Entrepreneur Portrait: Jennifer Lee, ClosetDash
Jennifer Lee is the founder and CEO of the new startup ClosetDash. The website is an environmentally friendly, clothes shopping platform for professional women based in New York City. Since the company’s launch in March 2013, ClosetDash has taken in about 11,000 items of clothing. We talked with Jennifer about her startup and working in NYC.
New York International: Can you tell us about the concept behind ClosetDash?Jennifer Lee: Sure, we let women swap their fashions to shop for fashions. Women get shopping credits for turning in their gently used items to us. The concept is a fun and easy way to get some value out of your pieces that still have value and do what you like to do naturally, which is shop! Not only are you saving money for yourself, but you’re saving the environment by essentially recycling your clothes.
NY Intl: I understand you previously worked on Wall Street. What pushed you to leave Wall Street and pursue this fashion outlet?Jennifer: I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and I guess in some ways I always was. I used to work as a trader and you really do run your own business when you’re working on the trading floor, but I wanted to eventually become my own boss and be an entrepreneur. The concept for ClosetDash came out of my own need to find an efficient and quick way to get rid of my great condition clothes and have the option to get something in return.NY Intl: You studied at Columbia University; do you think studying in New York helped your decision to set up your business here?Jennifer: New York is my home. I lived in California during my BA, but I have lived and worked in New York for years, so it made sense to set up my business at my home. I have my network here. It’s also a great city to start a fashion business because you can pull from the best.NY Intl: I’ve been looking at a list of competitors, ThredUp, Poshmark, and ThredFlip. How does your company stand out uniquely from them?Jennifer: We are not set up as a marketplace. Companies like ThredFlip and Poshmark are great for people who have the time and want to take the effort to post up everything. You have to take the photos, you have to write the descriptions, and then you have to sit and wait to see if someone transacts on your item. Now, ThredUp is the closest to us, they take and process the clothes and put them up on the site themselves. It’s an easy way to get rid of your stuff. The biggest difference is we don’t offer cash payment for any of the clothes that get sent in. We’re strictly a credit only system, which is a business decision that I made from day 1. I wanted this to be the pure essence of trading clothes.NY Intl: Your company was part of the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, how was your experience there?Jennifer: ERA was a great experience that gave me access to a large network within the investor and entrepreneur world in a very short amount of time. It was an intense program and not for every startup but for those who are really looking for advice and guidance in the very early stages, it’s a great experience.NY Intl: How did you go about getting funding? Do you have any tips for startups pitching to investors?Jennifer: Fundraising is one of the hardest things any startup will have to go through. It has been a very interesting and intense process where you really find out if you have what it takes to be a CEO. I feel like I am very fortunate to be in NYC and to have gone through ERA which has helped a great deal when it comes to fundraising. Some advice I would give is:1) Never give up, no matter how many people think your idea is dumb2) Be a good storyteller, especially if your startup’s demographic does not include your potential investor (being a female-fashion based company it has been challenging at times to pitch to a mainly male-dominated group)3) Be lean, even after you get funding. The last thing you want is to have to go back to investors immediately to ask for more money!
NY Intl: We’re really excited about female entrepreneurs in NYC. What are some top 3 pieces of advice you could pass on to other female entrepreneurs?Jennifer: The advice is really applicable to all entrepreneurs. First, make sure you have an awesome team that you know you could spend 24/7 with. Basically, if you were trapped on an island you wouldn’t end up killing everybody. Tip number two is to really use your networks. I’ve gotten this far because of my amazing network of mentors and advisors and general support from my network. I think people underestimate how powerful a network can be. A lot of the successes we’ve had to date have been from networking. People need to take advantage of this because as an entrepreneur your main job is to sell your company and you need support in doing that. My third piece of advice is to keep it very lean because you never know what could happen. You always want to run your company like it could potentially be your last day and you want to make sure everything is running efficiently and smoothly. From my experience, it’s the entrepreneurs who look at their bottom line who end up succeeding.NY Intl: Who would you say is your biggest inspiration in the entrepreneur world?Jennifer: I have big respect for Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos. He has taken shoes, and made a company which stands out in that market because of his crazy focus on customer service. People are always saying you need a barrier to entry into business. I think people underestimate how much customer service can be a barrier entry. You need to make sure at the end of the day your customers are going to be loyal to you and return.NY Intl: Are there any other exciting things in the future for ClosetDash?Jennifer: There are a couple of things in the works but I can’t really say anything right now. Let’s just say it’s going to enhance your overall shopping and swapping experience.NY Intl: We’ll look forward to that. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about ClosetDash and your goals?Jennifer: We’re trying to build an amazing community of people who want to find ways to put their pieces to good use. We’re happy to put efficient use to something that would just be sitting around and wasting space in someone’s closet. That part of the process is the best part of it. The fashion industry is not the best when it comes to being environmentally sound. This is our small way to reduce the carbon footprint of the fashion industry.