Co-Founder & COO · Vestium Inc. · 2021 – 2023
Vestium fashion-tech venture
Context
Vestium Inc. wanted to make 3D body scanning usable to solve fit problems in online fashion retail. A founding team of three, team growth to eight people, and discussions with established fashion brands about pilot cooperation.
Problem
3D scanning technology was technically possible at that point, but neither consumer behaviour nor fashion brands’ integration readiness were where they needed to be.
Constraints
Two prototype iterations, tight runway, the target of a 3.3 million US dollar seed financing and parallel talks with several established fashion brands.
Process
As COO I was responsible for operations: team building, financial planning, investor contacts and partner discussions with brands. We went through two prototype cycles and revised core assumptions of the user experience.
Solution
Two robust prototype iterations, pilot interest from established fashion brands and a functioning founding team.
Results, honestly
The planned 3.3 million US dollar seed round did not materialise. Vestium was shut down in 2022.
Learnings
Timing beats technology. We were too early for a consumer expectation that shifted only years later. COO roles in early-stage startups are 80 percent external communication and 20 percent everything else.