Learning notes from this episode:

• For fundraising, knowing how to grow a community and stay resilient them is vital. Pree believes her political campaigning days, when she had to literally knock on doors and had them shut in her face, gave her the skills she needed. 
• Pree suggests that aspiring founders work at another start-up before they found their own. This is a good way to learn about start-ups in a less risky way. I did this, and am very glad.
• Outsourcing technology and design is a good option, especially when you are bootstrapping. Do not get put off by investors who insist you hire tech teams in house from the start. 

If some of the tech terms confused you, or if you're an aspiring non-technical founder, check out the Tech for Non-Techies podcast next.

If you want to apply to co-host The Fashion Tech podcast, email [email protected] and tell us why you want to do this and where you would like to take the show.

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Learning notes from this episode:

1. Before working with a start-up, establish one or two problems you want to solve
2. Once you have decided your key priorities, set them a time, a budget, a hierarchy of decision making, and an area you want to experiment in.
3. Beware of innovation consultants who have never worked in a start-up. They will waste your money.
4. When negotiating with a start-up, go beyond money.

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Learning notes from this episode:

• Covid has been the accelerator of trends for the fashion industry: fashion events and retailers have been forced to move online and adapt technologies in a way they thought impossible previously
• Cold emails to influential people and celebrities can work, as long as you do them with heart, not with corporate speak
• Partnerships are a good way to grow your business and brand, and can be cheaper than advertising. Successful partnerships are mutually beneficial, even if one partner is much larger.

Fashinnovation will be open to all on 11 February 2021. Follow them on Instagram here.

Sign up to Enty Insight mailing list to get info on our upcoming masterclasses and meet-ups. 

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Follow Enty on Facebook and Instagram. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• The NYFTL works with B2B fashion tech startups led by female founders and connects them to brands and retailers in their annual accelerator program.
• Retailers have moved quickly to adapt new technologies during the pandemic, so fashion tech is an area of optimism in 2021.
• Some of the fashion tech trends Jackie sees growing now include virtual fitting rooms (AR / VR), contactless commerce and social shopping. 

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Learning notes from this episode:

• The further East you move from Silicon Valley, the more investors expect to see revenue before they invest.
• Remember that your first revenue sources are not necessarily going to be those that help your company scale or get funding. 
• Charging for a product or service helps you learn what people are willing to pay for and might help you pivot in a profitable direction.
• Read Sophia's interview with High Snobiety founder David Fischer in Forbes: Highsnobiety: From Niche Blog To The Height Of Hype

If you want to go deeper, join our Fashion Tech Funding Masterclass this Wednesday. Register here.

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Learning notes from Malcolm Guy, founder of the Re-Assurance Network:

• The supply of workers in factories has been shrinking in recent years: fewer people now want to work in garment manufacturing than before. This means that competition for labour is increasing.
• VC investment into sustainability tools for the fashion industry has been relatively low. 
• Opportunities for fashion tech innovation lie in building transparency into the fashion supply chain. 

You can learn more about Malcolm's work on the Re-Assurance Network's website.

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Learning notes:

The three pillars of fashion tech investing are:

• Consumer behaviour: do people already exhibit this behaviour or are you going to have to teach them something new?
• Technological trends: is the necessary technology advanced enough or proven?
• Economic trends: what kind of economic reality does the product or innovation need to thrive?

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Learning notes from this episode:

• Pre-Covid, retailers were often slow to adapt new technologies and tech innovations were often gimmicks that got press coverage but no sales
• The human brain craves newness, which is the fuel of the fashion industry
• "Experiential retail is a system of exposing people to brands and products that is flexible & channel agnostic" - Doug Stephens, Retail Prophet
• Technologies that enable discovery and connect consumers to retailers, such as live shopping and visual search, have flourished in the pandemic.

Sign up to the Enty Insights mailing list to get invitations to fashion tech masterclasses and community meet-ups.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter.

Learning notes from this episode:

• As long as you are wearing clothes, you are participating in the fashion industry. That means you are making choices, consciously or unconsciously, about how you want to be perceived, and how you perceive others.
• Artificial Reality can be a victim of its own success in fashion. Using AR to create avatars could misfire because people do not like seeing true representations of themselves, but often prefer idealised versions.
• Human behaviour is nuanced and difficult to predict, and this is true about how we decide what to wear. Algorithms cannot cope with nuance and often get it wrong. 
• Segmentation by age alone does not give a complete enough picture of human behaviour differences. Instead, Prof Mair suggests studying other variables and seeing how they connect to each other. 
• Humans crave novelty, whether it is for clothes or food or even people. Fashion can fulfil that craving. 

You can say hi to Prof Carolyn Mair on Twitter here.

Sign up to the Enty Insights mailing list to get invitations to fashion tech masterclasses and community meet-ups.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter.