How did Olga Vidisheva validate the idea for Shop Tiques?

Before building a solution, Olga Vidisheva spoke to over 800 stores to understand their challenges with going online. This extensive user research confirmed that there was a demand and a need for a platform that could bring these boutiques to a wider audience.

What was Olga Vidisheva's experience with early technology development for Shop Tiques?

Initially, Olga hired an Indonesian development shop for $8,000 to build a prototype. Later, after joining Y Combinator and raising funds, she hired technical co-founders, but eventually had to let them go due to skill gaps and differing priorities.

How did Shop Tiques get accepted into Y Combinator?

Olga applied to Y Combinator despite being a single, non-technical founder, a combination often seen as a disadvantage. She attributes her acceptance to simply applying and not letting research about potential barriers deter her.

What challenges did Olga face with technology and co-founders at Shop Tiques?

Shop Tiques' website would crash frequently during early growth phases due to scaling issues. Olga also had to fire two sets of technical co-founders; the first due to insufficient skills, and the second because they prioritized technology over user needs, highlighting the difficulty of finding the right technical partners.

What is the key lesson about building a business team?

Olga emphasizes the importance of making your own path. She learned that a traditional technical co-founder isn't always necessary; hiring a skilled CTO who collaborates on defined goals can be a more effective strategy, as demonstrated by Shop Tiques' growth and stability.

How important is passion and belief in entrepreneurship?

Passion and belief are crucial for overcoming the inevitable tough times in building a business. Olga states that she never doubted Shop Tiques would become a multi-billion dollar business, a belief fueled by her own passion as a customer and the support of her team.

What does the growth curve of a marketplace look like?

Marketplaces typically experience two years of slow or painful growth before hitting an inflection point and growing exponentially. Examples like Etsy and eBay show this pattern, and having investors who understand this is valuable.

Key Moments

Olga Vidisheva Speaks at Female Founders Conference 2015

Y Combinator

Science & Technology5 min read20 min video

Feb 23, 2015|7,885 views|80|3

Female Founders Conference FFC Y Combinator 2015 YC Olga Vidisheva

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Key Moments

TL;DR

Shoptiques founder Olga Vidisheva built her e-commerce platform by talking to 800 stores and hiring/firing technical co-founders twice, highlighting the critical importance of user feedback and making difficult personnel decisions to build a scalable business.

Key Insights

Shoptiques spoke to over 800 stores to understand their needs before building the platform, ensuring the solution directly addressed their challenges with going online.

Vidisheva initially hired two technical co-founders for Shoptiques, but had to fire both, emphasizing the difficulty but necessity of making tough personnel decisions for business growth.

Marketplace businesses like Shoptiques, Etsy, and eBay typically experience two years of slow growth before hitting an inflection point for exponential growth.

Shoptiques grew over 700% in the year prior to the talk without the website crashing, a testament to building the right technology and team.

Vidisheva's journey included securing seed funding from top-tier VCs like Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock after experiencing initial technical hurdles.

The founder stresses the importance of passion and belief, stating that there was 'not for a second' a time she didn't believe Shoptiques would be a multi-billion dollar business.

Understanding the market: talking to over 800 stores

Olga Vidisheva's entrepreneurial journey began with a deep dive into understanding the pain points of small, independent boutiques trying to establish an online presence. Frustrated by the inability to find unique stores online after discovering them during travels, she identified a gap in the market. Instead of building a solution based on assumptions, Vidisheva spent a year talking to over 800 stores. This crucial step revealed that while these boutiques were expert merchandisers, they struggled with the technical aspects of e-commerce, including website building and digital marketing. Many had tried platforms like Shopify with poor results, finding the process too complex and their self-made product photos unprofessional. This user research was foundational, allowing Shoptiques to be built specifically to meet their needs, rather than trying to fit the users into a pre-conceived solution. The insights gained from these conversations continue to be a valuable resource for the company.

The first big leap: bootstrapping and a $10,000 website

With significant student loan debt after graduating from Harvard Business School, Vidisheva had only $10,000 in savings. She decided to bootstrap the initial development of Shoptiques by seeking engineers in Indonesia during a week-long wedding trip. Despite communication challenges and the inherent risk, she found a development shop that built the first prototype website for $8,000. This left her with only $2,000 to live on, highlighting a significant personal financial risk taken to validate the business idea before seeking external funding. This early decision underscored her commitment to pursuing her passion despite financial constraints.

Asking opens doors: applying to Y Combinator

Vidisheva learned the importance of simply asking for opportunities. Even while working 24/7 on her startup, she applied to Y Combinator without extensive research into the typical profiles of accepted founders, such as single, non-technical founders. This proactive approach led to acceptance into the prestigious accelerator program, which she describes as the best decision of her life. The program provided not only $17,000 in funding but also invaluable mentorship and community, allowing her to move into a proper living space and work among other ambitious entrepreneurs. This lesson emphasizes that 'if you don't ask, the answer is always no,' a principle she applies broadly, even to emailing figures like Warren Buffett.

The challenge of technical co-founders and scaling

Vidisheva recognized early on that to build a multi-billion dollar business, she needed strong in-house technology. Invaluable help from Y Combinator led her to bring on technical co-founders. However, the initial experience proved difficult. The first set of technical co-founders lacked the specific skills needed to scale the business as envisioned, leading to Vidisheva making the incredibly tough decision to fire them when the technology couldn't keep up with user demand and growth. This period was marked by significant personal stress and 'lonely cries in the bathroom,' as the core technology of her business was failing despite her best efforts. She emphasizes that this was a necessary step for the business's future viability.

