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Olga Vidisheva Speaks at Female Founders Conference 2015
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Olga Vidisheva speaks at Y Combinator Female Founders Conference 2015. Olga Vidisheva is the founder and CEO of Shoptiques, an online destination where customers can shop the best boutiques from around the world. Considered the OpenTable of retail, Shoptiques also provides small local businesses access to a suite of digital marketing tools so that they can have a competitive online presence. After graduating from Wellesley College in 2007 and Harvard Business School in 2011, Vidisheva went on to be the first single-founder non-technical entrepreneur accepted to Y Combinator in early 2012. Later that year after raising over $2 million dollars in funding from investors such as Greylock Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel, Benchmark, and William Morris Endeavor Agency, Vidisheva went on to launch Shoptiques with 25 boutiques on the platform. The company recently passed the 1,500 boutique benchmark—and is quickly growing. Prior to starting Shoptiques, Vidisheva attended Harvard Business School, worked at CHANEL, Goldman Sachs & Co., and modeled for numerous fashion brands.
Segments Timeline
The Journey Begins
Olga Vidisheva shares her excitement about presenting at the Female Founders Conference and introduces Shoptiques, her online platform that connects shoppers with unique boutiques worldwide. She reflects on her journey from Kyrgyzstan to the United States, highlighting her early experiences and education at Wellesley College.
"hi everyone I'm so excited to be here today to share the story of chopsticks and my journey here for those of you guys who don't know chopsticks lets you shop the world's most unique boutiques around ..."
From Investment Banking to Entrepreneurship
Olga discusses her transition from working as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs to pursuing her entrepreneurial dreams. She describes how her travels inspired her to seek out unique products and boutiques, leading to her frustration with the lack of online presence for these stores.
"and my first job out of school when I graduated was working at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker crazy hours I loved it because I learned so much but I also got to travel a lot and every time I wo..."
Identifying the Gap in the Market
While at Harvard Business School, Olga investigates why unique boutiques lack an online presence. She shares insights from conversations with over 800 boutique owners, revealing their struggles with e-commerce and the potential for a marketplace that caters to unique brands.
"year of Business School I talked to over eight it's doors they everybody was telling me hey we are great merchandisers I would say hey where do you buy things how do you buy how do you plan they reall..."
The Importance of User Feedback
Olga emphasizes the significance of talking to users as a key takeaway from her experience. She explains how her conversations with boutique owners informed the development of Shoptiques, ensuring that the platform met their needs and expectations.
"away it's not about exactly five I'm gonna have five takeaways for you guys that I hopefully will be helpful as you build your businesses and you think about your life and career so if you forget ever..."
Building the First Prototype
After graduating from Harvard, Olga shares her journey of building the first version of Shoptiques. She recounts her experience of finding developers in Indonesia while attending a friend's wedding, leading to the creation of a prototype website for her marketplace.
"two sided marketplace their supply which is the boutiques so after talking to 800 of them I was very confident that I can build a solution that they will be happy with but I wasn't sure if me and my f..."
Launching Shoptiques
Olga describes the excitement of launching Shoptiques and the overwhelming response from potential users, with 12,000 people signing up for the waitlist after a feature in Women's Wear Daily. She reflects on the validation of her idea and the demand for unique boutiques.
"so there was a lot of duties and a lot of ceremonies in between the ceremony that was asking every person do you know any developers they're like what are you talking about but it was successful I act..."
Applying to Y Combinator
Olga shares her experience applying to Y Combinator, highlighting the importance of taking risks and asking for opportunities. She reflects on how her acceptance into the program changed the trajectory of her business and her life.
"launched and Women's Wear Daily wrote the story about us and by the way this was a team of one and the developers in Indonesia so I had this all of a sudden Women's Wear Daily writes about chopsticks ..."
Defining Your Business Goals
As she begins her journey at Y Combinator, Olga stresses the importance of being honest about the type of business one wants to build. She discusses her ambition to create a multi-billion dollar company and the need for the right technology to support that vision.
"best decision I've ever made in my life so always applies always do things and I apply this rule to everything in my life I think two weeks ago i IE mailed warren buffett he hasn't gotten back to me y..."
Finding the Right Team
Olga talks about the challenges of building a technology team and the importance of surrounding herself with the right people. She shares her experiences with co-founders and the lessons learned about aligning team goals with business objectives.
"were working at Y Combinator at the time on their ideas in the same batch as me and you were working among the best coolest people and it was so incredible and so we started by Combinator the take awa..."
Overcoming Technical Challenges
Olga discusses the difficulties faced when the technology behind Shoptiques couldn't scale with user demand. She shares her emotional journey through these challenges and the importance of having a reliable technical team.
"business so luckily I was at YC so I approached program and the team and I said hey guys I need technology team I mean I need to build this you know something in-house so they helped me tremendously t..."
Making Tough Decisions
Facing the need for a stronger technical team, Olga recounts the difficult decision to let go of her co-founders. She emphasizes the importance of prioritizing the business's needs over personal relationships.
"all about growth but I would have a big press and then my website would crash on every sixth person I would do something else and literally like the technology wasn't scaling so four founders who are ..."
Creating Your Own Path
Olga encourages entrepreneurs to forge their own paths rather than conforming to traditional expectations. She shares her experience of hiring a CTO who aligned with her vision and the importance of building a team that fits the company's goals.
"later I had to fire him too and this is actually one of the hardest decision I had to make in my entire life because he was my best friend and he was one of the smartest people I knew but the reason i..."
The Power of Passion and Belief
Olga concludes her talk by emphasizing the necessity of passion and belief in one's business. She shares her experiences of perseverance through challenging times and the importance of surrounding oneself with supportive people.
"and so you know one of the other thing that I want to make sure I leave you guys with is the fifths takeaway which is believe and be passionate you know there was a lot of times when at 2:00 in the mo..."
Final Thoughts and Inspiration
In her closing remarks, Olga shares a powerful quote from Jeff Bezos about the impact of choices in life. She encourages the audience to believe in their potential to create meaningful businesses and to stay passionate about their journeys.
"and so thank you guys and remember that every single day when you make hard decisions here's some girls curves for those of you that are building marketplaces I want to say I'm sorry it's a very tough..."