and feel.
520
00:38:05.479 --> 00:38:13.127
And across that workflow, like where have you identified the best opportunities for you to use automation and AI?
521
00:38:13.227 --> 00:38:13.367
Yeah.
522
00:38:14.688 --> 00:38:23.519
We have built out our own internal cataloging tool that allows us to basically take the piece from the moment it comes in to getting it online.
523
00:38:23.980 --> 00:38:27.184
And that whole flow has now been automated using AI.
524
00:38:27.964 --> 00:38:31.929
It takes us about three minutes now to process one item, which is also...
525
00:38:32.650 --> 00:38:44.312
I think speaks to building a business like this today versus when the real real started 15, 20 years ago, you needed a lot of capital at the beginning to be able to get this off the ground.
526
00:38:44.852 --> 00:38:52.554
And so obviously, if you multiply three by 100, that's still 300 minutes in my day that I would need to catalog something.
527
00:38:52.634 --> 00:38:56.274
So it's not nothing, but it's very different.
528
00:38:56.294 --> 00:38:57.895
So that's all automated.
529
00:38:57.915 --> 00:38:59.635
I mean, we are using...
530
00:39:00.595 --> 00:39:06.477
a high to help us even just write out the processes and help us with the communication pieces of it.
531
00:39:06.517 --> 00:39:07.998
Like SOPs, you're saying?
532
00:39:08.458 --> 00:39:09.358
Yeah, exactly.
533
00:39:09.499 --> 00:39:14.440
But ultimately, too, like the onboarding process, I don't ever want somebody to feel like they're speaking to a robot.
534
00:39:14.480 --> 00:39:16.261
And I do think it's really important for us to have.
535
00:39:16.321 --> 00:39:19.702
We have a lot of personal relationships or we're being connected through personal relationships.
536
00:39:19.742 --> 00:39:20.843
And that piece of it,
537
00:39:21.503 --> 00:39:23.324
is not going to be automated anytime soon.
538
00:39:23.644 --> 00:39:27.367
Nevertheless, you know, when somebody says yes, that agreement should be automated.
539
00:39:27.487 --> 00:39:30.909
Like, I don't need to... Are you doing seller outreach yourself now?
540
00:39:31.049 --> 00:39:31.209
Yeah.
541
00:39:31.249 --> 00:39:31.910
Or, okay, you are.
542
00:39:32.110 --> 00:39:32.270
Yeah.
543
00:39:32.490 --> 00:39:34.552
Yeah, because it's like, it's the I, it's everything that you said.
544
00:39:34.572 --> 00:39:34.732
Yeah.
545
00:39:34.752 --> 00:39:36.753
There's no pre-qualifiers.
546
00:39:36.773 --> 00:39:37.614
Sorry, you can apply.
547
00:39:37.734 --> 00:39:44.538
So we do have inbound that we can vet through our own application process, but otherwise we're doing the outbound reach.
548
00:39:44.698 --> 00:39:50.442
Are you using AI to, like, help, are you using AI to help identify who to reach out to?
549
00:39:50.722 --> 00:39:59.936
Yes, and also it will help with ultimately the reach of those initial messages to the extent that we don't have a personal relationship or connection.
550
00:39:59.996 --> 00:40:02.480
Is this like inbound Instagram DMs or...
551
00:40:03.205 --> 00:40:03.846
Email?
552
00:40:04.406 --> 00:40:05.847
It's all of the above.
553
00:40:06.248 --> 00:40:09.570
And we have a seller application form on our website too.
554
00:40:09.650 --> 00:40:09.931
Okay.
555
00:40:10.151 --> 00:40:10.331
Yeah.
556
00:40:10.371 --> 00:40:17.977
Because I guess like a traditional like CRM like wouldn't really work for your type of outbound sales to sellers.
557
00:40:18.057 --> 00:40:28.445
It's funny because we've had, you know, some advice from people in the industry who will just say like, put it all into HubSpot, which is like,
558
00:40:29.186 --> 00:40:31.228
go send 5,000 emails, see what comes back.
559
00:40:31.548 --> 00:40:35.731
And I do believe that like with volume, there will be a certain conversion level.
560
00:40:35.891 --> 00:40:53.285
But I also think that for the sake of the product and the experience that we want to provide and the early days of getting that feedback and making sure we're building the right thing, having that touch point with people directly and being able to like really connect with them about what we're doing is really important.
561
00:40:53.385 --> 00:40:54.826
So we're owning that.
562
00:40:55.146 --> 00:41:07.291
Is there any fear that like any of the Poshmarks or any of those other players would stand up an influencer vertical or you think, no, it's probably not even in their periphery?
563
00:41:07.911 --> 00:41:12.293
I do believe they built these products for the masses and to go from this to this.
564
00:41:12.333 --> 00:41:22.117
Like maintain for the masses and then try to build a different like sub segment to your point on if they pick up on the fact that the storytelling of these pieces is important or or but like
565
00:41:22.517 --> 00:41:23.578
I mean, yeah, go ahead.
566
00:41:23.598 --> 00:41:31.045
I was going to say like or like a pickle where they could say we're going to rent it until you decide to flip the switch and want to sell it.
567
00:41:31.325 --> 00:41:32.907
And then we'll sell it for you.
568
00:41:33.067 --> 00:41:36.811
Pickle is like a rental clothing company, but it's not just influencers.
569
00:41:36.891 --> 00:41:41.275
It's like you or I could like rent out our clothing to people like Poshmarked.
570
00:41:41.570 --> 00:41:43.891
I think my answer to that is at the end of the day.
571
00:41:43.911 --> 00:41:44.991
Anyone can start.
572
00:41:45.091 --> 00:41:46.012
Anyone can start anything.
573
00:41:47.032 --> 00:41:52.074
I'm so aware of the competition or the market in general and what everybody is doing at all times.
574
00:41:52.574 --> 00:41:56.656
If I lived every day in fear of what other people could build, nothing would happen here.
575
00:41:56.816 --> 00:41:59.157
And I ultimately am building something that I believe is.
576
00:41:59.537 --> 00:42:01.920
will add value to the market and will be complimentary.
577
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:10.630
And I would hope that before a Poshmark or a Depop or an eBay would go out and build it themselves, that maybe they would just say, you know what, Cash did an amazing job.
578
00:42:10.650 --> 00:42:12.031
Let's bring them under the fold.
579
00:42:12.172 --> 00:42:13.813
And that would be the way that this is done.
580
00:42:13.954 --> 00:42:14.935
Poshmark, if you're listening.
581
00:42:17.037 --> 00:42:20.618
Let's talk about brand because you have built an exceptional brand.
582
00:42:20.638 --> 00:42:21.958
I think we were talking about it today.
583
00:42:22.018 --> 00:42:27.120
Like it's, it's bold, it's edgy, it's very modern at the same time.
584
00:42:27.160 --> 00:42:31.421
I think you called it a sarcastic older sister in one of your TikToks.
585
00:42:31.901 --> 00:42:39.223
How did you, and also like selfishly, we're building a podcast and we know how hard it is to, with little budget, stand up a cool brand.
586
00:42:40.043 --> 00:42:41.063
Give us a bit of the like,
587
00:42:41.558 --> 00:42:44.900
playbook or any advice you have on how you got this up and running?
588
00:42:45.120 --> 00:42:49.163
I mean, the brand building aspect of this is my favorite part.
589
00:42:49.203 --> 00:42:59.610
I feel like it is my, when people talk about what's your superpower, I do believe that like brand is one of mine, if not the mine period.
590
00:42:59.650 --> 00:43:05.534
Like, and I don't say that to toot my own horn, but only to say that like, I think because I enjoy
591
00:43:11.213 --> 00:43:19.617
We had, I had former colleagues of mine from the days of working at my agency do the initial sort of visual identity for the brand.
592
00:43:19.917 --> 00:43:23.659
And I spent like $1,000 on it and got a full.
593
00:43:23.679 --> 00:43:24.600
It's a very good deal.
594
00:43:24.780 --> 00:43:25.080
Yeah.
595
00:43:25.240 --> 00:43:27.641
I mean, thank you guys for listening to this.
596
00:43:27.661 --> 00:43:28.782
They were, they were.
597
00:43:29.502 --> 00:43:37.671
Really generous with it, but also I think we're excited about the idea of like building something from scratch and seeing where it could go.
598
00:43:38.412 --> 00:43:43.939
And for me, this company and product wouldn't exist if I hadn't defined the brand first.
599
00:43:43.979 --> 00:43:46.281
Like I think it's really important to.
600
00:43:47.162 --> 00:43:50.603
for me to know what I'm building to understand, like, what is the voice behind this?
601
00:43:50.663 --> 00:43:51.643
What does this look like?
602
00:43:51.683 --> 00:43:52.984
Like, who am I targeting?
603
00:43:53.024 --> 00:43:55.885
Like, who is the girl that's actually using this?
604
00:43:55.965 --> 00:43:59.146
And it felt like an extension of myself in a lot of ways.
605
00:43:59.186 --> 00:44:03.807
And so I tried to just translate that into the voice and also the tone and the colors.
606
00:44:04.387 --> 00:44:06.168
And I do think it was also important to, like,
607
00:44:06.668 --> 00:44:09.350
you know, there are all these players that exist out there.
608
00:44:09.490 --> 00:44:15.315
Like at the end of the day, what is defensible about what we're building is going to be our network and our brand.
609
00:44:15.695 --> 00:44:21.819
And so focusing on that from the early days also was why this became such a priority for us.
610
00:44:21.879 --> 00:44:24.621
But now I think like in the early days of building a brand,
611
00:44:25.522 --> 00:44:30.886
Never mind the fact that there are tools like Canva or things that you can do to make your life easier in terms of actually creating assets.
612
00:44:30.906 --> 00:44:41.752
But I think brand is as much about how you show up in the world as the founder or like what are the captions on your Instagram or what platforms are you participating in?
613
00:44:41.792 --> 00:44:43.153
Like, are you on Substack?
614
00:44:43.273 --> 00:44:45.135
Are you primarily on LinkedIn?
615
00:44:45.155 --> 00:44:51.879
Like, I think that all of those choices are as much about building the brand as is like what does your logo look like and what colors do you use?
616
00:44:51.959 --> 00:44:53.420
And so I think those are really like.
617
00:44:53.720 --> 00:45:01.023
At the end of the day, those are free decisions, but they come with a cost in terms of how people perceive your brand.
618
00:45:01.063 --> 00:45:06.745
And so I, for anybody starting out, would recommend really thinking through that.
619
00:45:06.965 --> 00:45:12.667
And I think that Substack, just as an example, like I've called it from day one, the Reddit for cool girls.
620
00:45:12.687 --> 00:45:18.309
At the beginning, a lot of people in tech would be like, use Reddit to get anonymous feedback on what you're building.
621
00:45:18.329 --> 00:45:20.990
And I was like, my customer is not on Reddit.
622
00:45:21.070 --> 00:45:22.451
Like she is simply not there.
623
00:45:22.951 --> 00:45:25.072
And she is simply not there.
624
00:45:25.132 --> 00:45:26.213
No, she isn't there.
625
00:45:26.273 --> 00:45:43.621
And so by choosing to be on Substack and participate in the conversation that is happening on there about fashion tech, I think that was a choice and a signal about the brand that like we are a part of this conversation and we have a community on this platform intentionally because that's where our people are.
626
00:45:44.141 --> 00:45:49.025
We always like to chat a little bit about fundraising experience, especially doing it in Canada.
627
00:45:49.425 --> 00:45:52.808
Could you shed some light on what that's been like so far for you?
628
00:45:53.028 --> 00:45:53.308
Yeah.
629
00:45:53.508 --> 00:46:01.974
So I have had the benefit, obviously, of being backed by Antler, which is, you know, shout out to Antler for believing me and seeing me.
630
00:46:01.994 --> 00:46:04.596
I do think I'm an atypical person.
631
00:46:05.497 --> 00:46:08.498
antler and accelerator investment, especially in Canada.
632
00:46:08.898 --> 00:46:16.441
And I'm lucky that they took a bet on, I think, me as a person versus, you know, and they saw the opportunity of this massive market that was growing.
633
00:46:16.941 --> 00:46:22.864
But aside from that, I have found it very challenging to raise capital in this country.
634
00:46:22.904 --> 00:46:34.008
And it's very unfortunate because, you know, I am here and I'm not the only person like me here trying to build in this country and innovate and provide jobs and opportunities.
635
00:46:34.888 --> 00:46:39.929
And what I have found is that there is capital to access here.
636
00:46:40.029 --> 00:46:45.350
It's not close to the level of what's available elsewhere in the world, but that's okay.
637
00:46:45.370 --> 00:46:53.912
I think the problem is that a lot of it is really geared towards later stage companies and companies building in legacy industries.
638
00:46:54.132 --> 00:46:56.393
I mean, this country is
639
00:46:57.133 --> 00:47:07.136
You know, they have a lot of amazing commerce solutions, but I haven't found that from like an institutional capital level that that money is being directed towards businesses in my vertical.
640
00:47:07.216 --> 00:47:21.600
I find that like capital here is going towards SaaS solutions or health care innovation or housing or insurance, things, you know, that are just like much more stable investments because people here are risk averse and conservative.
641
00:47:21.620 --> 00:47:22.120
Yeah.
642
00:47:22.240 --> 00:47:22.540
And right.
643
00:47:23.700 --> 00:47:40.927
And outside of venture and institutional, like, I have looked at angels and family offices, but I also think that they're harder to identify and access as well in this country.
644
00:47:41.267 --> 00:47:46.569
And if anybody's listening, like, I would love to, like, I'm open to it all.
645
00:47:46.589 --> 00:47:46.829
Mm-hmm.
646
00:47:48.070 --> 00:47:56.821
But I also I think that the people who understand my business and want to put their money behind it just aren't here.
