FEMALE + FUNDED: How I raised £660k in just 3 months, and £176k from just ONE LinkedIn post! Olivia Parkes, Founder & CEO of Persi

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia is the best business podcast for curious entrepreneurs featured in the UK's Top 20 charts for business shows.

Hosted by Stephanie Melodia, Strategy & Tragedy features candid interviews with entrepreneurs who have scaled - and failed - their businesses - sharing their lessons in entrepreneurship along the way. From Simon Squibb of 'What's Your Dream?' Internet fame to Lottie Whyte of Sunday Times Top 100 Fastest-Growing company, MyoMaster. From exited founders like Nick-Telson Sillett to subject matter experts like Alex Merry in the public speaking arena and Matt Lerner, the GOAT of Growth.

This is one of the best podcasts to listen to if you're looking for educational and inspirational content on Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon, YouTube or watch the clips on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts

In this week's episode, Stephanie Melodia interviews Olivia Parkes, the Founder & CEO of Persi, who is making fashion personalisation actually personal!

With Persi, retailers can deliver highly personalised product recommendations based on what each customer owns, loves, and actually wears.

In this interview, you'll hear about...

• The £176K post: How Olivia raised almost £200k from a single LinkedIn post for her female-first cap table

• Resilience amidst a triple pivot to SEIS disaster recovery

• Scrappy MVPs and non-technical founder success (before meeting her perfect co-founder match!)

• Balancing motherhood & startup life (including pitching while pregnant and breastfeeding in the boardroom - normalising what it really takes to make it work as a working mother)

• And so, so much more inspirational wisdom and practical tips...

Watch on YouTube via the link below or keep reading for the transcript:

SM: Liv, how did you raise 176k off the back of one LinkedIn post?

OP: I still ask myself that question today. I don't think it was the post in itself. I think it was what came before that. And one thing I really committed to at the beginning of 2024 was to really build a community on LinkedIn and be consistent in what I was messaging and find out what my voice was. And I think quite quickly, I realised that people were interested in something a bit funny, that actually had some transparency and real honesty and a bit of education, and that was very much me in a LinkedIn post as well. I wanted to get that energy into into a post.

So during that that year's period, I built up this community of followers. I'd say a lot of them were women, people that were interested in what I was doing with Persi, why I was doing it, and how I was doing it, as well as investors because I was really trying to build up that pipeline too.

When I did that post that got me that money, it was actually about asking for women, female angels that were interested in investing and potentially joining my journey. And I think what was interesting about that was within a day, I had 10 people booked in for a call. I think it was just the fact that they were like, "oh, wow. I've seen what she's doing, and now she's opening up the chance for someone to come in at a low ticket to just sort of be a part of a journey."

Once I got on the call, 24 hours later, I had a 176k on the table, which was just for a 50k ticket.

SM: It's kind of that classic tip of the iceberg, is it which we see a lot with social media where it's like, oh, this headline that actually there is all that legwork that's gone on behind the scenes that we never see. A few more questions. And for our listeners, if you're not already aware of Liv and her business, Persi, bear with us - we'll be getting onto the elevator pitch in a sec, but wanted to dive straight in here on the fundraising piece.

So why was it important for you to have women on your cap table? Why female investors in particular?

OP: As a female founder (and I know we shouldn't call ourselves female founders because do you ever hear of male founders? No. Please. However, I think I also have to kind of feel there's a lot of power in saying that as well) so, as a female founder, I have found it challenging to get in the right room. And also at the beginning of my journey, which was about three years ago, I was also pitching pregnant. I was doing it online trying to hide that bump because assuming that they would go, why would I give you your money when you're about to have a baby?

I also pitched five weeks postpartum with my baby downstairs with my husband whilst I was upstairs trying to get investment. So I knew the challenges there, and I was actually finding it hard to find women in investment and at certainly to access angels. So when it got to I had secured lead investors, who predominantly were men, and I wanted women not only who understood the challenges of being a female founder, let alone a female angel, but also that would probably be well, they would be my first adopters that really believed in the product that I was building and wanted to be a part of that journey and feedback on that journey too. And just to give people the chance to come in at what doesn't need to be a huge ticket.

SM: Incredible. It makes so much sense. And, of course, the financial empowerment piece to it as well, right? Like, if you can get comfortable with investing, get that return as well, then, you know, if that can be redistributed a lot around the women, then even better.

You said about finding female investors. Something that stood out to me with some of the angels that you tagged on LinkedIn is that most of them don't even have investor listed on their profile, so how how did you attract them? How did you even know?

Yeah. So on the post, I very much was clear that we had already oversubscribed. I was raising 350. At that point, I think I had 590, 600 on the table. And, I then ring fenced this final amount for female investors. Really, I was looking for women, like I said, interested in joining my journey, either were angel investors or interested in starting that journey, and someone that if they were in retail and tech, bonus. Now all of these women had some kind of value that they brought, but a lot of them actually - I think it's four or five of them - were first time angels.

One of them, which was quite an interesting one, was actually, a woman who is a recruiter and has an incredible network. And her offer to me was, let's have a call and let's see if there's anyone I know that I can introduce you to. What's interesting is we just hit it off. She loved what I was doing. She followed that journey I spoke about and she was like, I just had to talk to you and I love what you're doing with Persi. And then the next day, I got an email, and she was like, would you be interested in me investing?

Apparently, she'd gone home to her husband, and she was like, I think I wanna put money. Like, what do you think? So that was awesome. And she did introduce me to another angel that did invest in it.

SM: Incredible. And whilst I'm sure you did a phenomenal job in pitching, I wonder how much more effective it is when you think it's like, oh, this is for an introduction and sort of takes that pressure off. Kudos to you.

This is obviously part of your wider fundraise. You managed to you said you ring fenced that final amount, but you had the overall 660. You did it twice - you were oversubscribed. So share a little bit more on the whole on on the wider fundraising journey.

OP: Let's go back. This idea has been iterating, and I've been talking to investors over a period of about three years. And the idea actually started around made to order menswear, so fashion, using some kind of tech to get that level of personalization.

So we went out and spoke with investors. We had a huge amount of interest, and then the war hit, and our lead time for the clothing went from four weeks to eight to twelve. So and also appetite around direct to consumer at that point was plummeting because of the cost to acquire a customer. So we knew at that point we needed to pivot. So at that time, we went very quickly to a B2B to B2C.

We knew that didn't work because although similar to Threads, although we didn't make the product, we still had to logistically move it around, so the margins just went there. So then I was like, right, there's something in this. The market and investors are interested in personalisation. I think there's a play on B2B. At that point, my cofounder at the time was leaving sort of moving away from the business, and as I landed on what is now Percy today, I wanted to find a solution for retailers.

I'm a brand consultant. I very much go into a lot of fashion brands as well as, other consumer brands, and I look at how do we acquire their customers, how do we convert those customers, and how do we retain them from a loyalty perspective. And when I was looking at the online journey, ironically, we're looking at levels of personalisation that, ironically, are not personal. And I knew I needed to find a way to increase that conversion rate. Their conversion rates are between, I think it's now, 1.9 to 2.4 on average.

So the opportunity is there. The traffic is there. They're just not converting them. And it's because consumers are totally overwhelmed. There is all this product being pushed at them, either because it's a new collection, it's an overstock, or like I said, you know, in terms of personalisation, you're being shown more of what you've, just bought or something totally irrelevant because someone else also bought the same jeans as you, right? It's not based on you. It's based on when you land on a website, what you've previously bought, or what you've clicked on on that website. It's so overly simplistic. It's not not effective, actually, is it?

So we landed on this concept. I fully took over the business at the beginning of last year. And during that time, I, unearthed some challenges that meant that I could no longer move forward with that business in terms of fundraising. One of them was in the fact that our SEIS application that had been made by my cofounder, there was an error made, and it meant that I had 70k rather than 250k.

At the same time, I had my now lead investor, thankfully, come to me on a LinkedIn post I'd put out about, should I pay to pitch? I'd had a conversation, with another well-known investor advisor, and I was talking about people keep asking me to pay to attend these events. I don't have the money. Should I be paying? And he was like, no, you shouldn't. So I put this out.

One of the investors said, "Liv, you should never pay to pitch to me." But when I did, I said, look, I've got this challenge. He was like, I'm gonna see what I can do, but he couldn't make it work because, ultimately, it didn't make sense. They invest in SEIS businesses.

SM: What was the error on the SEIS application? (For people to watch out for).

OP: Great question. We had put in that the investment we had taken from Friends & Family was SEIS compliant, which it wasn't. There was a couple of small 10k checks, none of which were SEIS compliant, and then there was also a convertible note, which also doesn't work.

So when we contacted HMRC, I got legal advice. They agreed that that investment was not SEIS compliant, but they said because of the way that they are structured, very old school, they could not track that that had not been used, so they couldn't reimburse me. So because the concept by that point and also it continued to pivot once I'd closed that previous business was so different from the menswear brand when we applied from the SEIS, the menswear fashion brand, we're now pure b to b tech. I was able to set up a new company. I rebranded.

I was left with a personal loan, a British Business Bank, startup loan, which I needed to continue to pay, which was challenging. I I've had no money to to, you know, get a branding, so I got a friend to do on the weekend a very quick branding.

I rebranded to Percy, which very close to my heart. My eldest son is called Percy. I did ask his permission, and I got it. But it's obviously spelled differently because it's the whole point is, you know, we as a business are ingrained in personalisation, so it just made sense.

SM: Incredible. Why did you decide to take out a British Business Bank loan, and why was that better than another type of loan?

OP: They're really the start up loans have really good, interest rates. So it makes sense. And you can basically, as a director, take up to 25k. So if you have several directors, you could each take, you know let's say you had two founders. At that stage, it was just me. I took out the, director's loan at 25k. And that was because we believe that was gonna get us over the hump to get us the investment. And, unfortunately, it just didn't because that pivot was just not working.

SM: Well, great little tip for other founders if you're considering financing options. Definitely worth looking at.

So you have not only gone through, like, pivots and iterations, but, honestly, your story with Persi is like a phoenix from the ashes. What actually happened here with the cofounder situation? Take us through the transition.

OP: Yeah. So as I said, my cofounder started to step away from the business as we were pivoting before we landed on what it is now, And it was for personal reasons, which I totally understood. But, unfortunately, what I was left with was then challenges that impacted me and then the future business as well. I mentioned I was left with with the loan. I obviously had to close down the business because I couldn't get this lead investor because of my limited SEIS.

And at that point, it just didn't make sense to continue. So I had to make that difficult decision of closing the business down. I luckily had an incredible lawyer that supported me on going through that whole process.

SM: Give them a shout out.

OP: CMS, they're great. They supported me and then continued to support me in the future raises. But, like, without that help, I couldn't have done it. I wouldn't have known where to go.

I also sought external advice, and a lot of people said, Liv, you're not gonna be able to do this.

There is a high risk you will not get your SEIS if they think it's too similar, which, of course, it wasn't, but you have to kind of prove that. So it's not the case that you can just use your SEIS, close it, use it, like, you can't keep doing that.

SM: So I was gonna ask you about that because that was a risk. So I'm really curious to know, like, where does the drive come from for you to, like, pick yourself back up again, lick the wounds?

You've kind of gone through this business already. You're now kinda left co-founder-less. Like, why why wouldn't you kind of go and get a job and, like, lick your wounds for a while? What what made you kinda go back at it again?

OP: Gosh. A number of things. My dad is like my Yoda.

SM: Aww. Shout out, Mr. Parkes.

OP: No shout out, Mr Cavill!

SM: Oh, sorry. Okay. Marriage.

OP: Yeah.

SM: Mr. Cavill.

OP: So he - look - he is a four-time founder, and I grew up seeing him build a business and sell it very successfully.

SM: What type of business?

OP: So it was tech, but it was actually like LAN, local area networking, bringing it over from The US. Actually quite an interesting story. So he worked for a US company. He proposed that they do the same thing that they're doing in The US over there in The UK. They actually fired him, and then he went and did it himself, took them to court, one court, did what he said he was gonna do in their business, and then ten years later bought them.

SM: Oh my god. That's amazing. Vindication.

OP: Absolutely. So he's been surrounded by this entrepreneurial kind of world. You know, he wasn't there in the week. He was home at nine having dinner. We were in bed. On the weekends, he kinda needed to decompress as well. So, like, he wasn't around that much, but I still kind of put him on this pedestal, and I think it was what was in me that always wanted that. So I always say if I could achieve an ounce of what he did, I'd love to.

SM: Are you daddy's girl as well?

OP: Do you know what? I'm both. I don't know, but we have this very strong bond over business. He kind of only lives and breathes business. So it's like his it's how you talk to him. That's why we're so close and he just loves what I'm doing. So I think I've always had that and then my husband always jokes that he's like, you know, you're literally like a dog with a bone. You're the most tenacious, determined. I'll tell you one thing. You'll go and do another. If someone says no, you'll find a way. And I just think that's always been in me. So I always knew I wanted my own thing. I set my consultancy up. That was never the end goal. It was just to get me somewhere. But I never thought I'd have my own, like, thing, and I'd like, it's just incredible how it's worked out.

SM: Oh, I'm so happy for you. So let's go back to the situation where you, you had this SEIS complication. You've got you've taken out a loan. I know that you consulted a little bit, to bring in that mindset. Talk to us as well about that time where you've you've still gotta pay the bills, like, we gotta be practical here, right? So what did you do to make money? And I think linked to the jumper story.

OP: Yes. So let's go there. You're right. Look. I was fortunate that I've had my consultancy for six years. So when we started sort of exploring this idea, I was able to dial up and dial down my consultancy in order to make sure I had money to make bills every month, but still build on the side. So I was working between two to three days a week, and the rest of the time was on what is now, Persi. And because it's as a consultant and a day rate, it is a much higher amount. So it it covered us. My husband works as well. You know, ultimately, my salary is the leading salary, so we needed that money. We also had two kids at that point and two in nursery. And in London, it is a killer. Same.

So, you know, we need there was no way that we could scale back on that. I needed to find a way. And and there was times where I felt I was being selfish going, I wanna do this start up when I could have been going and getting a very healthy salary full time elsewhere. Well, this is the thing. And I questioned myself the whole time.

Is this fair? Am I being I kept using the word irresponsible. Am I being irresponsible as a mother that I could be earning something like this and I'm not, and I'm putting the pressure on us to squeeze. Anyway, that was able to support us. But by the end of last year, when I just, like I said, closed down the business, rebranding, I was stitching this MVP together.

I knew this was my last chance. I only had a certain amount of time I could keep paying this loan in order to get this business funded. And within that time, I needed to prove that consumers wanted it and retailers would pay for it. Incredible. So I knew I needed to dedicate my whole time to this, and I gave up my consultancy.

To be honest, it was the end of a contract. I just didn't look for a new one, but it was in November. We're out turn to December. I have no income. I'm like, it's Christmas.

I have two kids. So I needed to also find a way, like we said, to pay those bills. So I was, from the first company, the menswear, I was left with about 300 just over 300 merino knitwear. Jumpers in five different styles, four different colours, and they were just, like, boxes in my my, office upstairs. And I was, like, I need to ship these. It's Christmas, perfect time for gifting. So I basically put some on eBay, within a week sold none. So I was, like, I'm gonna put them on WhatsApp. So I entered every single WhatsApp group I had. I went through the schools. I went through the nurseries. I went through the groups. And within a month, I sold 290 merino jumps. Well, I had one guy come back six times. He was like, I need more. He's like, have you got any more on that size? I was like, no, but I've got these. I'll take them.

SM: I love it. And this really does speak to that real entrepreneurialism that you definitely have in your DNA because the amount of people that would be like, oh, I'm not gonna sell in my nursery WhatsApp group.

OP: Fuck it. Like No. I would say you gotta do.

SM: I love it. I'm so here for it. You mentioned briefly in the story as well about stitching together an MVP and getting that market validation. As a non-technical founder, I would love to hear how you stitch together this MVP because I know you've got a really practical way you did that that I think lots of people will take inspiration from.

OP: Yeah. Well, I was on a one of my many accelerators that I've done. This one was called Product Builder, and it was Plexal and Barclays. And on that, they really push you through, like, what are your challenges, and how can you test and learn and keep moving and prove in order to raise investment or launch. And within that, my blocker was investment, because I am nontechnical, my product is technical. So I'm like, I just need to raise and then I can build. Until then, I can't do anything. And, actually, there's a guy on there, James, from Lunox. He was like, no, you don't. And I was like, well, yeah. It's AI. Like, what? And he was like, no. You don't. There are so many tools out there. And he was like, we're gonna find a way to get an MVP live with no technical ability. And here's that push. I went home that weekend, and I was like, okay. This maybe this could work. I basically stitched together, a combination of different platforms that allowed me to do what we call concierge style. So I sent a text to, a couple of friends, and within ten minutes, I was oversubscribed. And what that MVP was, upload three items you own, and I will build looks around it, including your items with links to purchase. So within that time, I was oversubscribed in ten minutes, and then I added this paywall. And it was very much like a pay what you want. Let's see if the consumer will pay, the retailer will pay. And remember, my customer is the retailer. But if the consumer pays, it's showing the level of demand, and that will unlock the retail.

So I essentially stitched together four different platforms. It was Tally, which was asking the customer what these styles were, who they are, what their style was, what they didn't like, and uploading items they owned. Then I use PowerPoint to sort of build these flat lay looks including their items and make sure it visually worked together, which again is visually gonna work on a person. And then I put that into Notion with the links to buy, and they had a private website. And I just branded it. And then I added another Tally at the end to get their feedback.

SM: Fantastic.

OP: And it's just within two months, we had 43 paying customers. We had got an 88% purchase intent, 90% style accuracy.

SM: So Incredible. Those numbers. Love it. This really speaks to solving the problem.

It doesn't matter, like, what's the pack I mean, for certain things, it's like, okay, there are non-negotiables, but I do think that a lot of early stage founders, first time founders can fall into that trap of, you know, they've got a vision. They want it to be this. They want it to make and perfect. And you're like, this is as as long as it's doing the job Yes. Definitely not you know, one of my favorite sayings in startup land is beta now, better later.

Yeah. Right? Where it's like put it to the test. Yes. And now as well, you know, you have got, like, vibe coding.

Yeah. Yeah. It's getting even even better. Isn't it Reid Hoffman that said something like if you put a product out and you're proud of it, it's too late or something or it's perfect because we're trying to perfect it kinda the whole time. So you're right.

It was a case of, it was me at the end of the day doing all this shopping Yeah. But for the consumer, they uploaded things and they got My problem solved. You don't they don't know what I was doing in the background. Yeah. Exactly.

Love that. But having fundraised Yeah. Fast forwarding a little bit enabled you Yeah. To bring in the tech talent. Exactly.

So how did you go about assessing the right fit as a nontechnical founder? Yeah. So I think because of my previous experience, I was kind of quite focused on, you know what? I'm gonna do this on my own. I'd very much had landed on it.

It was my idea. I validated it. I felt very passionate about it. And I think I also I just didn't wanna have to rely on someone else. I knew I could rely on myself.

Yeah. And so many times over my journey, I've been told, you know, you need a technical cofounder. You're not gonna raise without a a a CTO as a cofounder. And I'd kinda dabble with the idea, but I was struggling to be able to find someone that I knew would be in my head, in my mind, and there wasn't gonna be the founder fallout situation because founder fallout is actually a higher risk than being a solo founder. So I'd made the decision to do it on my own, and I was looking to bring on a CTO in year two.

So I didn't need to raise as much money. I would have had to have raised a lot more. Like I said, I was originally raising $3.50. And what I did was I surrounded myself with advisors and mentors within those gaps, within data, within AI, within personalization, within Shopify that could advise me and educate me on what I needed now. I also during that, accelerator I mentioned, with Plexilla Barclays, I met an agency called The Tech Deb, and they helped me on a proof of concept.

And then I felt knew enough about me and my vision to be the right agency to work with for that first year. And also, the CEO would step in as a kind of fractional CTO whilst I needed them and also help me hire that team that I mentioned in year two. Nice. But as I overfunded, what that unlocked was actually, now I can bring someone on day one. And in the meantime, I'd actually connected with someone called Matthew Deakins, Matt Deakins in December through a friend.

We were working in the same cofounder space. My friend was like, there's just gonna be this guy there, you know, he's lovely, he's a fractional CPO, just chat to him, he might be able to help you on your pilot. So we had lunch that time, and then the next time we went, we spoke again. And then he was like, I can help you out. I'm not gonna charge you.

I'll help you out with some free things. So he started helping me out on bits for the pilot. And during that period, I was fundraising and things were going crazy, and I would we both kinda turned up one day, and we were both, like, we think there's something in this. It was like we were literally, like Daisy. I'm not I'm not joking.

Do you feel it too? I think there's something in it. And I was like, okay. So why don't we I was like, I don't wanna overpromise you anything because I don't know where this is gonna go with the investment. I can't afford you, but, like, would you be interested?

So we did a trial period where he was, like, helping me for, like, three months kind of pretending he was in the company. Awesome. And then it got to the point where I was, like, you have literally downloaded my head and my heart about Percy. You speak before like, whilst I'm thinking. And I was, like, everything I needed is right in front of me.

It's green flags everywhere. And then I got this extra money, and I was like, it's like you were delivered to me. Perfect. Stars stars aligning when you know you know. Right?

Whether it's romance or cofounder and co like, help it. On on the cofounder thing as well, I think you mentioned about, you know, like, being able to rely on yourself. And, you know, it is no mean feat being a solo founder, the fundraising is a whole thing in of itself, the business, or there's so many different facets to it. I wanna kind of broach the subject of trust, especially with the previous cofounder, you know, going through some some challenges there. How has that affected you, you know, the once bitten, twice shy?

Has it made you kind of more cautious? Are you kind of more guilty until proven innocent? Yeah. How has that affected you? It's a tricky one because I've always been someone that trusts first.

Yeah. And then rather than, like, you need to earn my trust, I'm also I mean, as you can probably tell, I'm an oversharer. I'm an open book. Like, what you see is what you get. So I've always been, like, aware of that, but also not wanting to change it.

Now, technically, I I could kind of then have responded to that previous situation going right now, I'm really gonna hold my cards close to my chest. And I have been advised by both my dad and my chairman that you need to be careful, Liv. But I think at the same time, I don't wanna bring that baggage onto the next relationship. Yeah. But I think what I do need to be aware of is listening to my gut.

And there were moments during that experience where I did not listen to my gut that I think actually would have protected me a bit more. Yeah. And I think with the situation with Matt, I didn't jump head first even though I kinda knew him immediately. Yeah. I I didn't ask him out as they say.

That's it. Yeah. I kept being like, we're in a situationship that no strings attach. Like, if you need to go, you can go. And then it was a case of I was like, propose.

Really? He's the one. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

And we we one thing we have really, promised ourselves because of my background, and he's, you know, also got stories himself in similar situations. We start every conversation when it's a difficult one with in the spirit of our transparency and then go into it. Because I know that then, either he he knows as well, we're not coming at it like a threat or like a this or like you did the you did the it's a case of this is the situation. This is how I think we can deal with it. Or, like, this is how I feel.

Yeah. Did you do you understand that? And, like, so far, it's really worked for us. Like, we have such an open relationship. There is that trust.

Yeah. But what's interesting is trust has become a huge part of the business. Yeah. Because what we're dealing with is trust from a consumer, trust on their data, trust on what we're showing them is based on what they want, not because we are trying to advertise or push product in front of them because a retailer is paying us. Like, that is a huge part of Percy.

It's one of our core values. Love that. And I think that, you know, that's ultimately what brand is. You know, people think brand is logo and your color scheme and all the rest of it, but it's building trust. And the way that you build trust is by fulfilling the promises that you make over and over.

And I think, you know, obviously, lovely core value to have whatever your business is, but I think especially with the AI component as well Yeah. There probably is some kind of skepticism and There is. Cynicism around. There is. Yeah.

And I think so one thing we've done, we're b to b SaaS. Right? So normally b to b SaaS, the the consumer's not aware of them. They're just plugged in in the back, and they're experiencing whatever the solution is. But one thing that Percy has is a sort of front end brand presence.

So as a consumer, you land on a retailer's website. You get the option to shop using Percie. We're not sending you away. You're still sitting on the website, and you know that you're shopping with Percie. We get to know you.

We ask you a couple of questions. You upload items. You then might hopefully purchase items. Then if you go to another retailer, you're like, oh, Percy's here. Great.

They know me. They know there's other items I've uploaded. They know what I've told them. So we're building that relationship. I wanna get it to the stage where a consumer is frankly pissed off when they land on a retailer and it's not powered by Percy because they know that we will give them the best experience.

We have their best interest at heart. We're only putting something in front of them based on what they need and what matches them. Love that. What a great vision to have and such a wonderful North Star metric that keeps you and as your business scales, as I'm sure it will, will kinda unite everyone to focus on that quality on the delivery. And I just love that framing, you know.

It's like the way that we frame things and how you communicate as a leader as well. It's like, we wanna get to a point where customers piss off that we don't have where they feel the difference. Yeah. I love that. I wanna just kinda come back for a second on the topic of gut instinct again.

Right? Because I feel like Yeah. That that was a big juicy one I wanted to get into. What have been some other situations, or or can you deep dive a little bit into, like, when you didn't trust your gut? And I know you've got some other stories on that.

Yeah. Well, there was I think, look, one was the SEIS. There's there was something during that period where I kept asking for the certificate. Something was telling me that there was something not quite right with it, and it wasn't that it was being held back from me. I think it was a case that they didn't know where it was for a long time, but for some reason, something in my gut was saying, there's a problem here.

You need to address this. It could hinder moving forward. And I remember, like, so clearly, I was on holiday with my family for my husband's fortieth, and I got the message and the attachment, and it was like, here you go, and I, like, opened it, and immediately I saw, and I was like, why does it say this? And then I was like, I just knew I should yeah. And I probably could have if I had got it, I think, six months before, HMRC said they could have overturned it because it had been such a long period that because we got it two and a half years before.

There's no point what if and sliding doors. So don't think like that. So just immediately, like, eradicate that from our mind. It's it's so interesting because I'm such a big you know, I'm such a huge proponent of, like, gut instincts and the case for it, and I had a, like, a neuroscience friend who, told me that actually during fetal development, our guts are our our gut is shot through with, with neural cells, with clusters. So they cluster in, like, three main places, our head, our heart, and gut, basically.

And there's this, like, research that's happening now which is exploring, like, that second brain and how if we're receiving sick there's, like, there's a reason we're feeling the way we are. There's a there's a reason. And, not to be not to be super sexist about this because it isn't just, like, men and women in that binary. But there is definitely something to be said for, like, the female intuition. I think because now there's something trending online.

Sting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Exactly. And I think the problem is is is it it's the acting on it. Right? Like, I've been in so many of those situations as well, and it's like, even though I can feel it and I sense it, because it's not hard evidence, it's not even giving enough to me personally Yes. To act on it.

Yeah. But, like, now having been through these experiences that you have gone through, do you feel more confident now? I know that's a leading question. Yeah. But to when there is something off Yes.

Just kinda be like, Yeah. I I think trust this. I think to listen to myself a bit more and to trust myself because I think one thing I do find, I sometimes find it hard to make decisions, and I can be quite influenced by other people coming in with opinions. I'll make my own, but I want to listen to I don't ever wanna make a decision on my own. I don't know if you know human design, but Yeah.

Okay. So I'm a reflector, which is what the 1%, and I, therefore, am a sponge and I absorb a lot of what everyone else thinks. And therefore, I struggle sometimes to find my own opinion and find my own self identity and who I am and how I sort of, you know, present in the world, I guess. So I also have to be careful that, a, I'm not too influenced by other people. But, also, when it is my gut, I'm like, should I?

Shouldn't I? Like, I question myself a lot. Yeah. So I think you're right. I think through these experiences, I am becoming more confident in knowing who I am and and being able to listen to other people, but like I say, filter and be able to sort of sit in my own, like, truth.

But it it's gonna continue to be a learning curve. Right? Absolutely. It's one of those things that it's just like there's no shortcuts to custom, is there? Like, you just you get those experiences and and you're learning from it.

What's the future for Percy? I mean, like, who you've got your fundraise. Yeah. You've got Matt. You say you've got, like, real husband, real husband.

What's next? It sounds so exciting. Yeah. Look. It is.

We're only two months post fundraise. I'm about to say postpartum. Technically. Right? So we It's very smart.

Yeah. We have been in the weeds. We're readjusting. And actually today, we relaunched a brand refresh and our new website, which is really exciting. Please do think in the show notes.

Go check it out. Definitely. Look, my previous branding, I think I mentioned a friend of mine did it over the weekend, didn't charge me anything, and I loved it. But as soon as you removed the burgundy background, which, of course, you'd have to on a retailer site, you were left with this red logo, which on a retailer looks like a for sale or an alert site. Yeah.

And then you turn it black and it just didn't have Any of those. The personality and and yeah. So I knew I needed to find a brand, or a logo that could live in someone else's world, have a presence, but not take over, but also live on its own. And that's what I I feel really confident we've landed on. It is ingrained in personalization.

Every letter has a different personality, and there's so many fun things that we'll look to kind of, extrapolate as, you know, the brand becomes more known. But, yeah, like I said, we've updated our website, and then the next stage for us is gonna be launching our pilot partnership. So q four, we're looking to launch the first product. I'm speaking as of next Monday with retailers. We're we're focusing first on Shopify because of the quick plug and play aspect that will allow us to just test and learn and iterate and make it super low cost and How are you monetizing that?

Are you taking, like, a commission off touch Exactly. Yeah. The commission of sale. We really believe in the product. We believe that we will increase conversion, increase basket size, and we're backing that with how we then, monetize the business.

Fantastic. And what's your growth strategies as well with these partners? Yeah. So, I mean, look. Initially, we're focusing, like I said, on Shopify because most fashion retailers are on there, and it makes sense to focus on one platform first to build and learn rather than build across all, and then you're kind of juggling.

So initially, we're focusing on Shopify. We will be working with smaller retailers as we build out. And then I think it's gonna be going, what's our next platform? You know, is it Accentra? Is it, a SAP?

Is it, Salesforce? Like, what what are we looking at next? But also, you know, dare I say it, Percy is agnostic. So it we we're addressing fashion first because we know that there is a problem there. It makes sense for my background and my network.

But, essentially, you could be doing up your house. And let's say you're doing up your bathroom and you have your bath and you have your tiles, but you wanna update it. We can recommend the right blinds, the right paint, the right taps based on your style and what you already have. And do you know what? Strategically, I think the fashion industry is such a great place.

You know, to start only from the problem perspective in terms of, like, the overwhelm of choice and the whole returns and the time spent and the list goes on and on. But even from just kinda like that brand perception Yeah. Point of view, because moving out into, like, interiors or these other categories, you know, they do look to fashion. Yeah. Fashion is the trendsetter, the leader.

Internet. Personal taste and style. Yeah. What are some on a more negative kind of, vein, what are, some risks that are around the corner? Because it all sounds very subjective.

Yeah. Yeah. Also kind of assuming that by going into something like Spotify Yep. It makes Shopify. Not done.

Sorry. I'm not I don't realize I did that. I'm a podcaster, so I'm allowed to say Spotify. It's fine. Didn't even realize I did that.

I presume that, you know, that makes it so much more frictionless Yeah. For the root because it's just like it's already there in Shopify. Yeah. But then what so conversely, sounds great. What are some risks that you're looking out for Yeah.

Over the next few months? Yeah. I mean, the first one is obviously getting the product right. Our main focus for the next twelve months is product market fit, and it will unlock that next layer of investment, which, you know, I don't wanna think about right now. And because I overfunded, I'm I'm not squeezed.

But at the same time, if we wanna grow, I always say, like, let's find product market fit and then work out where we're putting that rocket, and then we can go and raise. So Yeah. Fantastic. The first thing for us is product. And within that, it's getting the right integration, making sure it is plug and play.

It is surfacing the right products, and the accuracy of the recommendations are there. And what additional layer of, you know, rules that we need to input or, how else do we train it so we make sure that it is delivering what we are promising. So that has gotta be our first. Are there any competitors? There are competitors in this space.

So there's a number of competitors in the d to c space. You've got the likes of Daydream. I don't know if you heard. So it's, Julie Bornstein. She was one of the founders of Stitch Fix and then also the Yes that was bought a couple of years ago by, Pinterest.

That was a swipe right swipe left in terms of fashion. Mhmm. So she is, like, very experienced in this space. She has created Daydream, which is also similar to Hey Savvy. I don't know if you heard of Hey Savvy, which is born in The UK as well, and they're focused on, search.

So take a picture of your top, find me this top, or achieve a version, and they're challenging the Googles and the the sort of bigger players out there in terms of how people shop. Yeah. They have to acquire their customers. Right? So they're not directly competitive, but what they are doing is paving the way of a new way for consumers to shop, which is great for Finally.

Yep. And then in terms of the b to b, there are other, solutions, but they're all focused on that silo data I mentioned. They're only using the data of when you've shopped on a retailer's website and where you've clicked. They don't have that, what we call, wider context of who a consumer is, what they do and don't own Yeah. Amazing.

And what they're shopping for. And the data monetization play that you've got further down the line as well. That's a 100%. Opportunity. A 100%.

One thing I'm always really clear is that I'm also not looking to I'm not gonna be selling my customers' data. Like, again, it comes back to the trust of what you tell us. We're not sharing. We're just using it to help you have a better experience and the retailer get the right product in front of the right customer. But I do think there is a play where, you know, we then go to the retailers and say, out of your shoppers, 60% of them have this, but 40% don't have this.

Go and make that. So it's more insights Yeah. And and kind of helping them be more strategic Yeah. In their product development as well that I think could be really useful for you. Makes a lot of sense.

Yeah. Oh, Liv, that sounds absolutely amazing. Love it. My penultimate question, and don't worry, whenever there is a guy in this situation, I do make a conscious effort to ask the men and not just the women, balancing motherhood. Yeah.

So I know that there are some, especially female listeners, they are curious to know you know, we started the conversation with, like, the LinkedIn, the the the headlines, the stuff that we see. And I know that for new moms, young moms, first time trying to balance it all, it it incredibly challenging. So what's the realities for you? What does it look like? How do you manage Yeah.

How do you cope? Look, it's not easy. And I think, you know, women are expected to kind of do everything. You know, I started, this idea or started this journey after having just my first child. And then as I mentioned, I was pitching whilst pregnant and then having my second, so my two boys.

So within that, I also was, you know, taking all these risks in terms of financial risks and preventing us from maybe living a certain life that we could have led. But I've taken them on that journey. You know, Percy, my eldest, I asked his permission. You know, he's like, yeah, but mommy, it's spelled differently, so it's fine. And he's like, mommy, are you going to work?

You know, the other day, I was, came downstairs and Woody, my youngest, was like, mommy, are you going to work? I was like, no. I'm going out with the girls. So he kind of they know that mommy works and also Percy knows that that means we have a nice holiday, you know, once a year or whatever, or we can go and take him to the zoo or whatever it is. So I think taking them on that journey, bringing them into your story is really important, and Nice.

I think will hopefully, you know, set a precedent for them. Yeah. I think look. There are ways you like, there is never I am a very glass half full kind of person. I'm a positive person.

It's how I get by probably through all these challenges, but I think you will find a way. And I think as a mother, you learn the juggle even more so. So, yeah, you can do that as a founder. Just throw another ball in there and you're juggling again. You know what I mean?

And don't shy away from that. I think, you know, my final thing to say is I am incredibly lucky to have such a supportive husband. You know, I am probably the one that is more career focused. And when I say focused, I just mean, like, I he always say, he works to live, I live to work, and I think that's a good way of putting it. He also works father's daughter.

Yeah. He contributes. But it rather than it being the imbalance that I knew growing up, we're balanced now. It's not the it's we're balanced. Much more modern.

Yeah. And those boys, you know, have both parents present. You know, we don't have help at home. The boys are at nursery, and we have to juggle the drop offs and pick us, and we find a way. And I think that's because we have this, you know, collaboration together and this synergy and great communication and respect and love, and I honestly couldn't do it without.

And so I am very fortunate, and I know that's not always the case. But surround yourself with people that can help you. Absolutely. And I think with kids and especially such young kids as well, like, they don't know any different. Yeah.

Right? So I think there is an element of, like, what pressure are we putting on ourselves Yeah. Pressure we're putting on each other. Like Yeah. Their kids don't know.

They care about their cartoons. Definitely. The one thing that did make me worry one time, Pers came home and he's in wraparound care. Right? So he goes to school between 07:30 and 07:45, and I pick him up before six.

So he's in before and after, and he said, mommy, why do the other boys and girls, mommies and daddies, pick them up when we finish school at 03:30? Can you not do that? And I said, darling, I'm so sorry. Mommy and daddy both work. We work really hard for these reasons, as you know.

So it does mean we need help, and we don't have, like, a nanny or anything at home. So I can't pick you up. And I said, but if there's ever a day we can, so Fridays, we start every now and again picking him up early, and we'll take him for a hot job. We'll do something special. But I think it's communicating that.

And he understood. He was like, okay. Just the reason. And he's never said anything since. How do you deal with the guilt?

Like, with that question. Right? You just feel incredibly guilty. He did. I do.

And I but, again, talking it out with your child, I think you always think parents think before, you know, shut it down or just don't they don't understand. They do understand, and they remember them. God. Do they remember? Yeah.

Definitely. So talk it through with them. And, you know, maybe the next day, I'd be like, how are you feeling about after school? Like, are you you know? Or I'd be like, let's go and, like I said, do something extra special.

So carve out that quality time. Love that. I have to say I'm not the best at this, but, like, I do try and have that real by being present when my kids there. You will often find me on my phone and like, would you? My youngest took my phone away the other day.

It was like, hello, hello, like, thinking I was on the phone. Do you know what I mean? So cute. And I'm like, god, that remind I need to not. So look, I am not practicing what I preach, but I think wherever you can, you know I love that.

Let let show them you. Like, be honest. Be transparent. Yeah. But listen to them and carve out that time.

Yeah. And I think that that clear communication, explaining the why. You know? Because it goes where there's a kids, adults, teams. It's like, this is why we're doing it.

Yeah. Okay. Cool. I understand. Are there any just before we do move on, are there any kinda, like, practical tips to share in terms of you sort of talked about the wrap around care and Yes.

Drop off being present. Is there anything else just for if there's a struggling oh, actually, do you know what? What about have you ever had a night pretty sleepless? Yeah. Interrupted sleep.

Yes. You're both up and down, and you've got a big, you know, pitch or something. Pitch and an amazing interview, podcast to come on to. Luckily, I got some sleep last night. Good.

How did you get through? And particularly through when Woody was, you know, in newborn stages and I was still pushing and working through. I actually went back into, Rhys I was working with three months after Woody was born. Oh, wow. And one thing I had to do, they called me up.

I'd already worked with them a few times, and they were like, we need you tomorrow. We need help. Wow. Two days a week in the office. And I was like, I'm still breastfeeding.

And they said, come in. You can you can, pump in the office. I, for three months, took an ice bag to work. I would sit. I took a big cashmere scarf.

I was on the floor with the execs. Right? So all open plan, CEO, CFO. I would put my two breast pumps on. I'd put my cashmere scarf over so you couldn't see, and I'd turn it on.

All you'd hear was. And you get people come by saying, what is that noise? I go to the toilet, come back, and I'd have my bottles of milk. They're in the fridge. People are going, what's this milk?

And I'm like, that's the baby's milk. I had to do that. Yeah. And I think my my answer to your question was, like, nothing will stop you. You'll always find a way.

Mhmm. Like, normalizing that kind of thing is really important. And I just think I think you just need to not put so much pressure on yourself, but also understand that sometimes it's gonna be hard, but you will get through that. Do you know what really strikes me is connecting this story back to your 300 jumper, 290 merino wool jumpers is the shamelessness. Yeah.

And I mean that in Don't the best possible way. Right? But I think that there are so obviously, not just women. There are so many people. Yeah.

And myself included that, like, there are these blockers that we're putting up for ourselves that most of the time no one else is even noticing. But that, like, daring, the permission, the, like, can I bring this in? What people hear, the sound people don't wanna take up space or make sounds or be different. And, you know, it is scary for some people. So I think that's definitely something that strikes me about you just naturally anyway.

And so hopefully people can take inspiration. Yeah. Well, maybe in the fact that whenever I've done it, I haven't had any bad Yeah. Exactly. I love you so much.

So I think you're saying, like, not like I've done these things, and you think, oh my god. What's something gonna think? And actually people going, that's awesome that you're doing now that you say Do you know what I mean? I know exactly what you mean. Exactly.

That I do this in in a number of different ways. And there's this whole thing called, like, rejection therapy Yeah. Which is, like, putting yourself in these I've heard of this. Like, you know, uncomfortable. I spent this is honestly, this is a British thing, I'm gonna say.

It's so British. Like, I grew up abroad. I've lived in different countries. It's a very cultural thing of, like, no one makes any eye contact on the tube. It's very, like, diplomatic.

Yeah. So true. Say the wrong and you're just like we're all it's the spotlight effect. We're all so much more focused on ourselves that we don't even notice what's going on with each other. And so daring, the rejection therapy, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, finding out the world didn't collapse, nothing bad happened, makes it that much easier to do it than doing.

Keep pushing the envelope, keep pushing, and it's fine. And also, I think what is the worst that could happen? And I'm like, and I don't get I know it's such an awesome, but, like, genuinely and, like, in the last year, I've so adopted it, especially on LinkedIn where I'm, like, being, like, hey, found this hustle. Could you do this for me? Or, hey, hey.

The worst that's happened is either someone doesn't reply. What's like, that's not gonna affect me. This I am 100% identical. And I don't think I've ever I'm getting so excited because I don't think I've ever heard anyone say verbatim exactly what I say all the time. Like, literally, what is the word?

And I'm always kinda like, look. I know that when I say that to most people, it kind of induces a bit of the anxieties. I'm like, no. Like, genuinely, what is it? Like, calm down like, what is the worst that could actually happen?

Yeah. And, like, even if it's something so I mean, you know, my show is called Strategy and Tragedy. I've heard all these, like, horror stories and not just on the show, obviously, but it's like, you survived. Yeah. You're still in it.

Yeah. You lived through it. You loved it. You learned. Yeah.

You got stronger, better, whatever it was. 100%. So on that note, a classic segue added to me on a plate. What is one tragedy that's sought you an unforgettable lesson, Liv? Do you know what?

I've I've said to you, before we started, this is a tricky one because I fortunately haven't had a huge amount of tragedy happen in my life. I'm, like, even thought about around me, you know, what have I learned from someone else's. I think look. I know I've spoken about it, but the thing that I really did learn from was, I mentioned, the SAIS challenge. And, like, that was the biggest thing for me where it got to the point that I couldn't fundraise.

I was running out of money. I had to close my business, and there was the chance that I wasn't gonna get the SEIS, and I was done. And within that, I lost, like, friends and family investment and money. And that really lay heavy on me, And there wasn't a, you will definitely be able to get this. Then if you get the SES, will you actually raise, and will you actually be able to do all the things that you're promising?

And I think that I definitely learned from. I should have listened to my gut. I should have owned it more. I don't want an outlier control freak and make sure everything goes through me. That I don't want that to be the learning, but what I do want it to be is don't rely on someone taking one like, a whole part of your business.

You still need to have as a CEO now, you need to have your hands in all parts. You need to be understanding what's happening, but not necessarily, like, making the pie. Especially when it's so critical, existential to the business. Exactly. Right?

Because I think even if you make, like, a bad hire or you maybe, you know, one of I'm thinking of the other sort of tragedies that have been shared, like, you know, overspending on a campaign. It's like, well, that sucked. But Yeah. You know, learn from it. But something like that is is existential.

I think something to also just comment on this as well is, what strikes me about I've only just realized this asking you this question is the perception of our tragedies. Mhmm. And it's the fact that you are you you opened with, like, I'm actually I don't think any tragedies have happened to me, and I wonder how much perception plays a part in Yeah. And how because you also say maybe that your positivity half full. Exactly.

Yeah. I definitely don't, I don't harp back or hold on to negative things. So, again, comes back to my kind of, like, brand design. I'm very affected by negativity around me, even negative people, and it literally drains me. I can sometimes come home and I'm like, oh my god.

What is wrong? I'm empty. And then I, like, just need to refuel and re and I'm back to me again. Yeah. And like I said, my energy is very much who I am.

And I think you do have to, like look. II don't know. I think you just have to be really careful with who you surround yourself in that sense. A 100%. I mean, you've got the whole, like, with the average of the five people that we spend the most time with.

Yeah. But even from that that energy perspective as well. Yeah. Who's draining you? Who's energising you?

So you're right. Maybe I'm just not focusing on bad things. Not that. But I think, yeah, I was looking very honestly, like, who has died or when has something happened that, you know, that's the truth.

SM: Honestly, it's just because it rhymed for strategy, don't worry. That's all it is. So good.

Liv, absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Obviously, I feel like we could continue chatting for sure many more hours. But for the sake of our listeners and your valuable time, we will leave it there. Thank you so much.

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