Personal experience: how I launched a clothing selection service for 50 thousand rubles

Shopping centers with dozens of clothing, footwear and accessories stores are growing, and style lessons are still not taught either in schools or universities. There are stylists to help sort out the huge assortment, but not everyone can allocate time and money for their services. The life hacker talked to the founder of the Get Outfit service, Kim Sanzhiev. He decided to change the situation and created a platform on which you can work with a stylist inexpensively and online. Kim talked about how they managed to maintain acceptable prices, why a startup should conquer the US market and why his team did not receive a salary for two years.

Fashion work and the origin of the project

Four years ago I graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the Belarusian State University and moved to Moscow. Almost immediately I got into the field of consulting, and after a year and a half I realized that most companies are moving online. So I ended up in a digital agency, and then in an international IT company.

In the course of my work, I often met with businessmen from different spheres and, based on our conversations, wrote down how I see my future project. I wanted the business to be digital and not require a lot of resources, so I actively followed Uber, Airbnb and Tinder, which at that time were still in their infancy. I liked the business model of these companies, so I started thinking about how to implement something similar in another area.

As a student, I came to work part-time in Moscow clothing stores - I played the role of a sales assistant.

It is important to build communication in such a way as to receive feedback from customers and improve the service in parallel with the promotion. Do not be afraid of the jambs that appear at the very beginning. If you learn from your clients, you will gain a much more valuable experience than if you lock yourself in a room and do something that is necessary only in your understanding.

The third mistake is to unreasonably build up the team. When the number of orders began to grow, we hired new specialists. This led us to get out of focus and spend more time communicating. Early successes breed ambition, but over-enthusiasm can kill you. It is better to concentrate on a specific task and a small team to direct efforts to one point. This will help you achieve results faster and start making steady profits.

Another problem is perfectionism. At the very beginning, I was terribly worried that the site was missing one full stop or comma, but then I realized that sometimes you need to sacrifice your desire for perfection in order to quickly launch a product on the market. Don't get hung up on small things at the start - treat them with leniency. It is better to take the time to build processes in the company, so that in the future it will work with your minimum participation, and at this time you can do something else.

Life hacks from Kim Sanzhiev

Kim Sanzhiev at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Moscow with the theme Fashion Tech

Do more and focus less on words. When I launched the project, it took me a year to think it through, study the market, meet countless people. In fact, a month is enough to find out everything and start testing the project. Practice will give you many more answers.
Don't be afraid to share your idea. Many startups think that someone will steal it and implement it earlier, but in reality the idea is only 10% of success - it costs nothing. The most important thing is how it is implemented. Share your product at every meeting because you will receive information that can be applied later. More than once I gained useful contacts only because I talked about the project even at the idea stage.
Filter informational content. There is very little really valuable expertise right now, so take it critically. Not all tips will work for you. If I want to create a global startup that will cost more than a billion dollars, then it makes no sense for me to listen to the person who organized a chain of cafes in a small town. He has completely different techniques, tools and tactics.
Don't think that business is easy and simple. Adequate people immediately understand that this is not so. Decide what you are willing to sacrifice for long-term results and do not think that you will be swimming in money in a couple of months. The same idea needs to be conveyed to the team so that people do not form incorrect expectations from the project. If you are willing to invest in a project of strength and time for two years, and your partner only three months, you are unlikely to work well. Discuss goals, objectives and expectations in advance and break up immediately if you realize that your vision of the future does not converge.
Pay attention to Western experiences. And if you don’t know English, learn it ASAP - this is incredibly important now. Many ideas from the foreign market cannot be implemented in Russia, but at least you will understand in which direction to move. There are many podcasts on this topic. One of my favorites is Masters of Scale.
Get content when you need it. There is no point in learning how to scale when you haven't even launched a project. At this stage, it is much more important to know how to get to the market faster. This also includes the timely solution of problems. Do what you really need to do right now. This problem often arises for tech startups: instead of preoccupied with sales, they lock in and start refining the product. The result is a spaceship that no one needs. Determine the points of growth, outline the trajectory of development and figure out what is worth tackling right now.