647
00:47:57.041 --> 00:47:57.362
Yeah.
648
00:47:58.183 --> 00:48:04.070
I also think it's like I remember tracking this North America in general got really bearish on consumer level.
649
00:48:04.090 --> 00:48:10.875
Like I want to say all venture funding fell, but I think consumer and D2C fell like 95% or 97%.
650
00:48:10.915 --> 00:48:15.978
And then it was so slow to return and probably even slower to return in Canada.
651
00:48:15.998 --> 00:48:17.639
So that's like the other thing too.
652
00:48:17.940 --> 00:48:22.183
Like I also, I'm like, if we had money, I would, there's so many consumer entrepreneurs I'd invest in.
653
00:48:22.243 --> 00:48:30.088
I think it's also like, it's funny because people ask what, you know, even when you're applying to things, you have to check a box.
654
00:48:30.108 --> 00:48:30.969
Like, are you consumer?
655
00:48:31.109 --> 00:48:31.929
Are you software?
656
00:48:31.969 --> 00:48:32.330
What are you?
657
00:48:32.810 --> 00:48:35.993
And I think we straddle a lot of different things because we're tech.
658
00:48:36.394 --> 00:48:37.055
We are AI.
659
00:48:37.075 --> 00:48:38.917
But like I said, I think is the sky blue.
660
00:48:38.957 --> 00:48:41.039
Like everybody is AI now.
661
00:48:41.059 --> 00:48:41.820
Um, yeah.
662
00:48:43.240 --> 00:48:44.141
We're marketplace.
663
00:48:44.661 --> 00:48:45.742
We're infrastructure.
664
00:48:46.242 --> 00:48:47.964
We're a sustainability play.
665
00:48:48.144 --> 00:48:53.968
Like, there's so many aspects of this that could fit different investment mandates.
666
00:48:54.429 --> 00:48:59.753
And I find it frustrating when people, like, see us as one thing.
667
00:49:00.093 --> 00:49:00.514
Yeah.
668
00:49:00.854 --> 00:49:03.736
And then either, you know, shove us into a box or...
669
00:49:04.937 --> 00:49:07.939
you know, don't consider us because they don't understand the full.
670
00:49:07.959 --> 00:49:08.319
The full.
671
00:49:08.339 --> 00:49:08.519
Yeah.
672
00:49:08.679 --> 00:49:08.919
Yeah.
673
00:49:09.259 --> 00:49:14.822
And aside from Antler right now, is it mainly Angels or do you also have some institutional from the U.S.?
674
00:49:15.223 --> 00:49:17.804
So Antler is the only capital I've raised to date.
675
00:49:18.284 --> 00:49:19.345
It's been bootstrapped.
676
00:49:19.405 --> 00:49:22.146
Otherwise, we are generating revenue that's allowing us to support the business.
677
00:49:22.186 --> 00:49:34.473
But we're raising, we're looking to raise now from, thank you, from Angels, family offices and any like really specialized venture that understand what it is that we're building in the stage that we're at.
678
00:49:34.813 --> 00:49:43.817
You see a lot of other fashion tech companies that choose to bring on investors that are influencers or celebrities just because of the distribution that they have.
679
00:49:44.237 --> 00:49:56.282
Have you thought about whether that's something you want to do and like partner with a more recognizable creator who's like either co-owning this in a substantial way or just playing a smaller role but still on your cap table?
680
00:49:56.582 --> 00:49:57.022
Totally.
681
00:49:57.302 --> 00:50:00.383
Creators on the cap table is something that's been on my radar for a while.
682
00:50:00.404 --> 00:50:00.504
Yeah.
683
00:50:01.684 --> 00:50:10.691
Honestly, primarily because it's not just for the visibility, but I think, you know, we're building for them better than to like be on the inside with us.
684
00:50:10.972 --> 00:50:21.060
And I think when thinking about that, I thought, you know, do I focus on one bigger person for whom this really makes sense and would really align with the brand?
685
00:50:21.160 --> 00:50:30.608
Or is it like a pool of 10 of them who all own a little smaller piece of it, but like they're found they're almost like pseudo co-founders and early early partners in building the business?
686
00:50:30.968 --> 00:50:32.950
I'm open to it all.
687
00:50:33.450 --> 00:50:41.016
And I think that that like they just fall under the umbrella of like a strategic investor for me in this case.
688
00:50:41.236 --> 00:50:41.357
Yeah.
689
00:50:41.417 --> 00:50:43.879
Did you explore it at all or is it just in the backlog of?
690
00:50:44.179 --> 00:50:45.060
I have explored it.
691
00:50:45.500 --> 00:50:52.566
I mean, we I think, like I said, we have these sellers as part of our platform now.
692
00:50:53.366 --> 00:50:57.390
And just because we're selling for them, I don't think necessarily every single person is right.
693
00:50:58.030 --> 00:50:59.891
to be like that person.
694
00:51:00.171 --> 00:51:07.656
So that's a, yeah, it's something that I've thought about in terms of even offering that as part of like our early sort of incentive for selling with us.
695
00:51:07.696 --> 00:51:11.538
But I didn't think that that was actually the right strategy to pursue.
696
00:51:11.558 --> 00:51:12.059
Agreed.
697
00:51:12.079 --> 00:51:12.139
And
698
00:51:14.600 --> 00:51:15.520
It is on my radar.
699
00:51:15.620 --> 00:51:19.982
There are people now even more so that I'm like, I want to get in front of them.
700
00:51:20.462 --> 00:51:25.023
And I've explored actually avenues and platforms that would let me access those people.
701
00:51:25.103 --> 00:51:28.924
But I like kind of how we're looking at acquiring sellers on the platform.
702
00:51:29.024 --> 00:51:34.205
I think we have to be really intentional about who gets let in from an equity perspective.
703
00:51:34.305 --> 00:51:34.766
For sure.
704
00:51:34.786 --> 00:51:39.327
And you could make a bet and you can take off or you can make a bet, an expensive equity bet that...
705
00:51:39.907 --> 00:51:49.590
Well, you'd probably want someone who's made other angel investments so they actually have some like pseudo investor operating experience beyond just being a...
706
00:51:50.051 --> 00:51:51.571
It's honestly not even that for me.
707
00:51:51.651 --> 00:51:54.032
It's more like somebody who...
708
00:51:54.747 --> 00:51:59.428
doesn't just want to slap their face on it, but really believes in the product.
709
00:51:59.528 --> 00:52:02.209
And like, I don't care if they've had experience investing.
710
00:52:02.229 --> 00:52:16.574
What I care more about is like, are we solving a problem that you actually deeply feel passionate about and aren't just going to post it to your community because you're getting paid to do so, but because you are generating value out of the product.
711
00:52:16.594 --> 00:52:16.794
Yeah.
712
00:52:16.934 --> 00:52:17.194
Yeah.
713
00:52:17.514 --> 00:52:21.935
Did you guys see in the last couple of days that big medical diagnostic company, Neko?
714
00:52:22.375 --> 00:52:24.835
It's like, oh, I almost want to pull it out.
715
00:52:24.875 --> 00:52:32.457
But they've gotten the big tech investors, but Valeria and Gary Lebovetsky also got invited to, or like maybe they pitched.
716
00:52:32.477 --> 00:52:33.697
I don't know if they pitched or got invited.
717
00:52:34.077 --> 00:52:36.438
But you're starting to see so many plays like that.
718
00:52:36.518 --> 00:52:41.499
And this was like a pretty, I want to say it was a pretty big raise and it's pretty, it's a pretty big deal.
719
00:52:41.519 --> 00:52:43.659
Like she's on the cap table with Mark Zuckerberg.
720
00:52:43.819 --> 00:52:45.501
And you're starting to see it more and more.
721
00:52:45.521 --> 00:52:47.803
That's the distribution that they have, right?
722
00:52:47.823 --> 00:52:48.524
Totally.
723
00:52:48.804 --> 00:52:52.388
But it's one thing on like a poppy deal.
724
00:52:52.528 --> 00:52:53.990
And then this just felt a lot.
725
00:52:54.751 --> 00:53:22.107
more yeah i think it's like got bigger i'm so happy that the concept of investing has like expanded to include these non-traditional categories for people who maybe aren't necessarily like investing large sums of capital into startup but even um athletes like a lot of athletes are now are investing in companies and the end of the day like this is our new wave like i don't know
726
00:53:24.529 --> 00:53:30.634
the people who've hit it big in our generation are a lot of these like creator, like visible people.
727
00:53:31.174 --> 00:53:32.915
And they have the capital to invest.
728
00:53:32.935 --> 00:53:37.899
And at the end of the day, it's like, firstly, you should put your money on things that you believe in and benefit from.
729
00:53:37.919 --> 00:53:40.521
And secondly, like diversify your portfolio.
730
00:53:40.561 --> 00:53:49.768
If you have like all this capital, you don't need to all sit locked up in these very risk-free funds or real estate or whatever.
731
00:53:49.889 --> 00:53:51.290
It's like cool.
732
00:53:51.490 --> 00:53:52.411
Even as somebody who's,
733
00:53:53.311 --> 00:53:56.472
not in a position to put large sums of money into it.
734
00:53:56.632 --> 00:54:21.181
Like when it comes to what I want to invest in, I and this goes back to the original idea of like why I wanted to invest in Chanel and Birkin bags, because it's like I would feel a lot more confident about making a bet on a company that I'm like this brand is killer or like I use this product or this is solving a need for me than like going to buy stock in the stock market on something that I'm just like hedging a bet.
735
00:54:21.421 --> 00:54:21.661
Yeah.
736
00:54:21.841 --> 00:54:27.947
Is there any advice that you've gotten that's either been really good or really bad as it relates to raising?
737
00:54:27.967 --> 00:54:31.150
I have gotten and continue to get so much advice.
738
00:54:31.330 --> 00:54:32.831
Every day I get new advice.
739
00:54:32.871 --> 00:54:34.793
You're like solicited and unsolicited.
740
00:54:34.833 --> 00:54:35.233
No, 100%.
741
00:54:35.274 --> 00:54:43.461
And I think part of my job is to take it all in and filter it and decide like what advice do I listen to and what advice is...
742
00:54:44.914 --> 00:54:48.378
not to be ignored, but like put it in the drawer and think about it.
743
00:54:48.418 --> 00:54:52.923
But I think with capital raising, what I've noticed is that there's like two camps of advice.
744
00:54:53.244 --> 00:55:01.393
There's the people who have invested in companies from a venture lens or people who have raised venture dollars.
745
00:55:01.453 --> 00:55:01.834
And then there's
746
00:55:03.616 --> 00:55:06.918
have focused on angels or our operators and have raised.
747
00:55:07.218 --> 00:55:14.242
And I sort of noticed like on the venture side, the biggest piece is like, you've got to sell the vision, the big billion dollar vision.
748
00:55:14.282 --> 00:55:16.303
Like it's got to be this massive thing.
749
00:55:16.343 --> 00:55:22.547
And even if it doesn't feel like, like organic or true to you right now, like you're not raising without that.
750
00:55:22.567 --> 00:55:25.128
And then on the operator side, it's like, forgot that.
751
00:55:25.189 --> 00:55:25.349
Like,
752
00:55:26.089 --> 00:55:31.715
what you're doing is working, like focus on what you have proven and the metrics that you have.
753
00:55:32.536 --> 00:55:32.697
And
754
00:55:33.892 --> 00:55:49.385
raise on that traction and that proof from people who don't care about a 10x or 100x return, who care about, you know, investing in something they believe in and making a decent size return, but they don't have to return their whole fund.
755
00:55:49.445 --> 00:55:57.792
And so for me, it's been a lot of like balancing those two perspectives and really having then to say to myself, like, what stage are we at?
756
00:55:58.212 --> 00:56:00.213
What kind of company am I looking to build?
757
00:56:00.453 --> 00:56:07.917
And how do I make sure that I'm positioning us in those conversations in a way that feels authentic and true to how we want to grow?
758
00:56:08.357 --> 00:56:10.958
So you started as a solopreneur.
759
00:56:11.199 --> 00:56:16.621
Obviously, now you have an amazing team behind you, some of which are here behind the scenes today.
760
00:56:17.522 --> 00:56:24.705
What has been your experience building and going from one person to now multi-person team?
761
00:56:24.865 --> 00:56:25.086
Mm-hmm.
762
00:56:26.126 --> 00:56:35.992
I mean, it's funny because I started actually with co-founder and then became solo and now have the benefit of having people behind me.
763
00:56:36.652 --> 00:56:43.216
But in that time building solo, I mean, everything is on you.
764
00:56:43.476 --> 00:56:45.217
And I think there's power in that.
765
00:56:45.317 --> 00:56:46.138
And there's also...
766
00:56:46.798 --> 00:57:14.100
loneliness and a lot of weight in that because and I still feel this even with the team but because it does feel like at the end of the day like this is on my shoulders and it's like I have the power to decide what I do tomorrow but I impose crazy pressure on myself and artificial deadlines and like 51 things on my to-do list to get through tomorrow which is just like the reality of I think feeling like this ship doesn't get
767
00:57:15.320 --> 00:57:15.821
Doesn't move.
768
00:57:42.318 --> 00:57:54.827
you know, I'm so lucky that they understand, you know, why I'm doing this, what I'm doing, and have been sounding boards for me, both family, friends, and then also like a team of mentors and advisors.
769
00:57:54.927 --> 00:58:02.333
But there's no substitute for the person who is actually in the thing with you day to day.
770
00:58:02.593 --> 00:58:05.375
And now having that, it's like,
771
00:58:06.938 --> 00:58:11.024
I don't have to keep the thoughts and the decisions hour to hour inside my head.
772
00:58:11.064 --> 00:58:13.247
I actually have somebody that I can talk to about it.
773
00:58:13.388 --> 00:58:18.775
And like, not only is that better for the business, but it's better for my mental health and well-being.
774
00:58:19.116 --> 00:58:20.979
And the idea that like,
775
00:58:22.140 --> 00:58:30.762
a decision where I previously would have to make, you know, do I spend my hour sending this email or building this deck could now be like, you take care of sending the emails.
776
00:58:31.162 --> 00:58:32.302
I'm going to build this deck.
777
00:58:32.643 --> 00:58:34.623
And then at the end of the day, we're going to have both done.
778
00:58:34.763 --> 00:58:35.583
And that's amazing.
779
00:58:35.723 --> 00:58:37.984
And like, that's the power of having a team.
780
00:58:38.364 --> 00:58:48.246
And just like the idea too, of having a team, like people that believe in this, like outside of myself, like it's like, I could cry thinking that like,
781
00:58:52.067 --> 00:58:52.568
I will cry.
782
00:58:52.968 --> 00:59:03.840
In the period that you were solo building by yourself, did you find that you were able to strengthen the muscle of decision fatigue or not having decision fatigue?
783
00:59:03.860 --> 00:59:12.789
Because you're having to not only make so many decisions by yourself in a day, but you're also having to jump back and forth from all of these different areas of the business.
784
00:59:12.990 --> 00:59:13.330
Yeah, absolutely.
785
00:59:13.630 --> 00:59:21.235
I definitely had to like put certain processes and guardrails in place to say like, this is something we're spending my time on.
786
00:59:21.535 --> 00:59:22.096
This is not.
787
00:59:22.476 --> 00:59:31.862
Every time an email comes in with an invoice, like I previously my instinct because I'm a Virgo and I'm crazy and I wanted to clear my inbox would be like that invoice has to get put into QuickBooks right now.
788
00:59:32.123 --> 00:59:34.224
But like that is extremely unproductive.
789
00:59:34.284 --> 00:59:39.888
Like what am I going to do to make sure that those things are taken care of but in an isolated way that doesn't distract me?
790
00:59:40.148 --> 00:59:43.929
OK, I'm going to make a Google Drive at the end of the day or at the end of the month on this day.
791
00:59:43.949 --> 00:59:46.090
I'm going to dedicate five hours to do all of them.
792
00:59:46.150 --> 00:59:46.410
Yeah.
793
00:59:46.630 --> 00:59:48.210
It's like I'm going to.
794
00:59:48.230 --> 00:59:49.910
Also for your day to day schedule, too.
795
00:59:49.990 --> 00:59:57.432
And I'm working on that now, too, where I'm actually now trying to dedicate two full days a week where I don't take a single phone call because.
796
00:59:57.452 --> 00:59:58.072
For deep work.
797
00:59:58.333 --> 00:59:58.533
Yeah.
798
00:59:58.653 --> 00:59:59.473
Because I can't.
799
01:00:00.293 --> 01:00:01.514
I can't jump in and out.
800
01:00:01.535 --> 01:00:02.215
I really can't.
801
01:00:02.295 --> 01:00:03.737
And even at the end of a day of...
802
01:00:03.757 --> 01:00:05.519
I don't think anyone really can.
803
01:00:05.819 --> 01:00:06.059
Yeah.
804
01:00:06.380 --> 01:00:06.740
I used...
805
01:00:06.820 --> 01:00:09.983
I thought I used to be... That's so many things I thought I used to be good at.
806
01:00:10.003 --> 01:00:12.246
I'm like, I really...
807
01:00:12.306 --> 01:00:15.549
This is a humbling experience.
808
01:00:15.910 --> 01:00:16.250
Yeah.
809
01:00:16.790 --> 01:00:17.491
Yeah, you do.
810
01:00:17.731 --> 01:00:22.677
Is there anything that you, and now having a bit more of a team, feel...
811
01:00:23.217 --> 01:00:24.597
uncomfortable letting go of?
812
01:00:24.878 --> 01:00:28.599
Or are you at a point where you've just had so much on your shoulders that you are like, here, take it.
813
01:00:28.619 --> 01:00:31.079
She just said she's a Virgo who likes to be in control.
814
01:00:31.099 --> 01:00:31.919
That's true.
815
01:00:33.500 --> 01:00:36.421
It's not that I'm fully uncomfortable letting go.
816
01:00:36.501 --> 01:00:44.143
I do think that like at the end of the day, there are pieces that shouldn't be out of my control because I think at this stage,
817
01:00:44.956 --> 01:00:58.025
And probably for like I see myself as somebody who even if this team expands and I have like 20 people working and I have people on the product side, like I do fundamentally believe that my hands will always be on product to some extent.
818
01:00:58.385 --> 01:01:03.509
And I think that we don't have that internally yet, but like.
819
01:01:04.649 --> 01:01:09.651
I have an engineer who's very intuitive and understands design, and I'm very fortunate.
820
01:01:09.691 --> 01:01:10.352
That's very hard.
821
01:01:10.512 --> 01:01:21.297
But I don't think I could just say go without giving direction because that should be something that I'm guiding as somebody who really deeply understands the customer and the pain points.
822
01:01:21.317 --> 01:01:22.997
Same with the seller relationships.
823
01:01:23.638 --> 01:01:23.798
Yeah.
824
01:01:24.918 --> 01:01:42.043
And customer feedback on that side, like the seller relationship piece of it, I think having that founder voice as part of it and making them feel really seen and taken care of, not just by like somebody on my team, but like the I'm in the conversation is also really important.
825
01:01:42.163 --> 01:01:44.484
And so that is something that I could easily say.
826
01:01:45.984 --> 01:01:50.645
I'm not touching, like save myself a lot of time and hours on those phone calls and whatever.
827
01:01:50.705 --> 01:01:52.386
But I want to be a part of them.
828
01:01:52.406 --> 01:01:53.766
And I think I need to be a part of them.
829
01:01:53.906 --> 01:01:54.226
Yeah.
830
01:01:54.266 --> 01:01:55.146
Especially at this stage.
831
01:01:55.186 --> 01:01:55.406
Yeah.
832
01:01:55.446 --> 01:01:56.927
So much of the value props.
833
01:01:56.967 --> 01:01:57.347
Totally.
834
01:01:57.367 --> 01:01:57.887
Makes sense.
835
01:01:57.947 --> 01:01:58.967
Yeah.
836
01:01:59.167 --> 01:02:04.888
As a woman in a somewhat new relationship that is building a company.
837
01:02:05.028 --> 01:02:06.029
And these are obviously.
838
01:02:06.049 --> 01:02:07.249
Like a personal relationship?
839
01:02:07.269 --> 01:02:07.489
Yeah.
840
01:02:07.509 --> 01:02:07.789
Personal.
841
01:02:07.809 --> 01:02:08.409
A romantic relationship.
842
01:02:08.429 --> 01:02:09.530
A romantic relationship.
843
01:02:09.550 --> 01:02:09.830
Yeah.
844
01:02:09.950 --> 01:02:12.010
You guys looked really cute in Europe, by the way.
845
01:02:12.030 --> 01:02:13.450
Oh, thanks so much.
846
01:02:13.470 --> 01:02:14.571
Romantic relationship.
847
01:02:14.591 --> 01:02:15.231
He's going to be so excited.
848
01:02:15.251 --> 01:02:15.631
Thanks for that.
849
01:02:16.551 --> 01:02:17.352
That he's mentioned?
850
01:02:17.712 --> 01:02:19.272
Oh, shout out.
851
01:02:19.332 --> 01:02:19.893
Shout out.
852
01:02:20.053 --> 01:02:31.617
In a new romantic relationship, building a company, obviously marriage, kids down the line, but also no one ever fails to remind us that these are our prime earning years.
853
01:02:31.637 --> 01:02:36.879
How do you think about balancing it all and tradeoffs and what gives?
854
01:02:37.159 --> 01:02:37.399
Yeah.
855
01:02:38.592 --> 01:02:40.053
You know, it's funny.
856
01:02:40.073 --> 01:02:49.419
I don't know if you want to include this piece or not, but when I was thinking through, like, just this topic, I, like, wrote down all my thoughts and I, like, was talking to him about it.
857
01:02:49.439 --> 01:02:50.360
I was like.
858
01:02:50.760 --> 01:02:51.221
What's his name?
859
01:02:51.441 --> 01:02:51.701
Dylan.
860
01:02:51.821 --> 01:02:52.181
Dylan.
861
01:02:52.381 --> 01:02:53.843
I was, like, talking to him about it.
862
01:02:53.863 --> 01:02:55.384
I was like, what do you think?
863
01:02:55.424 --> 01:02:57.265
Like, he's like, well, that's how you feel.
864
01:02:57.345 --> 01:02:58.486
So, like, that's great.
865
01:02:58.546 --> 01:03:01.268
And I was like, okay, yeah, like, great.
866
01:03:01.328 --> 01:03:02.028
Like, that is it.
867
01:03:02.108 --> 01:03:02.809
Yeah, that is it.
868
01:03:02.849 --> 01:03:05.450
Like, basically, backtrack.
869
01:03:09.042 --> 01:03:19.552
For better or for worse, I've always been the type of person who feels my identity is deeply tied to my professional trajectory.
870
01:03:20.172 --> 01:03:29.982
And I've always felt like I would never be ready to take the next step in terms of like starting a family or something.
871
01:03:30.802 --> 01:03:45.137
getting married or anything, if I didn't feel, and it's not that I have to have everything sorted, but that I didn't feel like I was at a place where I knew what that looked like for myself and I felt satisfied to a certain extent with what that situation was.
872
01:03:45.537 --> 01:03:53.205
I still feel really strongly that I don't feel like I'm in a place right now to think about starting a family and
873
01:03:53.905 --> 01:04:17.661
um before like I take this to a certain level I think in terms of a relationship um I've never been the type of person that thinks like I can't I can't have that because I just need to focus entirely on this business yeah what I think is more important is like I needed to find the person who understood the reasoning behind my decisions and like the way I want to spend my time and what
874
01:04:19.402 --> 01:04:30.552
Sees me for that and loves me for that and supports me in that rather than is threatened by it or, you know, is like, why are you spending 12 hours a day working?
875
01:04:31.312 --> 01:04:36.537
Like that piece of it is just it changed what I look for in a partner.
876
01:04:36.557 --> 01:04:36.657
Yeah.
877
01:04:37.938 --> 01:04:42.643
I think that's like true of any relationship in my life, even like my family, you know, could.
878
01:04:43.424 --> 01:04:49.950
It's also like I could have family that doesn't understand what I'm doing and those relationships could suffer as a result.
879
01:04:49.970 --> 01:04:54.795
But I'm lucky that I have friends and family, too, that know this about me and see this about me.
880
01:04:54.975 --> 01:04:56.196
But I do think it's.
881
01:04:56.977 --> 01:04:59.679
I'm not stressed at all about my biological clock.
882
01:04:59.759 --> 01:05:01.160
I've looked into egg freezing.
883
01:05:01.300 --> 01:05:02.500
I've like thought about it.
884
01:05:02.521 --> 01:05:04.862
I've thought about it even as somebody who's in a relationship.
885
01:05:04.882 --> 01:05:09.125
Like if, you know, it makes sense to do something like that as an insurance policy.
886
01:05:09.145 --> 01:05:09.385
Yeah.
887
01:05:09.425 --> 01:05:09.985
We're so young.
888
01:05:10.545 --> 01:05:11.486
My parents got married.
889
01:05:11.606 --> 01:05:13.187
My mom was 28 when she got married.
890
01:05:13.247 --> 01:05:15.268
I thought my life would look a lot different at 28.
891
01:05:15.308 --> 01:05:17.990
Now I'm about to be 31 and I'm just like, I feel 26.
892
01:05:18.170 --> 01:05:18.951
I don't know.
893
01:05:19.151 --> 01:05:22.013
Like what is age and stage?
894
01:05:22.393 --> 01:05:23.654
My sister got married before me.
895
01:05:23.714 --> 01:05:24.334
She's younger.
896
01:05:24.354 --> 01:05:25.215
Like, yeah.
897
01:05:26.055 --> 01:05:28.196
Everyone's on their own timeline and path.
898
01:05:28.976 --> 01:05:34.917
And as long as I feel good about where I'm at, that's all I care about.
899
01:05:34.977 --> 01:05:40.058
I don't really have – I'm not stressed about the periphery or the feedback around that.
900
01:05:40.318 --> 01:05:44.499
Do you think at all about how you set up the next decade maybe?
901
01:05:44.599 --> 01:05:48.020
Like I've been going down these rabbit holes of – We go down the road.
902
01:05:48.040 --> 01:05:55.162
Well, we go down them on – because we also left – Sam and I left KPMG because we would look at the partners and we felt –
903
01:05:56.062 --> 01:06:25.251
a misalignment between the lives that we wanted to live and what and what we saw what was being shown and now in our obviously we're all like entering our 30s it's very much like I'm so cautious I'm like what kind of life do I want to set up so that I have and maybe I've been we're listening too much to Emma Greed but like what are the trade-offs to be able to have the flexibility do I care about the dinners do I care about the drop-offs what level of pace do you want life to look and feel like yeah no there's no answer to this but I find myself thinking about it more
904
01:06:25.831 --> 01:06:27.693
I mean, I think there is an answer for everyone.
905
01:06:27.713 --> 01:06:28.334
It's just different.
906
01:06:28.454 --> 01:06:28.714
Yeah.
907
01:06:28.794 --> 01:06:31.037
And I don't think that I have my answer yet.
908
01:06:31.297 --> 01:06:37.884
I also think sometimes women are not honest about what they want because they think that they should say something else.
909
01:06:38.324 --> 01:06:39.746
And it can go in one of two directions.
910
01:06:39.786 --> 01:06:41.127
Like if you've always been...
911
01:06:41.908 --> 01:06:50.672
ambitious and career focused, you could think that it's wrong to say that you actually want a slower pace life and you actually want to be more family centered or the flip, right?
912
01:06:50.812 --> 01:06:51.052
Yeah.
913
01:06:51.512 --> 01:07:05.819
I think it's funny because I think in some cases people would look at like what I'm doing and think that like I would be somebody who wouldn't be able to have the dinners with the family or like the school drop off and whatever because I'd be too busy or too engrossed in what I'm building.
914
01:07:06.159 --> 01:07:06.379
Mm-hmm.
915
01:07:06.839 --> 01:07:15.411
I actually think the opposite because I think that part of owning your world and this experience is that I get to dictate what that looks like.
916
01:07:15.612 --> 01:07:23.302
And it might mean that I spend my Saturday afternoon working instead of, you know, my Monday night when it's like time to get the kids or like.
917
01:07:23.363 --> 01:07:23.683
Totally.
918
01:07:23.923 --> 01:07:24.644
give them a bath.
919
01:07:24.684 --> 01:07:27.226
But that's the trade-off that I'm willing to make.
920
01:07:27.246 --> 01:07:35.493
And I also feel like I have the benefit of having watched two parents who both had entrepreneurial paths and they didn't always have that and they made a shift in that.
921
01:07:35.533 --> 01:07:41.398
But I never felt like I didn't have their presence when they were
922
01:07:41.978 --> 01:08:09.985
around and maybe we had family dinners at like nine o'clock when my sister got home from dance and my dad got home from a business trip nevertheless we had the family dinner yeah it happened and i just think when to your point about looking up it's like i worked in a law firm where i looked up at women who would be working at the office till really late and maybe had kids later against their own choosing because they felt like they needed to for to get partnered
923
01:08:12.946 --> 01:08:14.967
you can have both at different stages.
924
01:08:15.027 --> 01:08:24.011
Like when I think about the next 10 years of my life, like do I want to like feel like I'm head on a fire, drink out of a fire hose for the next 10 years?
925
01:08:24.092 --> 01:08:25.872
Absolutely not necessarily.
926
01:08:25.912 --> 01:08:29.214
But it's a sacrifice of two to buy yourself so much optionality.
927
01:08:29.234 --> 01:08:29.714
Totally.
928
01:08:29.734 --> 01:08:35.137
And I'd rather do that because I think it'll let me build the life that I want to have.
929
01:08:35.157 --> 01:08:36.058
Then I'd rather.
930
01:08:36.938 --> 01:08:39.641
then choose an alternative.
931
01:08:39.661 --> 01:08:39.921
Yeah.
932
01:08:39.961 --> 01:08:44.064
And I do think that, like, did you see Joanna Griffith's post this week?
933
01:08:44.284 --> 01:08:44.484
No.
934
01:08:44.525 --> 01:08:45.185
You know, Joanna Griffith.
935
01:08:45.205 --> 01:08:45.305
Sure.
936
01:08:45.325 --> 01:08:45.906
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
937
01:08:46.026 --> 01:08:47.467
She just announced that she's leaving next.
938
01:08:47.487 --> 01:08:49.228
She's passing it off to her best friend.
939
01:08:49.248 --> 01:08:52.511
She's been waiting for the right time to, like, bring her in as the new operator.
940
01:08:52.751 --> 01:08:57.815
And she has chosen to do it to basically be present for her kid's life.
941
01:08:57.835 --> 01:08:59.677
And they're spending the next year traveling the world.
942
01:08:59.697 --> 01:08:59.777
Wow.
943
01:09:00.337 --> 01:09:00.598
And...
944
01:09:01.238 --> 01:09:05.602
She's still extremely going to be involved in the business, but like in a completely different capacity.
945
01:09:06.103 --> 01:09:16.252
I think that goes to show that like you can you can choose for sure to make decisions to have all of these experiences at different phases in your life.
946
01:09:16.292 --> 01:09:17.413
Yeah, totally.
947
01:09:18.174 --> 01:09:20.415
What does the future of cash look like?
948
01:09:21.075 --> 01:09:22.736
We're really just getting started.
949
01:09:22.896 --> 01:09:29.518
We're still such early days, so hands-on, as I've described, and still learning, figured out our customer.
950
01:09:29.879 --> 01:09:33.460
The product might look wildly different in a year or two from now.
951
01:09:33.920 --> 01:09:52.009
Nevertheless, we're building towards a vision that is, you know, agentic in nature, that is using all the tools available to us in AI to ensure that this is a data-driven, automated product built for, you know, 2030.
952
01:09:52.469 --> 01:10:02.254
And ultimately, big picture, we don't just want to be seen as like this marketplace, but really like the engine that is powering this unique product.
953
01:10:02.454 --> 01:10:14.860
supply in the market and we're able to tap into these different distribution channels because we've built out this underlying infrastructure and a sustainable foundation that allows us to be really malleable.
954
01:10:14.880 --> 01:10:29.707
And I hope that in the future, people are interacting with cash in ways that they don't even realize, meaning you're buying inventory from sellers and or you're experiencing like the power of our technology that is cataloging other people's stuff without even knowing that it was cash behind the scenes.
955
01:10:30.207 --> 01:10:30.587
Amazing.
956
01:10:30.607 --> 01:10:31.028
Amazing.
957
01:10:31.368 --> 01:10:32.509
We're excited to cheer you on.
958
01:10:32.709 --> 01:10:33.410
Thank you.
959
01:10:33.810 --> 01:10:34.230
Okay.
960
01:10:34.250 --> 01:10:35.932
Are you ready for some rapid fire?
961
01:10:36.012 --> 01:10:36.632
I made mine fun.
962
01:10:36.652 --> 01:10:37.273
Okay.
963
01:10:37.433 --> 01:10:37.753
Somewhat.
964
01:10:38.794 --> 01:10:42.316
My first question, what's the scrappiest thing you've done to date?
965
01:10:43.678 --> 01:10:44.598
I know there's a long list.
966
01:10:44.618 --> 01:10:47.120
I hope Amazon's not listening.
967
01:10:48.461 --> 01:10:58.809
For a lot of our pop-ups, until the most recent one, every single pop-up, I ordered every single thing, including all the rolling racks from Amazon, built them all, took them all down, returned them all.
968
01:10:58.829 --> 01:10:58.929
Okay.
969
01:10:59.930 --> 01:11:00.671
I've heard that before.
970
01:11:00.791 --> 01:11:00.931
Yeah.
971
01:11:00.951 --> 01:11:01.412
That's awesome.
972
01:11:01.532 --> 01:11:02.012
You have to.
973
01:11:02.333 --> 01:11:02.853
You have to.
974
01:11:02.873 --> 01:11:03.354
You have to.
975
01:11:03.374 --> 01:11:04.174
Yeah.
976
01:11:04.915 --> 01:11:09.240
We've done the same with stands, like phone stands.
977
01:11:09.460 --> 01:11:09.920
What are they called?
978
01:11:09.940 --> 01:11:12.943
We're all about to get our Amazon members canceled right now.
979
01:11:13.003 --> 01:11:13.244
Oops.
980
01:11:13.324 --> 01:11:13.624
Okay.
981
01:11:14.085 --> 01:11:15.066
Amazon Payday.
982
01:11:15.106 --> 01:11:15.326
Yeah.
983
01:11:15.466 --> 01:11:16.127
Make it up to you.
984
01:11:16.447 --> 01:11:19.150
If you could have one influencer on your platform, who would it be?
985
01:11:19.590 --> 01:11:20.591
I would say two people.
986
01:11:21.011 --> 01:11:23.092
One is Diane von Furstenberg.
987
01:11:23.493 --> 01:11:42.406
I think she is the epitome to me of like the influencer definition that we are trying to sort of like harness, which is that she obviously is a woman with impeccable style and taste and probably the sickest wardrobe in all of the vintage DVF wrap dresses and whatever.
988
01:11:42.426 --> 01:11:43.867
But to me...
989
01:11:44.827 --> 01:12:00.455
She's an influencer not just because she has that great style, but because she has built this incredible business and has such a point of view on, you know, everything it means to be a woman, to build, to be a woman in business and the fashion industry.
990
01:12:00.495 --> 01:12:01.515
So she's one person.
991
01:12:01.595 --> 01:12:06.958
And then in terms of somebody who's like closet, I would die to shop and therefore would want on the platform.
992
01:12:08.319 --> 01:12:10.380
Who comes to mind for me is Morgan Stewart.
993
01:12:10.760 --> 01:12:12.921
And I think, yeah, she's.
994
01:12:13.381 --> 01:12:13.861
I know.
995
01:12:13.881 --> 01:12:30.352
She has just like strikes that right balance of very classic pieces, tailored like minimalist, but also throws in some color and fun and totally like just knows how to like invest in something that will stand the test of time, but also is a moment.
996
01:12:30.472 --> 01:12:30.632
Yeah.
997
01:12:30.992 --> 01:12:32.173
Best productivity hack?
998
01:12:32.713 --> 01:12:34.854
I think exercising once a day.
999
01:12:35.074 --> 01:12:38.356
Like I make it a point to do it first thing in the morning.
1000
01:12:38.536 --> 01:12:45.219
It gets me out of the house because I'm also working from home and it makes sure that like my mental state is set up for the rest of the day.
1001
01:12:45.919 --> 01:12:49.561
Top three favorite brands to resell because they hold their value?
1002
01:12:50.562 --> 01:12:52.202
I mean, Chanel.
1003
01:12:52.503 --> 01:12:52.843
Mm-hmm.
1004
01:12:53.563 --> 01:12:54.323
Lately, The Row.
1005
01:12:54.343 --> 01:12:55.324
Mm-hmm.
1006
01:12:55.775 --> 01:12:56.275
Love the row.
1007
01:12:56.856 --> 01:13:00.839
And I'm going to say Levi's, like Levi's denim.
1008
01:13:01.480 --> 01:13:03.301
Yeah, like vintage Levi's denim.
1009
01:13:04.082 --> 01:13:06.383
Okay, we're going to play this or that.
1010
01:13:06.403 --> 01:13:07.404
Okay, are you done laughing?
1011
01:13:09.286 --> 01:13:09.726
Thank you.
1012
01:13:10.246 --> 01:13:13.109
Okay, a really quick round of this or that.
1013
01:13:13.349 --> 01:13:14.530
Jeans or trousers?
1014
01:13:14.570 --> 01:13:14.870
Jeans.
1015
01:13:15.731 --> 01:13:16.491
Bags or shoes?
1016
01:13:17.992 --> 01:13:18.273
Bags.
1017
01:13:19.093 --> 01:13:19.874
Gold or silver?
1018
01:13:20.134 --> 01:13:20.414
Gold.
1019
01:13:21.735 --> 01:13:22.336
Maxi or mini?
1020
01:13:22.356 --> 01:13:22.456
Okay.
1021
01:13:25.543 --> 01:13:27.386
If we're talking about bags, mini.
1022
01:13:28.027 --> 01:13:28.388
Dresses.
1023
01:13:28.929 --> 01:13:29.029
Oh.
1024
01:13:29.089 --> 01:13:29.529
Or skirt.
1025
01:13:32.314 --> 01:13:32.875
Keep that in.
1026
01:13:33.736 --> 01:13:34.017
Mini.
1027
01:13:35.078 --> 01:13:36.220
Neutrals or color?
1028
01:13:36.901 --> 01:13:37.302
Neutrals.
1029
01:13:38.451 --> 01:14:00.254
oversized or tailored oversized blazer or cardigan last one blazer blazer okay done thank you so much devin for coming on the show if anyone wants to download cash where do they go so you can find us at cash in your closet.com and if anyone wants to get in contact with you where do they go yes you can reach out to me
1030
01:14:01.935 --> 01:14:04.056
If anyone wants to be a seller, where do they go?
1031
01:14:04.276 --> 01:14:06.117
If you want to be a seller, DM us.
1032
01:14:06.537 --> 01:14:08.318
Cash in Your Closet is our handle.
1033
01:14:08.378 --> 01:14:10.279
You can apply to be a seller on our website.
1034
01:14:10.399 --> 01:14:13.800
You can email us at hi at cashinyourcloset.com.
1035
01:14:14.640 --> 01:14:18.022
Or it's pretty easy to probably find my contact information.
1036
01:14:18.042 --> 01:14:19.182
Reach out to me on LinkedIn.
1037
01:14:19.763 --> 01:14:22.384
And I want to hear from anyone and everyone.
1038
01:14:22.464 --> 01:14:22.684
So...
1039
01:14:22.984 --> 01:14:27.046
And last one, if anyone wants to read your sub stack, where do we go?
1040
01:14:27.106 --> 01:14:27.666
Our sub stack.
1041
01:14:27.746 --> 01:14:29.167
Everything is pretty consistent around here.
1042
01:14:29.187 --> 01:14:32.188
It's cashinyourcloset.substack.com.
1043
01:14:32.428 --> 01:14:34.369
I mean, awesome sub stack, by the way.
1044
01:14:34.389 --> 01:14:34.729
Thank you.
1045
01:14:34.749 --> 01:14:36.370
You curate everything.
1046
01:14:37.150 --> 01:14:38.091
Thank you so much, Devin.
1047
01:14:38.111 --> 01:14:38.751
Thank you.
1048
01:14:38.931 --> 01:14:42.253
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Between Two Burnets.
1049
01:14:42.753 --> 01:14:46.735
If you enjoy the show, please hit follow or subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast.
1050
01:14:47.295 --> 01:14:50.200
We love to hear your feedback and do our best to get back to everyone.
1051
01:14:50.321 --> 01:14:54.208
So feel free to leave your comments or reach out to us on any of our socials.
1052
01:14:54.649 --> 01:14:55.290
See you next time.