A few years ago, I started a story with a line about a serial entrepreneur, a VC, and a Rabbi. Not to offend, I rewrote the lede. This made it all the more funny when FlipFit’s founders told me their story was especially cool because it’s about an Arab, an Israeli (American), and the fashion-tech startup that wants to be the next Facebook.
Co-founders and co-CEOs of Flip Fit, Jonathan Ellman and Nooruldeen Agha
Besides showing the world that opposites can attract and prevail, co-founders Nooruldeen Agha and Jonathan Ellman have a goal to launch the first fashion-tech company that integrates the power of social media with streamlined logistics throughout the consumer’s experience.
Today FlipFit launched with $3.75 million in Seed funding led by TLV Partners with participation from Lool Ventures. “Flip is the evolution of social media and e-commerce–birthing the baby of Instagram and Amazon and creating the first physical product marketplace where your likes and actions impact the products you receive,” said Rona Segev, general partner at TLV Partners.
By downloading the app, indicating fashion preferences, and liking select brands, users can receive a box of 10 fashion items—basically bringing the fitting room into their living room. They then get input from their community of influence on what to buy and what to easily return.
“The decision for today’s shoppers to buy happens once they receive validation from friends and family, but e-commerce has made shopping very isolating.”
“Fashion shopping has always been a social experience,” said Agha, co-founder and co-CEO of Flip Fit. “The decision for today’s shoppers to buy happens once they receive validation from friends and family, but e-commerce has made shopping very isolating. We are connecting the social behaviors of shopping, which were previously only possible offline, with a virtual experience—building a social media community at the center of fashion shopping.”
Agha and Ellman met a little over a year ago at a conference and immediately fed each other’s passions for building the next global tech giant. In a world where most new businesses are a “something”-tech (edtech, fintech, medtech), the two felt fashion was light on the kind of innovation they had experience delivering on. Ellman said, “There’s no Apple and no Netflix in the fashion space because it hasn’t yet been disrupted.”
The idea of bringing innovation to the online shopping space—and how critical that experience will be to the success of fashion brands and retailers—is not a new idea. Organizations like Stylus just this past weekend held their DecodedFuture innovation summit to share ideas and see who can get to a future the consumer wants first.
Agha, who is from Iraq, has been a successful software design engineer and founder for years helping to build out major online fashion marketplaces and subscription box offerings in Dubai. There he says he saw first-hand that “the box model and e-commerce weren’t coming together for the consumer.”
Ellman, an immigrant from South Africa, grew up in the United States before joining the Israeli Air force. He worked in investment banking and private equity in the U.S. and Asia, then went on to co-found and advise a variety of marketplaces, including Tapingo, which was acquired by GrubHub. Together, Agha and Ellman’s understanding of the consumer experience at the core of a successful marketplace has helped them breathe quick life into Flip Fit.
Fashion brands who continue to struggle to profitably breakthrough in an e-commerce world, know they have much to gain from the tech innovators who can converge competing or incomplete business models. In Flip Fit’s case, there are so many business models coming together in one company; it is startling. The company is one part fashion research, one part online shopping, one part box subscription, one part social influence to validate fashion choices, and one part logistics to cost-effectively streamline trying on a “full bracket” (multiple sizes or options of a garment) and easily returning the “Nos.”
Will Flip Fit’s model be able to connect a front-end experience like Instagram shopping, the full experience of social media influence, and a streamlined back-end logistics and return model? Many brands are ready to bet on it. According to Ellman, “Of the 225 pitches we’ve made to fashion companies including denim and T-shirt companies like AG, JBrand, Hudson, Retrobrand, and MadeWorn, there are 200 stocking in our warehouse right now.”
Agha and Ellman say they have each already done $100 Million exits, so this venture is about far more than proving they can scale. They talk of disruption and want to become legendary for fashion-tech innovation and leadership.
In the $2 Trillion fashion industry, the winners, even small ones, are going to win big. And, more importantly, they’re going to look fabulous while doing it.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/moiravetter/2019/10/23/the-wisdom-of-your-social-crowd-fuels-your-fashion-buying-experience-with-flip-fit/
2019-10-23 12:00:34Z
CAIiEC2PgOevXR36AAL0NZrgzSsqFQgEKg0IACoGCAowrqkBMKBFMI_CEg
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar