Amy Wister
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Summary
On this episode, I speak with Amy Wister, co-founder of RevShopp. RevShopp is a platform that helps retailers and customers reduce the number of returns on clothing. They do this with their unique shape intelligence software that makes it easier to know ahead of time if something will fit.
Amy and I talk about her journey from ski bum to MBA to Intel to windows to fashion. It’s a fascinating discussion about how our lives can take us to unexpected places doing unexpected things. The many forks in the road that her career has taken have been a source of inspiration as well as some great opportunities.
We discuss the roadmap that she helped develop to help stylists and their clients find their right clothes that fit your ideal body type and how that idea created RevShopp.
We talk about how to find the right co-founder for your company, especially if it’s a technical co-founder. We talk about how hard it is to introduce a new concept into an established market where they really don’t want to change -- even if it’s in their best interest.
Her experience working retail at an early age gave her some great insights that she never knew she would use until later on. Amy’s experience as a B2B customer also gave her the knowledge to know that your B2B customer might not be the same at every company.
You’ll also hear some household background noise in this one since we’re both working from home. So apologies for that in advance.
Now let’s get better together
Actions to Try or Advice to Take
- Persistent and Persuasive are key traits of entrepreneurs that Amy learned on her eclectic journey to co-founding a fashion company.
- Fashion Fit is more important than size.
- The end customer is going to be the one who gives us the laundry list of what is required. It’s a fools errand to think you know what to build without pressure testing it.
- Do Your Homework: You’ll need to figure out who to actually talk to when doing a B2B sale is because everyone’s titles are so different.
- Building a network is supercritical -- no matter where they work or what they do. You never know who might be able to give you an in.
- Authenticity and Reciprocity are critical to cultivating relationships.
- You never know where you might land so be open to all sorts of opportunities.
- Do you really need the money to build something or do you need a co-founder that can build it with you?
- Most companies fail because the founders don’t agree along with running out of money.
- What to look for in a Technical Founder
- Can they explain technology in kindergarten terms? If not, then it’s probably a bad fit.
- Do they focus on why it won’t work? Do all they do is “bag” on the last person?
- Compassionate person
- Get’s what you’re talking about
- True to their word
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: You never know what others went through to get to where they got.
Links to Explore Further
- RevShopp: Deliver the right purchase the first time with shape intelligence.
- Amy on LinkedIn
- Founders Network
- Dezen -- Anj’s fashion startup.
- Report: Internet Shopping: The Future of Retail – Dealing with returns will only get worst.
