After an 18-month hiatus, I’m re-starting Office Hours, but with a new twist. This time, I’m focusing on giving pitch deck feedback to female founders in the retail and consumer spaces. I’ll be holding these sessions about twice a month,… Continue Reading
I’m pausing my open office hours – at least for now. I’ve held open office hours for early-stage founders since May 2019. By “open” I mean just that. Any founder can sign up for a free slot – no warm… Continue Reading
Meha Agrawal is the founder and CEO of Silk + Sonder, a self-care membership experience for modern women that makes daily and proactive mental wellness easy and fun from the comfort of women’s homes. Silk + Sonder gives women a… Continue Reading
You’re raising a pre-seed round and you know you need to find angel investors, but how do you find them? It can be really difficult to research angels, understand who is actively investing, and figure out at what stage angels… Continue Reading
Over the last year or so, I’ve seen a number of new startups launching brand aggregation platforms that, among other benefits, provide consumers with curated product discovery. Many of these aggregation platforms are online marketplaces (the recently announced high profile… Continue Reading
When I first started investing in DTC startups over five years ago, most were following the classic DTC playbook – once they developed their product, they would add social content, get SEO right through blog content and site design, collect emails and… Continue Reading
What do you call companies that sell, or allow others to sell, items to consumers? Over the last 15 years, there have been a ton of new buzzwords as young startups to innovate and disrupt, and force traditional companies to… Continue Reading
What is retail today? After all the dire warnings of the “retail apocalypse,” store closings, zombie malls and retail bankruptcies, “retail” is a loaded term. But in reality, retail is changing – and the definition of the very word “retail”… Continue Reading
Over the last few years, we’ve seen dozens of startups tackling the problem of fit in women’s apparel.* Whether it’s creating a better/custom fit or understanding how a product will fit the shopper, it’s a big space. And no wonder… Continue Reading
Retail AI-powered chatbots are relatively new for most retailers and brands, but chatbot fever is here. There’s a lot of excitement around the technology, but most agree, it’s still early days for chatbots. Early commerce chatbot functionality has been… Continue Reading
I recently wrote about the massive shifts in the retail landscape we’re going to be seeing over the next 5-20 years. Many of the changes we’ll see will be focused on disrupting legacy systems and processes, recreating the supply chain… Continue Reading
Over the last few months, the headlines have been dire: Stores are dead. Malls are dead. Chain stores are dead. Retail is dead. Ecommerce is dead. Millennials are looking for experiences, not more stuff. Younger consumers prefer to rent, not… Continue Reading
I’ve been fascinated by the luxury space for a while now, and have been looking to invest in a luxury startup. Obviously, there have been a few notable successes in luxury ecommerce, including Net-a-Porter, Moda Operandi and Yoox, to name… Continue Reading
I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of “third places” recently, and particularly how startups are capitalizing on this non-tech based macro trend. What is a Third Place? Ray Oldenburg is widely regarded to have been the thought leader… Continue Reading
I’ve been an angel investor now for about a year and a half. And since I primarily focus on fashion tech and retail, I tend to see a lot of startups that are attacking the next big thing in commerce,… Continue Reading
You’ve heard ad nauseam about the Apple Watch over the last week. The features, the function, and probably most of all, the design. Many think it’s stylish, some don’t (see here, here and here). Yes, the Apple Watch is lauded by… Continue Reading
The sharing economy (also known as collaborative consumption) has been top of mind for many start-ups. Since the success of Rent the Runway, many fashion tech start-ups have been focusing on how to bring sharing to the fashion and retail… Continue Reading
It’s been all about menswear for the last few years, as the US menswear market has been growing faster than the women’s market, both in stores and increasingly online. Mall-based retailers like J. Crew, Nordstrom, Lululemon, Coach and Lord &… Continue Reading
It hasn’t been an auspicious start to the Spring selling season. One after another, middle-of-the-road chain retailers have described the environment as “difficult,” blaming weather, the economy and competitive price pressures. With the exception of high-end designer/luxury brands, the message… Continue Reading
Up, Up & Away Go Luxury Prices There’s been a lot of talk recently about the rise in luxury price points, including the fact that a quilted Chanel handbag now costs about 70% more than it did five years ago… Continue Reading