WEBVTT - How Neha Singh is Making Online Shopping So Much Better 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.080 Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:11.879 Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:14.520 face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:19.119 bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:24.880 help you successfully navigate in today's environment. Every Thursday, Made 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.960 by Women will showcase the experiences of legendary women, entrepreneurs, 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.599 fierce up and comers, and everyday women who found success 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:37.320 their own way. Consider this your Real World MBA designed 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:41.559 for the new Now. I'm Kim Azzarelli and thanks so 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:48.080 much for joining us today. We're all living online these days, 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.920 and given the realities of the pandemic, online shopping has 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:55.520 never been more vital. But many aspects of online shopping 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.000 have changed little since the dawn of the digital age. 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:02.000 That's why Nahasa set out to build a better online 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.400 shopping experience. So she left her job at Vogue, where 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:07.839 she was in charge of tech products like the magazine's 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.520 VR app, to create an e commerce platform called Obsess. 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:16.800 The goal of Obsess to make online shopping fun, easy, 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:21.200 and truly interactive. Niha drew on both her computer science 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:25.040 backgrounds and her love of fashion in creating Obsess and 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.480 She's charged her team with nothing less than reinventing e commerce. 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:32.880 Since Obsess launched in the company has worked with major 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:37.360 brands like Levi's, Samsung, and Alta, and this year, Naha 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.400 was honored by Springboard Enterprises and a Centure as one 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:44.440 of the women who are Transforming industries. Enjoy my conversation 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:52.520 with Naha Sang, founder and CEO of Obsess. So Naha, 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:54.880 thanks so much for joining us, Hi him, thank you 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:56.920 for having me. I just want to say right from 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.320 the get go that we really think your company is 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.720 incredibly interesting. But for our listeners, can you tell us 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:06.040 what Obsessed does and why you started it? Yeah? Sure. 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.720 First of all, thank you so much. Um So, Obsessed 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.520 is an experiential e commerce platform. What that means is 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:15.360 that if you think about online shopping today, right, every 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:18.160 website pretty much looks like a grid of thumbnails on 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.200 a white background. You're scrolling forever, you know, you're just 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.280 going through infinitely, through lots of pages. And if you 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:28.040 think about this fundamental interface, it was actually created by 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.079 Amazon twenty five years ago to sell books, and then 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.760 somehow from books that got used for every category, it 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.160 got used for every brand, and that kind of became 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:40.480 the standard, but it's not necessarily the best interface for 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.440 shopping when you're not looking for something specific, when you 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.600 just want to browse, when you want to get inspired. UM. 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:51.800 So essentially what we are doing is creating a more engaging, 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:57.000 immersive online shopping interface UM and also more visual because 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.079 for most of the categories that we are targeting in 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.680 their visual products and you need to instead of just 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:05.799 seeing them in a white background, you need to see 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.800 them in context. And so the way we do this 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:11.320 is in the form of virtual stores UM. So virtual 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:15.359 stores are essentially, you know, as they sound, their three 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:19.600 D three sixty experiences UM. The proprietary pattern pending technology 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:23.959 that we have developed enables us to show these virtual 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.400 stores on the web, on your phone or on your computer, 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.720 without downloading an app, without needing a headset, so it's 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.560 really easy to access UM. And essentially this technology lives 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.560 on retailers websites where they can provide a more branded, 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:41.800 UM and interactive shopping experience. Well, it could not be 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:45.200 a more important time to have this product come to market. 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:47.320 But I want to bring you back. Tell us a 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.720 little bit about your background, how you started your education, 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.640 and really how you thought about founding this company. Yeah, definitely. 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:58.120 UM So I'm a computer scientist by background. I got 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:02.520 my undergrad UM degree in computer science from UT Austin 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.480 and graduate green computer science from m I t UM. 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.080 After that, I was a soft engineer UM and tech 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.320 lead at Google for five years UM. So. There I 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.840 worked on Google adverbs and Google News UM and that 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:18.080 was really kind of an amazing training for me in 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:22.440 computer engineering and really applying UM, you know, sort of 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.640 all the techniques of computer science to actually build software 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:29.160 and ship software to customers. But while I was there, 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:33.640 I UM also I always loved fashion, and I thought 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.760 I wanted to be a fashion designer, so I started 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:41.080 taking fashion design classes on the side at a yeah 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:44.120 at f I in New York. I realized after a 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:46.840 couple of semesters that I was really bad at drawing, 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:50.560 So then I decided to stick to the tech side 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.080 of fashion UM and I joined the startup called ah Life, 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.320 which was also founded by some might Alarms, and it 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:00.880 was a luxury e commerce market place. UM so that 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:02.719 was I was ahead of product in tech there for 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:05.760 two years, and that was my first experience building an 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:08.800 e commerce site. And what I really realized through that 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.599 experience was pretty much what I was mentioning before is 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:16.000 that today's eCOM platforms, you know, they're very limited in 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.359 what they offer you. They've done so much generation on 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:20.480 the back end, by the front end has largely remained 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:22.960 the same. So if you really want to do something different, 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:25.240 and if you want to create a different experience, you 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:27.640 just need a lot of resources and a lot of 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.599 um you know, custom engineering. And after our life, I 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.600 was the head of product at Vogue, um so, I 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.240 was the first tech person they hired in their history. 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:39.760 As I love fashion, it was a dream draw for me. 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:44.360 Um and I was basically head of digital product there, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:48.000 which means I oversaw the website. I launched all of 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:51.400 the current digital properties, including Worgue, dot com or grund Bay, 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.040 their mobile apps. Um you know, worked with many brands 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:57.640 who are advertisers to create interactive digital experiences for them, 0:05:57.760 --> 0:05:59.279 all of which, by the way, I like a lot. 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.240 So I know who was the origin of those? Thank 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.440 you for that, yeah, thank you um so. Yeah. So 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.520 that's kind of my background and the reason, um you know, 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.680 I started obsessed is because beyond kind of all these 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:16.039 things and the clear kind of market opportunity that exists 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.479 in sort of innovating the customer experience to the next level, 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:22.840 especially on mobile, is that as a consumer, you know, 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.000 I love fashion and I love shopping, but I hated 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:30.159 online shopping. Um. It's just so boring and so tedious. Um. 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:34.240 And I just feel like these designers fashion designers, you know, 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:38.279 they're like artists, and they're creating all these beautiful creations nowadays, 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.080 even up to six seasons a year, and they spend 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.960 millions of dollars in these runway shows that last for 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:46.159 fifteen minutes and only a few people can go to. 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.640 But then when you go to their site, the experience 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.920 just doesn't match anything to what their actual vision was. 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.039 And I want to give these designers a way that 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.600 they can actually put that vision and put the inspiration 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:03.560 into an experience while the customers actually shopping their collections. UM. 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.160 So that's really kind of the reason why Obsess exists 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.920 and why you know, really we're trying to bring this 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:14.920 visual discovery driven approach to online shopping. So you start 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.920 the company, you have this idea, you get started, what 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.920 do you do first? Okay, So that's a great question. 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:25.000 So I would say, like, really, the first six months 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:29.400 for me were just learning about virtual reality and three D. 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.560 So I knew that, you know, I wanted to do 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.000 something in this space and that this was the solution 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:40.000 to this problem of not having like realistic shopping experiences. 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.720 But I really didn't know anything much about three D 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:45.560 or we are, And so really I spent the first 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.880 six months like learning about it and making some kind 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:52.440 of demos myself, UM, getting a few people to make demos, 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.480 because it's such a new concept that, you know, it's 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.240 one of those things where I didn't really know exactly 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:00.480 what the end result was going to look like. UM, 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:02.280 And that's often the case. You know, you know, you 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:04.240 want to solve a problem, but you don't know like 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.520 exactly what the solution looks like, so you just have 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.880 to experiment. Pretty much what we did for the first 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:13.560 six months, and actually after that is when I started 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.680 in the Spring broad program New York Fashion Tech Lab, 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.320 and that's where it really helped us, UM kind of 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.880 take you know, what sort of demos we had built 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.960 so far, but now we got feedback from UM from 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.800 them on, from like real retailers who were looking UM 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:33.080 for actual kind of use cases UM. And so that 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.640 that gave us feedback into our product, and that way 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.520 we were able to actually develop something UM that we 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.280 shipped to customers. UM and really we go ahead, like 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:45.040 our first customer through through that experience, we built kind 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.600 of the product for them and UM kind of yeah 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:51.240 it the wall from there. Wow. So as you think 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:55.600 about scaling us, because now you have quite a few customers, UM, 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:57.760 what has been the priority in scaling and have you 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.839 found funding to be an important piece to this? I 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.480 would say the way that I built the company, we 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:08.920 were pretty revenue focused from the beginning, UM. And so 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.640 until actually, like I would say a month ago or 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:13.920 now it's a month and a half, we hadn't raised 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.520 a lot of money at all. We had just raised 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.679 a pre s round UM and we were actually pretty 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:24.040 much break even last year and profitable this year UM. 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.880 And actually, for me, what the reason the revenue focus 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.959 helped more than you know, just building obviously a more 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.760 solid foundation for the company, was that it helped us 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:38.640 really gone into a product that we could sell today. 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:40.920 So I'll give you a little bit more details of that, 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:43.520 because often, especially in tech, you know when we are 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:48.400 when we're starting companies, we're obviously trying to do something 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.400 big and maybe like especially for what we're doing, we're 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.319 trying to build for the future, but at the same time, 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:56.880 you know, we also want to build something that people 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:01.079 can use today. So initially, actually when I started after 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.199 you know, what I was doing during that first year 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:05.319 and really till the first year and a half, we 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:09.760 were building for virtual reality headsets, and as you know 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:14.000 from the market, like you know, the predictions for how 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.920 quick the adoption of these devices would be were sort 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.760 of too optimistic at that time and it didn't really 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:24.720 pan out. And then we shifted to making something that 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.800 just works on your phone, that just works on your 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:29.959 computer and you don't need a headset, and that pivot 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.000 um where you know, while keeping our kind of mission 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.920 always the same, but we pivoted our strategy of how 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:39.240 we were actually implementing it, and that was driven really 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:42.560 by revenue because we wanted to you know, ore were 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.360 B two B SaaS platforms, so we wanted retailers as 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.599 our customers, and we saw in the market that retailers 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.679 would pay for something that you know, actually they can 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:55.079 make available to a majority of their users today versus 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:58.520 like a device that nobody really has UM, and so 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:02.079 constantly as we developed up UM the product, we always 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.199 kind of have that in mind. We experimented with price points, 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.200 you know, how much how much retailers are willing to 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.679 pay for this technology, and so always been revenue focused. UM. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.640 We did raise a seed dround just a couple of 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:19.679 months ago, and UM at this point that is because 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:22.680 we are in a really good position now actually and 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.800 we want to capitalize on this moment further UM, and 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.240 so that will kind of help us accelerate what we UM, 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.520 what we already have, and now that we have so 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:36.640 much demand, it will help us kind of UM really 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:38.560 be able to fulfill it and grow the team to 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.320 do so well. I mean, again, the moment could not 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.880 be more important for a product like this. So I'm 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:46.880 going to ask you a very obvious question, but how 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.240 has the pandemic affected Obsessed and how are you responding 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.160 to this demand? It has been, you know, honestly really 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.760 good for our business. UM. I think it's one of 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:59.480 those things where you know, UM, and what we keep 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:01.920 hearing from retailers is that this was something that was 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.760 kind of on the experiment list or on their roadmap 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.040 UM for something to try and just like with a 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:12.320 lot of other digital transformation technologies, the pandemic has accelerated 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:17.760 the adoption UM, so our inbound interest from retailers and correspondingly, 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:23.360 our revenue has increased by fo this year. Gratulations, thank you, 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.120 and we have expanded to a lot of other categories. 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.480 So UM. Initially UM just you know, again because of 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:31.640 my background, we were kind of more focused on fashion. 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.680 That's obviously a clear use case, but what we have 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.760 seen this year is also demand from just you know, 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:41.520 many different categories, so a lot of beauty, UM, some 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:46.840 home UM telecom like big box retailers, our customers like 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.160 include Party City, Sam's Club, so really kind of across 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.400 the range. And that's because the technology itself is also 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:57.360 category agnostic, like it can really work for any category. 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:01.320 So that that's been really UM kind of a very 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:05.079 fast UM sort of development and learning phase for us 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.600 as well as we work with retailers UM across all 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.360 these different categories and all different price points as well. 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:15.000 So while initially we were doing luxury, now we're really 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:20.480 doing everything from luxury to premium to off price UM segments, 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:26.200 so you know, different retailers using it for different use cases. UM. 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:30.439 But Ultimately, it's really kind of proving out the value 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.840 of this technology and really the need for it in 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:38.040 this market is what we have seen. We'll be back 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:50.679 with Senecas made by women after this short break and 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.120 just to get a little granular around the actual product. 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.760 So how does it work and what does a retailer too? Yeah, 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.200 so the best way to see our product is to 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:02.240 know how our product works as if really to see 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.880 it because it's so visual, but basically it lives on 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:09.280 a page on the retailer's website. So eventually we would 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:13.120 like to replace the entire website, but as of now, UM, 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.199 you know it's we're not replacing like the whole eCOM site. 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.560 It's really kind of a new destination, UM, new starting 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.960 point where you can have a more discovery given experience. 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.800 It is a three D three sixty experience, so you 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:28.840 can basically drag around or movie your phone around. UM, 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.080 you navigate through the space, you can click on any product. UM. 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:37.280 There's lots of other things that retailers can add, like videos, UM. 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.440 And the best part really is that the entire experience 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.920 can like look like anything that the retailer wants it 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:47.000 to look like. So some of our virtual stores, you know, 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:51.200 look like real stores, and some of them look like 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:55.280 completely different experiences. So for example, UM, for Sam's Club 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.440 for their holiday experience, UM, it was actually based on 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:04.080 a movie, UM, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and UM, we 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:06.680 recreated the house from that movie, and you can go 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:09.280 inside that house and shop kind of all the products 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:12.080 and there's like all these interactions and sound effects and 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:16.080 it's so festive and there's Christmas music. UM. So it's 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:21.680 really like it's really fun. So you can basically see 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:24.680 like the you know, the you can capture the imagination 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.920 of the customer. You can you know, give your own 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:32.360 inspiration and the experience, and you can make it something 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.520 that looks like a real life place. You can make 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:39.000 it something completely fantastical. A couple of experiences we are 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.280 working on now look like video games. They don't have to, though, 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.680 they can look very very realistic. So it's what's great 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:48.640 about this is like every experience can be completely unique, 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.400 and so as the customers shopping it, just like you 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:53.920 know when you go shop in real life, every store 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:56.360 is different. Um, and virtually you can make it even 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:59.240 more different. UM. So I think we're just you know, 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:01.960 at the tip of the iceberg in terms of what's possible, 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.560 and over the next years you'll see kind of experiences 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:10.240 that are really unique, really much more interactive, dynamic. Um 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:14.040 So it should be really exciting. So for people who 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:16.880 have a big idea, because obviously your idea as a 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.720 transformative idea. For people who have a big idea, is 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.120 there anything that you would recommend for those in this 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:25.440 moment who are looking to disrupt because it can be 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:27.840 you know, it can be a little overwhelming. I think 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:31.240 for for people right now, given what's happening in the world, 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.440 is there something that you wish you had known earlier? Yeah, 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:36.600 so a few things, um, I would say, like for 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:40.680 a big idea, first is that you really have to 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:43.440 for the big idea, I think the most challenging part 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:45.720 is where do you start, um and what are the 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.080 steps you can take? And I think that takes some 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.520 time to figure out, I don't I think you you 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.480 should give that time versus just kind of jumping into 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.080 something and figuring out kind of the step by step. 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.360 And then in sort of tech we call it m 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:01.640 v P, which is a minimum viable product. But what 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.840 is the first thing that you can create that can 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.120 be a proof of concept for your idea, because that's 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:11.120 pretty much where it starts. Like, you will definitely want 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:14.359 to build, like so many things, UM, but kind of 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.280 what you learn actually from being an engineer is that 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.800 you know, really those tradeoffs of how much effort something 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.840 takes to build versus you know, what are you actually 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:24.960 going to learn from it? So the first thing I 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:26.639 would say is like, think about your m v P. 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.919 Think about what's the minimum possible thing you can build 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:32.359 to start getting learnings about this and see if the 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.240 market wants it and how can you improve it. And 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:37.720 then the second is as you go along the way, 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:41.560 you know what you're doing is going to change. How 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.399 you're going to do it, is going to change. The 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:47.440 people you're doing it is going to change. But ultimately, 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:49.520 you know, the way you keep going is that you 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:51.840 always have that big idea and that big vision in 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:54.120 mind that you never lose sight of it, and that's 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.919 what you're always working towards. So even for us, like 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.760 as we pivoted, as we you know, really experimented a 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.119 lot out with what we want to do with this 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:06.960 very emerging technology. UM. Having just kind of that ultimate 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.880 goal in mind is what has guided us. And now 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.439 we actually have a product that you know, people are 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.680 using and wasn't what I had thought like four years 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.600 ago it would be at all. But it's certainly like, 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.280 you know, achieving the same goal. Um. Yeah. And then 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:25.119 the last thing I would say in terms of things 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:30.800 I wish I had known earlier was at a high level, 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.680 it's like going with your gut and your instinct. Um. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:36.600 You know, especially in the start of world, there are 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:39.280 a lot of people like giving you advice all the time, 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.800 and you know, when you get get so much advice, 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.320 you obviously it goes in your brain and you process 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.320 it and you tend to, even if not consciously, unconsciously 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:53.400 kind of um do those actions. But ultimately I think 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:55.760 you know, you have the best knowledge of your business 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:57.840 and of the problem that you want to solve and 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:00.919 of the target customer because you really are solving a 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.280 problem for yourself or someone closed to you, right, so 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.160 you know the time get customers. So UM, trust your 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:10.879 got an instinct over um. You know definitely like you know, 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:15.080 take advice, but um or you know, trying to get 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.919 multiple sort of points of view of the advice and 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.320 not just one advice. I think, Um, that's kind of 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.320 one of my learnings. Well, I I totally agree with 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:25.120 everything that you just said. And I think what you said, 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:27.959 particularly about the mission, is so interesting because for us 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.240 at Seneca are are sort of reason for being is 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:34.199 to advance women, women and girls, and so you know 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.719 that's always our larger mission and so everything else changes 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.199 in the world, but our mission stays the same. And 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:42.760 so that's really interesting what you said, because I think 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.080 that's so true, especially now right with everything that changes 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:47.639 so quickly in technology, you've got to stay fluid but 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:51.200 be able to keep that mission in mind. So you participated, 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:54.240 and I think you mentioned it earlier in Springboard Enterprises. 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.199 You've recently been recognized by Springboard. You were one of 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.560 the honorees. What has Springboard meant to obsess? Yes, the 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.720 Springboard has really been I mean true to their name. 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.320 They as I said, they were really the springboard, the 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.760 launch pad for us. Um. They were how we got 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:14.320 our first customer, our first investor. Um. Really you know 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.199 what they what was really helpful to us was they 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:19.879 were able to bring to us, like you know, three 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:24.280 real potential customers or retailers that we could talk to 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.320 in a setting where we are not you know, just 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.320 selling to them, but we're it's more collaborative and we're 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.600 building something together and they understand that we are super 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.640 early stage at the moment um, and so we're really 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.040 building this as we go along. So that was extremely 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:42.000 valuable UM and that that program you know itself was 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:44.879 three or four months. But what's been really amazing is 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:48.040 that since then, for you know, that was three years 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:51.320 ago for us, UM, since then, we have we have 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:54.080 gotten so much by being part of this network because 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:56.720 they're constantly kind of looking out for all the companies 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:59.479 that have UM that have been in their cohorts and 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.760 giving us opportunity and even like last week they introduced 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.800 me to a huge retailer. So they're just always kind 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.840 of keeping keeping your top of mind. And we also 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:12.400 obviously have the support group of other founders who went 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:14.960 through the same cohort with us, which is which is great. 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:17.560 So yeah, I would say, you know, we have done 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:22.879 a couple of accelerators UM, but the value that that 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:26.239 they provide for taking no equity at all is just 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:30.879 absolutely long phenomenal. Well, you are clearly someone who's transforming 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:34.680 your industry and hopefully all of our shopping experiences. We're 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:37.560 obviously going through some very difficult times as a world 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:42.480 right now. Is there something that makes you optimistic right now? Yeah, definitely, so, 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.000 I mean other than sort of what we are creating, 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.280 which is to improve the customer experience. UM. The side 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:51.600 effect of a lot of UM, what we are seeing 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:55.520 now and this digital transformation accelerating and things, but going 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:58.000 more three D, is that we are going to see 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:00.680 a lot less waste. As you know, sustain nobility has 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:04.679 been you know, a big issue, especially in the fashion industry, 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:07.600 and really I think what this pandemic has done has 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:12.360 accelerated UM, the virtualization of products. So some of our 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:15.800 customers like what we are seeing now, especially when we 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:19.400