Making your own path: navigating team challenges

After the initial technical co-founders were let go, Vidisheva's best friend, a skilled engineer, stepped in to help. While he was incredibly talented and dedicated, he was too focused on building 'incredible technology' for its own sake, rather than what the users needed. After eight months, Vidisheva made the heart-wrenching decision to let him go as well. This second difficult firing reinforced her 'takeaway number four: make your own path.' She realized that chasing the ideal of having a technical co-founder who perfectly understood her vision wasn't the only way. She learned it's acceptable to find alternative solutions, such as hiring an exceptional Chief Technology Officer (CTO) who is not a co-founder but is empowered with goals and compensation tied to performance. This approach proved successful, enabling Shoptiques to grow over 700% without website crashes.

Passion, belief, and the marketplace growth curve

Vidisheva underscores the vital role of unwavering belief and passion, especially during challenging times like late-night payroll processing or tax issues. She asserts that there was 'no time in ShopTiques history' where she doubted its potential to become a multi-billion dollar business, fueled by her passion as a customer and confidence in her team and investors' expertise in marketplaces. She also shares insights into the typical growth trajectory of marketplaces like Etsy and eBay, which often involve two years of 'painful growth' before experiencing exponential acceleration. This understanding, shared by her investors who had experience with similar platforms, helped her persevere through the early stages. She credits her team's shared passion and belief for enabling the company's significant growth and profitability.

The power of choices and collective impact

Concluding her talk, Vidisheva shares a quote by Jeff Bezos: 'In the end, we are our choices.' She emphasizes that life and business are defined by the decisions made daily. She encourages the audience, particularly aspiring female founders, to believe in their ideas and recognize their potential to build significant businesses and contribute to the world. Drawing from her own background as an immigrant who learned English as a second language, she highlights that they are already ahead and capable of achieving great things. Her final plea is for her VP of marketing to be satisfied: to follow Shoptiques on social media and download their app upon its launch, before thanking the audience for their time.

Mentioned in This Episode

●Software & Apps

●Companies

●Organizations

●People Referenced

Olga Vidisheva's Startup Takeaways

Practical takeaways from this episode

Do This

Talk to your users extensively to build the exact solution they need.

Don't be afraid to ask for opportunities; the answer is always no if you don't ask.

Be honest about the type of business you want to build (lifestyle vs. high-growth).

Develop your own unique path, especially regarding technology needs and team structure.

Believe passionately in your idea and your vision for the business.

Surround yourself with people who are passionate and believe in your vision.

Learn from the experiences of those who have built similar businesses (e.g., marketplaces).

Avoid This

Don't assume you know what users need without asking them directly.

Don't shy away from applying for opportunities due to perceived limitations (e.g., being a single, non-technical founder).

Don't pursue venture capital if you intend to build only a lifestyle business.

Don't blindly follow the co-founder models of other companies; create your own structure.

Don't let tough times or moments of doubt deter you if you truly believe in your product.

Don't ignore the importance of your team's passion and belief in your venture.

Common Questions

Shop Tiques is an online marketplace designed to connect shoppers with unique boutiques from around the world. It solves the problem of these boutiques not being easily accessible online, allowing customers to discover and purchase unique, one-of-a-kind products.

Topics

Technology & Innovation Business & Entrepreneurship Startup Advice Team-building Venture Capital Company Growth Founder Journey Marketplace Development

Mentioned in this video

Organizations

Harvard Business School

The institution where the speaker pursued her MBA, providing her with the time and space to investigate the lack of online presence for unique boutiques.

Andreessen Horowitz

A venture capital firm that participated in Shop Tiques' seed funding round.

Greylock Partners

A venture capital firm that participated in Shop Tiques' seed funding round.

Benchmark

A venture capital firm that participated in Shop Tiques' seed funding round.

Companies

eBay

Shown as an example of a marketplace that experienced two years of very painful growth before achieving exponential growth, with investors who understood this early stage.

OpenTable

A company that the investors in Shop Tiques had previously invested in, noted for its success in the marketplace model.

Etsy

Shown as an example of a marketplace that experienced two years of slow growth before hitting an inflection point and growing exponentially.

Shop Tiques

An online marketplace that brings unique boutiques from around the world online for shoppers to discover and purchase one-of-a-kind products.

FirstDibs

A company that the investors in Shop Tiques had previously invested in, noted for its success in the marketplace model.

Goldman Sachs

The speaker's first job out of college, where she worked as an investment banker, experiencing long hours but gaining valuable learning experiences and travel opportunities.

Y Combinator

A startup accelerator program that the speaker applied to and got accepted into, which significantly changed the trajectory of Shop Tiques and her life.

Shopify

An e-commerce platform that many boutiques tried to use to get online, but found it difficult to implement effectively.

Net-a-Porter

A platform that aggregated huge brands, mentioned as another example of existing online retail models that did not cater to unique boutiques.

SV Angel

A venture capital firm that participated in Shop Tiques' seed funding round.

Locations

Kyrgyzstan

The birthplace of the speaker, where her story began before moving to the United States.

People

Paul Graham

Co-founder of Y Combinator, whom the speaker approached for help in building an in-house technology team.