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Elevator Pitch | Call for Submissions

Antique Elevator | Source: elevatorpreservation.com
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  • BoF Team

In our final post in a week of articles on e-commerce innovation, we are pleased to launch Elevator Pitch, a recurring feature on BoF that will showcase one exceptional fashion-technology start-up per month and provide valuable feedback from a panel of fashion, technology and investment experts, as well as the BoF community.

LONDON, United Kingdom – Ever since the early days of BoF, we have taken a keen interest in the exciting emerging activity at the intersection of fashion, technology and entrepreneurship. From the first article we published about Gilt Groupe back in November 2007, when the company had only 5 employees, to our four-part series on FashionStake, which last week announced its acquisition by Fab.com, to our early features on platforms like Pinterest and Tumblr, which have gone on to attract tremendous attention from the fashion community, BoF has a track record for being the first to spot and support the most innovative start-ups making a mark in the fashion space.

As we have examined over the last few days here on BoF, we are currently witnessing a veritable surge of innovation and venture capital interest in the fashion-technology space. Amongst e-commerce start-ups alone, we have seen the emergence of new business models like curation, subscription retail, social merchandising, mass customisation, retail gaming and collaborative consumption.

What business models will be next to emerge? Who will be the next Net-a-Porter, Gilt Groupe or Pinterest? If you have a promising business idea in the fashion-technology space or are already working on a start-up and looking to raise your profile or attract funding, we are putting out a call for your Elevator Pitch: concise pitches that you might give to a potential investor, partner or key hire if you bumped into them in an elevator.

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For entrepreneurs wishing to participate, please respond to the questions below for the opportunity to have your pitch featured here on BoF and receive valuable feedback from a panel of fashion, technology and investment experts.

THE QUESTIONS (maximum 500 words):

1. What is your business idea and what problem is it solving?
2. What market does it address and how big is this market?
3. Who is your competition and how are you different/better?
4. What is the revenue model?
5. Who are the team that will make your idea a reality?
6. How much funding are you seeking and why?

HOW IT WORKS:

1. We are accepting Elevator Pitches by email only and review the first 500 words you submit. Please send your submissions to elevatorpitch@businessoffashion.com. We cannot respond to every email and will only contact those pitches selected to be published.

2. Each month, the selected Elevator Pitch will be presented to members of our Expert Panel, who will provide their feedback on the business idea and its potential.

3. We will publish one Elevator Pitch per month, along with feedback from our Expert Panel, and invite the BoF community to join the discussion.

THE EXPERT PANEL:

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Sonali De Rycker, Partner, Accel Partners, London
Sonali has been active in the European venture business for 12 years focusing on investments in the consumer internet and digital media sectors. Sonali is responsible for investments in KupiVIP, Lyst, StylistPick, Spotify, and Top10.

Kirsten Green, Founder, Forerunner Ventures, New York
Kirsten has been in the investment business since 1996, investing in both public and private companies and building a focus on the consumer sector. Representative investments include: Birchbox, Bonobos, Chloe & Isabel, Cleanwell, Serena & Lily, Skullcandy, StyleOwner, Warby Parker.

Ben Lerer, Founder, Thrillist, New York
Ben Lerer is a Manager of Lerer Ventures and the Co-Founder and CEO of Thrillist.com, a leading men's multi-platform lifestyle publication with over 3 million daily subscriptions in 19 localized markets in the U.S. and the U.K.

Rachel Shechtman, Founder, Cube Ventures, New York
Rachel has been a marketing and merchandising consultant since 2003 working with clients including Gilt Groupe, TOMS, and the CFDA; and advising others such as Birchbox and Quirky. Recently she launched a new retail venture in Manhattan called STORY.

Imran Amed, Founder and Editor, The Business of Fashion, London
Imran is a fashion business advisor, writer, and digital entrepreneur, and is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Business of Fashion.

Elevator Pitch is a recurring feature on BoF, co-curated and developed with Rachel Shechtman of Cube Ventures, that will showcase one exceptional fashion-technology start-up per month and provide valuable feedback from a panel of fashion, technology and investment experts, as well as the BoF community.

In This Article

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