Bringing Luxury to the Masses

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a place where you could buy designer clothes and accessories at prices up to 90 percent off? If you’re like me, you’ve dreamt of this place for a while. It wasn’t until recently, though, that I found out it actually exists, and not just in my dreams.
It’s called Gilt Groupe, and it's a members-only e-commerce site that offers merchandise like women's sweaters, men's socks, kids' booties and home decorations—all at price points that don’t induce fainting spells. The best part: The site boasts wares from runway designers such as Zac Posen, Carolina Herrera and Valentino, to name a few.
Friends and fellow Harvard MBAs Alexis Maybank, 37, and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, 35, launched Gilt Groupe in 2007 as a way to bring the New York City sample sale to the masses. The caveat: Those who wanted in had to be invited (today you can ask to be invited), thereby increasing the exclusivity and excitement around the venture. The plan worked beautifully, and today the business boasts $500 million in revenues, more than 900 employees and offices around the world. This year the duo will release a book documenting the company’s meteoric rise, titled By Invitation Only: How We Built Gilt and Changed How Millions of People Shop.
We got in touch with Maybank and Wilkis Wilson to find out how they managed to successfully change an entire industry.
Could you tell me about your backgrounds?
Alexis Maybank (pictured, right): I grew up between Charleston and central New Jersey. I met Alexis while at Harvard undergrad in a Portuguese class. We were a couple years apart and became great friends. After college I worked in Silicon Valley through the first wave of the technology boom. I was an early employee at eBay, when there were just 40 people. We both ended up going to business school at Harvard. While there, I did an independent study with Zac Posen.
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson (pictured, left): I grew up in New York City and after school worked in investment banking in London for a few years. After business school, I switched gears into retail and luxury goods and worked for Bulgari.
How did you come up with the idea for Gilt Groupe?
AM: In 2007, I was coming off an opportunity, and Alexandra was ready for a new challenge. We would often go to sample sales and had family members from around the country that would ask us to pick up items for them. Sample sales really weren’t available to people outside the tri-state area, so it dawned on us to think of a way to bring those sales to a mass-market audience. We started meeting and talking about how to launch the perfect concept.
AWW: Alexis started working on the site full time, and I stayed at Bulgari for a little while longer. She managed the building of the site while I started reaching out to brands.
How were you able to secure funding?
AM: We started talking with VCs about three weeks before we launched and were successful with AlleyCorp, a group started by Kevin Ryan, one of our co-founders. Dwight Merriman, the founder of DoubleClick, was also able to help us. That funding provided us enough to hire a few employees and rent office space.
When did you launch?
AWW: We consider Nov. 13, 2007, our official launch date because that was the day of our first sale, a Zac Posen sale. Two weeks prior, we did a membership launch where we teed up thousands of e-mail addresses to invite them to join Gilt Groupe.
How many members signed up out the gate?
AWW: We got over 13,000 members to sign up, but we didn’t know if that was a good number or not. We were trying to aim even higher and encouraged friends to invite friends with the incentive of a $25 credit.
What challenges did you face starting out?
AM: One of the first challenges was building a team. After two months we realized that we were hiring people just like ourselves, bright-eyed optimists. It didn’t make for a balanced team so we brought in executive coaches to help. About five months in, we hired an excellent woman out of Ralph Lauren. She brought a really measured approach to the business and made decisions based on experience and facts and not as much on intuition.
We also focused a lot on open communication. Seeds of distress can really tear apart startup teams when they aren’t addressed, so we made communication a priority.
How did you survive the recession only a year after your launch?
AWW: While the recession was a terrible thing, it ended up actually helping our business. Many brands were dealing with excess inventory and having a hard time selling things at full price. Plus, a lot of customers still wanted to shop for designer goods but didn’t want to walk around with big shopping bags; they wanted to be discreet. We ended up growing our membership faster than forecasted during that time.
How are you able to offer such slashed prices?
AM: There are two things that help us with pricing. First, we don’t have overhead or pay rent on Fifth Avenue. Second, we work in an industry that has seasonal inventory, so things need to turn over.
What does the future hold for both of you and for Gilt Groupe?
AM: We’ve talked about taking the company public, but at the same time don’t want to lose sight of providing the best possible customer experience. We will discuss the option of going public this year. [Wilkis Wilson reports the company received a $1 billion valuation in spring 2010.]
I love Gilt and couldn’t think of a business I’m more loyal to. I’m happy right now and just had a baby boy two weeks ago. I also have an 18-month-old daughter at home, so raising a family is a big part of my future plans, as is continuing to be involved heavily with Gilt Groupe.
AWW: I really enjoy mentoring young entrepreneurs and am now a mentor at TechStars. As for my future, I love Gilt so much and am still personally learning.
Could you tell me about your book?
AWW: The book is coming out in April, and it really focuses on our early days, getting the company off the ground. We worked on it for about two years, meeting every Thursday at 8 a.m. to brainstorm and go through anecdotes. We are really proud of the final product and hope it inspires other entrepreneurs.
What advice can you give budding entrepreneurs?
AM: Figure out if now is the right time to launch your company. Who is doing it already? If there isn’t anyone doing it, is there a reason why?
Also, execution is so much more important than the idea itself. Get your product out there and get feedback from your customers. The earlier you can get feedback, the better. Don’t over-invest before you know more from your customer base.
AWW: You really need to trust the people you go into business with. If you have any red flags or don’t know the person well, pay attention. It is easy to get sucked in by excitement and adrenaline. Invest time in reference checks.
If you are starting a business and throwing out ideas to consumers and investors, it is important to listen to criticism. That doesn’t mean you should back down on your ideas, but take that feedback to heart and think of how you can apply what people are saying to your business model.
Photo credit: Courtesy company

08:50 by Robert dawne · 0

Don’t Underestimate How Much Capital You Need To Grow

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the Craft and Hobby Association’s (CHA) Winter Conference in Anaheim, California. The CHA represents small businesses in the craft and hobby industry which together generate around $29 billion in domestic revenues. I was energized by many of the participants who attended my address as they told me about their plans to move forward “full steam ahead” with their growth plans despite difficult economic conditions. After my address, I spent about an hour speaking with attendees and identified a key concern which is shared by most business owners: how to figure out how much capital is really needed to grow. The overwhelming majority of small business owners that I have encountered always seem to underestimate how much money it really does take to grow.
Failing to prepare a proper growth budget can have catastrophic consequences on your business. It’s very painful to set out on a growth plan only to find that you have run out of cash when you are on the cusp of achieving your goals. This happens to companies of all sizes and is most prevalent among business owners who have never managed a process of rapid growth.
When preparing your growth budget, keep in mind the following recommendations.
Your best case is not your base case
Many small business owners prepare a single revenue projection for their growth plan and calculate their cash needs based on this scenario. Some wisely add a cushion to what their projections indicate they need and feel comfortable that this amount of money will allow them to achieve their needed growth. Unfortunately, many revenue projections aren’t realistic or assume that almost everything will go as expected, something that seldom happens. When I look at a revenue projection I always ask “is it realistically possible for you to do much better than this?” If the answer is no, then I tell them that they have just shown me their best case scenario. Their base case—the realistic one—needs to be less aggressive.
Run a cost sensitivity analysis
Scenario planning is also important for projecting the costs associated with your growth. If you have been running your business for several years, then you should have a good feel for your fixed and variable costs and your projections should therefore be defensible. This confidence can lead to overreliance on the projections. Surprises on the cost side can also kill a growth plan and for this reason you need to run a sensitivity analysis.
This analysis consists of modifying your assumptions for key costs and analyzing the impact of those changes on your overall projections. It’s important to run sensitivities on all important costs and combinations of costs. What would happen to your plan if you have to change suppliers and spend 20 percent more for your raw materials? And your liability insurance rates were to double? Or what if gasoline reaches $5 per gallon as some economists predict? Your model still needs to work under these new assumptions.
Work with someone with experience
Experience is the best teacher, but not the cheapest one. Rather than “learn from your mistakes” it’s better to work with someone who has already accomplished what you are setting out to do. Make sure that someone on your team (a partner, investor, advisor or consultant) has specific experience growing your type of business to the level you want to achieve. This is the best investment you can make towards your future success.
Executing a successful growth plan is very realistic for small businesses because there really is almost unlimited opportunity relative to your starting point. But make sure you do it right and follow these recommendations.

12:33 by Robert dawne · 0

12 Key Success Areas That Drive Business Growth

For nearly a decade and a half, Victor Holman has been consulting large businesses and government agencies on performance management. But somewhere in the course of advising them, he realized small businesses could benefit from the best practices and strategies he collected in his work with the big guys.
Especially because they often lack the over-abundance of resources that big corporations and government agencies enjoy, Holman says, small businesses need to make sure they’re spending their time, energy and resources the right way to ensure success. That’s where his work as CEO of Lifecycle Performance Professionals comes in.
Holman has found 12 specific guiding principles, he says, and if a small business owner can refine his or her approach in each of those areas, his or her company is virtually guaranteed to thrive. Some of them are straightforward, some a bit more daunting–but what they all have in common, Holman says, is that they’re entirely learnable. But it all starts with taking an honest look at your operation.
“A lot of times, we avoid the areas that we're not comfortable in, that we're not good at,” he says. “If we just focus on trying to improve, small improvements in multiple areas will lead to huge gains and huge yields.”
Strategy
Have a plan and know it intimately. Simply drafting one and filing it away isn’t going to cut it.
"Many businesses, they have the strategy, but it's always good to continue to come back to your strategy, to update it and see what opportunities you can take."
Customers
Invest in getting to know who your existing and ideal customers are. More than ever before, you have the cater to them if you want to keep them loyal to your brand.
"We have a new type of customer today," he says. "You have customers that are very informed. They do their research, so if you don't have a plan to actively retain your customers, they're going to go elsewhere."
Finance
One of the most daunting parts of a company for a leader without accounting or finance expertise, it’s also one of the most important. If you aren’t confident in your skills, find a way to boost your savvy – take a course, find an experienced adviser or hire someone highly qualified.
"You've got to understand they key financial ratios within [your business] and what your ratios mean within your business. You have to understand the components that go into your income statement, your balance sheet, your cash flow systems," he says. "You can make a major difference in your business very quickly just by applying a couple of strategies."
Distribution systems
"You have to have a plan for getting your product to your customer with the least amount of effort for them and the quickest amount of time," he says. "You've got to constantly understand, what are [the] better ways that you can get to your customer."
Marketing
Gone are the days when basic marketing strategies were all small business owners needed.
"You've got to be able to know the exact customer that you have," he says. "A lot of successful businesses will take advantage of a niche or very targeted marketing–that way, you can compete with the bigger companies because you're focusing your dollars on a very targeted customer that brings in the biggest return."
Products and services 
"Unless you're able to analyze the products and services well–[that is,] you have a system for doing it–you may not quite realize that the actual products and services, what types you can make that can [have an] impact on your sales," he says.
Pricing strategies
Know your products and understand their worth to consumers. That means objectively evaluation their quality so you can come up with the best price and selling strategy.
"A lot of business owners don't take pricing strategies into consideration as well as they can,” he says. “Just a simple change in your pricing can make a major impact on your sales and your revenue."
People
Human resources are among your most valuable. Know your people, and make sure your staffers resonate with your organization’s values, and vice versa.
"It's very important that you have your people that are on the same page, that they understand what they're doing impacts the overall mission of your business," he says. "As a business owner, you [must] understand the drivers of good and poor performance, because if you identify employee performance problems early so that you can correct them, it doesn't affect your business as much."
Performance

"[Business owners need] to be able to measure their people, they've got to be able to measure their processes and they've got to be able to measure their system performance,” he says.
That means having consistent metrics across all divisions of your company.
Sales
"You've got to make sure that your sales people are equipped with the right tools to be the best sales people they can be," he says. "You've got to develop a solid system for getting appointments, you've got to teach your sales staff how to overcome resistance, that means you've got to really understand what are all the possible [forms of] resistance you'll probably get with each of your products."
Technology
Among the most important aspects are cloud technology, a solid email program and security protection for your IT content.
"These are all things that the savvy business owner is looking for," he says. "They're look at tools that can help automate, they're looking for tools that can help speed up and simply processes. They're looking for tools that can drive their business success, so that's important."
Personal development
"Just like you set goals for your business, you've got to set goals for yourself. You've got to have a personal method. You've got to have your values, what you're going to put first in your life," he says. "Ultimately, your business relies on how much knowledge and how much growth you can sustain personally."

15:29 by Robert dawne · 0