WoW Woman in FashionTech | Lisa Perrone, Chief Creative Officer and co-founder, Stylyze
Interview by MarijaButkovic
Lisa Perrone is Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of Stylyze.
Lisa is an award-winning interior designer who graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in interior architecture.
As a co-founder of Stylyze, Lisa’s focus is to drive the brand identity through an omnichannel approach that delivers rich digital experiences.
She believes everyone deserves good design and wants to help people be empowered to make confident design decisions.
What is the idea behind Stylyze and how did you come up with it?
Kristen, my co-founder and I, founded Stylyze while we were running businesses in the interior design space. We were both faced with the same pain point, which was finding products both online and in showrooms for our projects and clients was extremely time-consuming, and there was also no way to see complementary product recommendations to complete a design concept.
As a professional interior designer, I commonly found myself creating “Styleboards” or design concepts for my clients to help them visualize how pieces worked together and the feeling a group of well-curated products can give a space. I found that when I presented a complete design concept, the client often purchased all of the pieces and was happier with the end result. We realized that there was a transformative opportunity to scale this type of experience through technology, and also that the opportunity was broader than just the interior design industry.
We spoke with over 80 home improvement, home decor, and fashion retailers and e-commerce companies to understand their perspective and heard the same thing over and over. Essentially, they were all trying to find ways to recreate the best instore or designer powered experience through digital channels but lacked the product data and technology to do so.
We jokingly say we are the left and right side of the brain. I am the more creative right side of the brain, and Kristen is the more analytical left side of the brain. We set off on a journey to code the brain of a designer, with the overarching goal to bring fantastic design into the homes (and closets) of everyone shopping online through our experiential and contextual approach to digital merchandising and designing.
When did you start with that business, how did you start, and do you have other members in your team?
The business unofficially started in Kristen’s dining room with a “back of the napkin” brainstorming session after a very perceptive friend introduced us. I remember leaving her house late that night on fire because I knew we were going to build a business that would change people’s lives and transform an industry.
We realized that we needed to raise capital to build our vision as well as hire the technical expertise to codify it. We raised our first capital, hired our amazing CTO Sophie Huang, and started building the Stylyze SaaS platform in 2016.
Today there are 15 members of our team.
How long did it take you to be where you are now?
We have been actively building and productizing our technology since 2016, but Kristen and I met a few years prior to that and started creating the intellectual property behind Stylyze and filing patents. There have been many years of sleepless nights, daily learnings, and fortitude to keep going.
What was the biggest obstacle?
Being ahead of the curve. Amazon’s recommendation engine “if you like this, you may also like that”, was barely out in the wild. Our customers, the retailers, didn’t yet prioritize the budget for technology that could scale personalized omnichannel experiences. They didn’t feel the urgency and looked at recommending a well-styled assortment of products as a “nice-to-have” and not a “must-have”. That has obviously completely changed now, but we needed to convince them that the types of experiences we were enabling would drive ROI in a very different season.
What are the challenges of being an entrepreneur in the niche you are in? How about being a female founder/entrepreneur?
One of the biggest challenges in this niche is trying to compete against in house technology teams that want to solve the same problem as your business, yet don’t realize how much complexity it involves. When a client partners with us they are getting a patented color system, patented technology, years of styling and technical experience as well as a turn-key solution to get both a well-tuned backend platform and front-end experiences for their digital properties.
We have certainly experienced some gender bias while raising money and selling to male-led organizations, but overall we have chosen to focus on finding a path forward and success regardless of the obstacles.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
When we were starting this company we talked about who our dream customers were and what it would be like to work with the biggest and best in the industry. There are a few leaders at the top of the list in apparel, home decor, and home improvement and I can confidently say we checked all the boxes and got our sought-after partnerships in each of the verticals. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to be reminded of the amazing people and companies we get to work as extended team members.
What are the projects you are currently working on?
We just went live in the beauty vertical. We always knew that would be a close extension of the product assortment we would want to include in our merchandising platform. The other exciting project is style boards tailored for the upcoming holiday and gifting season to make purchasing a gift for your favorite beauty guru or home chef simple this year!
Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?
100% yes. A movement does something so simple and yet contains such intangible value, and that is awareness. We cannot get more girls interested and excited about tech if they aren’t aware of the endless possibilities before them. It starts with education and information so that every girl and woman alike can know that the field of technology is ripe and approachable for their unique talents. If it weren’t for mentorship and exposure, I would have never gotten into this field coming from a background in interior architecture.
What will be the key trends in the fashion tech and retail tech industry in the next 5 years and where do you see it heading?
1. Humanizing the digital experience. Retailers need to find meaningful ways to build relationships with customers using an omnichannel approach. This means that any interaction the customer has with the retailer, whether online or instore, pre-purchase through post-purchase, should be tailored to that customer and leveraged for meaningful future interactions. This is a lofty goal but becoming more attainable through new technology such as the merchandising platform provided by Stylyze.
2. Aspirational, Content Driven Shopping. Influencers have made this form of shopping popular, but the toolset enabling influencers to socialize and monetize their curated stories is the behind-the-scene star of this show. Everything from affiliate platforms such as Rakuten, to the types of merchandising tools provided by LIKEtoKNOW.it, to the channels provided by Instagram and Facebook are making it possible for influencers to reach broader audiences with their shoppable stories.
3. Immediate Gratification. The pathway between inspiration and purchase has gotten smaller. Therefore, retailers need to be ready to execute and ship. This means in-stock products linked to inspirational content, fast shipping, and easy returns. Customers will be looking for the fastest path to buy with the least friction and risk.
What is the most important piece of advice you can give to all female founders and female entrepreneurs out there?
Let your passion guide you. Build something that solves challenges and moves your soul simultaneously.
Who are your 3 inspirational women in fashion tech and/or retail tech?
1. Julie Averill - EVP, CTO at lululemon
2. Sarah W. Miller - Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer Neiman Marcus
3. Amber Venz Box - President and Founder of rewardStyle
Find out more about Stylyze on their website!
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This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, Forbes contributor and founder and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic.