Rohit Bhargava, 26, is from Melbourne, Australia. He started his fashion technology business, StageLabel, in 2013. StageLabel is “crowdfunding for fashion”. It is unique to traditional crowd funding platforms by allowing fashion designers to set and accept preorder targets for individual pieces from their collection.
Starting the Business
Q: Where did the idea for your business come from? Where were you in your life and career?
A: The idea for StageLabel came to me while I was reading a book called “The Lean Startup” by Eric Reis. The core idea behind the book is to test and validate ideas so you build things people want, rather than making assumptions. The book talked about how to apply “lean principles” for a particular project or business, but I thought there could be a much bigger application of this where you can apply it to a whole industry.
It just so happened that a few of my friends who had been running their own fashion label at that time had to shut down. They were getting a big following online, but were making bad decisions with their inventory and their limited capital meant it was not long until they ran out of money.
Unfortunately, I knew this was an all-too-common story within the industry, with many talented young designers having to shut down because they do not have the business experience/ knowledge and really struggle with the high upfront capital costs needed to create their collections and that’s why StageLabel was created. I wanted to make it easier for talented designers to build successful labels.
Q: What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting out?
A: The biggest challenge by far for us is education. For our designers it is about educating them in the best and most efficient ways for themselves to self promote and market themselves to their target audiences during their StageLabel campaigns and also how to build successful and sustainable businesses after StageLabel.
To help educate our designers, we hold individual strategy sessions prior to their designs going up on StageLabel and we have also partnered up with some of the largest fashion schools in Australia where we run free business workshops for their students.
For customers, the challenge for us is to educate them on the different process and the unique way in which StageLabel operates.
Q: What is the one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started the business?
A: Although I probably know a lot of things now that I did not know when we started out, I would not change anything we have done. I think starting any business is a journey, where almost on a daily basis you are learning new things or reassessing your approach and strategy. Our culture at StageLabel is to remove all assumptions we have about the way things currently operate. We want to find what the problems are and figure out what the best way is to solve them.
We may not always get our solution right the first time, but being able and willing to test things quickly and move on if its not right solution has helped StageLabel significantly.
Q: What would you consider your first big success in the business?
A: Although we only launched in November 2013, we have already racked up some great wins for StageLabel.
- We have had our first few successful campaigns to go through the platform.
- We have signed up over 70 designers within Australia and another 15 or so overseas since launching 2 months ago. We also have a 100% success rate with every designer we have spoken to signing up to the platform.
- We were recently named as one of the “top 10 startups to watch in 2014”
- Some of our designers have been stocked in boutiques and have had their first external runway shows because of StageLabel.
We have big plans for StageLabel in 2014, with the launch of new features on the site and plans to open up to accept international designers.
The Future
Q: Where do you see your industry heading in the next 5 years?
A: I think there are a lot of great things happening in the fashion technology space at the moment. With successful Australian businesses like Shoes of Prey and the recent growth of Wearable Technology, I think there is going to be an even greater emphasis on combining fashion and technology within the next few years.
I think there will always be a place for bricks and mortar retail stores, but all brands need to get more technology savvy as more and more customers are shopping and getting their information online.
Q: What do you plan on doing / changing in order to keep growing in this time period?
A: Obviously I can’t go into much detail on this, but we will be focusing on delivering unique and innovative solutions to help connect our designers and customers.
Q: What does ultimate success look like to you? How will you know when you’ve achieved it?
A: We want to become the global go-to place for new designers to start their labels. Our long term aim and ultimate success will come from helping the designers we work with become successful global companies and we want to play a part in helping them get there.
Q: What do you think will be the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs in the near future?
A: There are always challenges in running or starting a business, but there has also never been an easier time for people to start and setup their own business.
I think a lot of people struggle to leave the safety of their job and a constant pay check to pursue what they really want to do, but there is never a right time to do it – you almost have to create the right time for yourself and take the plunge.
My advice on this would be to set some milestones for your business while you are still working full/part time. What can you get done in that time to limit your risk? Can you somehow validate your idea? Can you put up a landing page and start collecting emails? There are a lot of things you can get done while still working. Just work towards a target so that when you reach it, you know that you have reached a tipping point for your startup where you need to devote more time and you have some traction to build on.
Q: What one piece of advice would you give to someone just starting out in your industry and wanting to make it to the top?
A: I would really recommend finding a mentor when running a startup. Someone with a bit of experience in the industry or knowledgeable around the area you are working in can be invaluable. You can use them as a sounding board for your business as well as having someone who can help you manage the daily ups and downs of running a startup as well as planning the strategies for long term growth
