Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / 6 quick questions with Eshita Kabra, Founder of By Rotation (Part 2)

Transcript

6 quick questions with Eshita Kabra, Founder of By Rotation (Part 2) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions. Question number one is what's your why? Why are you waking up every day and building by rotation? To transform fashion consumption for good. Question number two is what's been your favorite marketing moment so far?
• 0:28
  Well, actually, there's a recent one that comes to mind, which is one of the women on our app has paid for her IVF journey from renting out her wardrobe, which is very, very special. And, you know, she's been keeping us in the loop exactly of her her fertility journey. So, yeah, I just never knew that it would go so far. But that's how we're changing lives every day.
• 0:54
  Oh, wow. That is so special. That is so, yeah, interesting. And oh my gosh, I love that. Wow. Very cool. Question number three is what's one of your go-to business resources to learn, whether it's a book or a podcast or a newsletter?
• 1:12
  Oh, you know, not a popular author because he's not a great person politically, but Zero to One by Peter Thiel. It was such a great read, only 180 pages, I believe, and really, really good for anyone who wants to be a tech founder. I was literally just talking about him on the call before this recording, and we were talking about his investment into Facebook, which made him, you know, a billionaire.
• 1:40
  His early investment to Facebook. Yeah, and PayPal. Co-founder of PayPal, yes. But the Facebook investment, we were talking about it. Crazy, crazy stuff. Love that. Zero to one. Going to link it in the show notes. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated? Yeah.
• 2:01
  I mean, on the good days when I have time and I wish I could do this every day, it's some sort of exercise. Either it's going to the gym or going for a walk. So we live near Regions Park. I just find it very, very important to kind of, it sounds a bit grumpy, but to be alone. I think it's quite important to me. I agree, though. It's important to also have idle time where you're just able to think and daydream and just kind of be with your thoughts.
• 2:30
  That's the word. Yeah. Idle time. That's the word. I love it. And actually I started doing a new thing, which I've been reading a lot about and I should have just done it before, which is I'm now making sure that I'm not sleeping right after using my phone on my laptop. So I actually have a book. I have like five books next to my bed now on purpose and they're all fiction by the way. So it's Murakami. I love Murakami. Like that's the way to lose myself and be in a different world. And I'll just read like
• 3:00
  six pages and then I'll be like, great, I'm ready to sleep and dream of this world, not of my everyday world, which is, you know, never letting me go to bed.
• 3:11
  100%. I've recently been putting my phone out of the bedroom so I can kind of curb my addiction to my phone, especially first thing in the morning. And it has made such a noticeable difference. Like it made a difference within the first few days, but it's made just an overall difference to my like soul and the way that I like start my day with my, you know, not having any kind of anxiety that just wouldn't have been there if I looked at that email two hours later on my computer, you know? Yeah.
• 3:40
  It's made such a big difference. I should try that. Oh my God, you should. It's really like been, you know, amazing. Question number five is what's been your worst money mistake and how much did it cost you? Oh, uh, worst money mistake.
• 3:56
  I think, yeah, okay, because this is a bigger one than the other one I was thinking. We did a pop-up in Belgravia last year, in London, Belgravia, over the months of, I want to say, end of July? No, actually, August and September. And to be honest with you, I mean, we were sort of given this space for no rent, basically.
• 4:20
  But then we paid for the fittings and the, you know, and sort of like the production of the space. And frankly, it wasn't really worth it. And we also noticed that the foot traffic that came on on Elizabeth Street in Belgravia during those two months,
• 4:35
  It's not a local crowd. And we need people who live in the UK to use the app. So we love tourists, right? But the service is not really for tourists, not yet anyway. So it was sort of a learning point that sometimes don't just take whatever you're given for free because it comes with additional costs. And in this case, it was actually a financial cost as well because we had to pay for the fittings.
• 5:02
  So, yeah, and also another lesson, I know pop-ups are really cool from media and branding and like an Insta moment, but we've learned in our case that that's all they really are. It's great. They're great for brand awareness. But in terms of actual commercial activity, you know, spending a lot of time with customers and store to do one or two rentals is not really the same as, say, selling a dress or a bag for 10x that price.
• 5:32
  So that's something I've learned as well in terms of my resources. But, you know, we love a pop-up. Great, great learnings. Yeah, love a pop-up for the IRL, you know, marketing moment. And all that. Great learnings overall. Last question. I know you've shared a really great one already, but maybe you've got another one in the bank. What is just a crazy story you can share that's good or bad from your journey in building this business? Yeah.
• 5:59
  Well, a really, really cool thing that's just happened a few months ago is that we now have Dame Helen Mirren lending out two looks from her red carpet wardrobe on the Biretation app. And she's raising money for the charity Women for Women.
• 6:16
  So it's kind of crazy. Like you guys can rent a dame and a very famous actor's outfits and, you know, kind of walk a mile in her dress or shoes or whatever and also be doing good for a charity at the same time.
• 6:30
  So, yeah, it's kind of crazy, the reach of Bi-Rotation. And we're really, really lucky to have the support of such well-known personalities because it only helps make this, you know, circular fashion movement look much more, I guess, you know, it just makes us stronger. That is so cool. I love that. I feel like I'm thinking about who I would love, you know, like people I look to on social media. I feel like I'd love, like, what's the name of Hayley Bieber's stylist? She's like the stylist to so many people, but...
• 7:00
  what's Danny Michelle we're we hope to be working that would be great I feel like she has a great oh my gosh this was so fun Ishida thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your story and your learnings and how everything's going I am hoping someone slides into your DMs about Australia and we'll be seeing you here soon I would love that thank you so much again for
• 8:05
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 8:30
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 8:52
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 9:08
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 9:32
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 9:55
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show, and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.