Founder Series: Chia-Lin Simmons, CEO & Co-Founder of LookyLoo
Icebreakers:
Coffee/Tea Order: Tea!
Currently Listening to on Spotify: I’m not listening to Spotify. I listen to Google Play / YouTube Music! Have to eat your own dog food when you work on products! I’m listening right now to a crazy mix of Chopin Prelude for Piano ( E Minor), Macklemore, Cake, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Tiesto
Currently watching on Netflix: I’m always watching a few things at once. On Netflix, I’m watching: You, The Umbrella Academy, Sex Education
Favorite City: Paris. I feel like I can spend months there and can always unearth and see something new — a new store with unique goodies, the best pastries…
Team Pizza or Team Tacos: Both
Interview:
In a few words can you describe what your business does?
LookyLoo is an AI-powered stylist & social commerce/marketplace that helps women move beyond finding clothes that fit, to finding clothes that they feel confident in.
What inspired to you start LookyLoo?
Like a lot of women, I lacked time to shop. I was shopping online and always ended up having to return most of the things I bought because it was hard to find the right fit. When I texted my friends for feedback, they were not always available when I needed feedback. I just wanted to have an interactive, full experience when shopping for clothing, much like when I was a girl and went shopping with my friends. I want to get truly personalized recommends for clothing that I can buy online and that I can see on real women, not just models. I wanted things that don’t just fit my size /shape, but that people in my geographic area (and my friends) would think I look beautiful in. All of this shouldn’t be hard, but it is very challenging! This was how LookyLoo was born. I can have feedback in my pocket in real time that all feeds into the LookyLoo Lucy AI, which recommend things that are truly personalized for me.
Did you always know from a young age you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
No. But I grew up in an entrepreneurial environment with a dad who had two jobs: a day job as a police officer and his own business. I learned the hustle and work ethic it took to start your own business.
How do you keep yourself motivated?
I am one of those people who came into the tech industry wanting to change the world. I have spent the majority of my career launching emerging technology products that are at the cusp of going mass market. I believe that the Lucy AI and platform that LookyLoo is building is needed and must launch . There are real customers. Female consumers are struggling to find clothes that fit and having to return more than 30–50% of clothing they buy. There are also enterprise customers in a $1.4 trillion apparel market industry and more than $48 billion colour cosmetics industry that can use this technology to help them reduce costs and increase sales as well.
What are some unique challenges you face as a female founder? And, how do you overcome them?
I think that investors are male and white. As a woman of color, it’s hard to be taken seriously, even with a strong background of success in the technology industry when you are raising venture capital. It can be exhausting to have to constantly prove yourself. Fundraising is hard for everyone, but it’s 100x harder for women of color. I overcome this by having a real product (with IP pending), real product / market fit, and the expertise of having run operations at startups as well as public companies. Being more prepared and qualified is the key.
Has there been a book or podcast that’s made you a better founder?
1) Book: Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
(2) Podcasts: How I built This
What is your definition of success?
I define success in two ways: Professionally and Personally. As a founder, I am successful if the the technology company I build changed for the better how people interact with the world around them. Personally, I define as success as being able to proactively practice daily kindness. To provide kindness, everyday, to as many people as I can manage.
What was the best lesson you have learned from other founders?
Time is your most precious commodity: guard it and spend it wisely.
Do you have any fundraising best practices or tips for founders?
No! I wish! I would love if folks would share their fundraising best practices with me! It’s my first time raising as a founder. Most of my experiences have been as an executive for series A to series D companies. Any tips I have would be as an angel investor. What is important to me as an angel investor is the capabilities of a team to execute on a vision. Ideas are cheap, ability to execute is rare. I like to fund teams that has the experience and skills to make moonshots a reality.
Where do you see LookyLoo in the next 5 years?
The Lucy AI would have assisted millions of women globally in finding clothing and cosmetics that is truly personalized to them. That LookyLoo was on schedule to launch our AR platform based on the computer vision and feedback data we gathered in phase I of the company so that we can further our mission of making shopping an easier and more enjoyable experience for women.
Let’s take a peek in the LookyLoo App!
Learn more about Chia-Lin:
Chia-Lin Simmons is the CEO / Co-Founder of LookyLoo (www.lookyloo.ai), an AI-Powered social commerce company that focuses on helping women discover and purchase clothing that fit and make them feel confident. She is active in the AI, mobility, digital media and e-commerce technology space as an executive, consultant and board member for a number of companies in the space. Prior to LookyLoo, Chia-Lin was an executive at a number of high visibility technology companies. She was the former Head of Global Partner Marketing for Google’s digital business Google Play Music and the Google Play Store; former VP of Marketing & Content for Harman International / Samsung’s Connected Car business; former VP of Marketing and General Manager of Playphone North America; a senior business development executive at Time Warner/ AOL, as well as the VP of Strategic Alliances at Audible / Amazon. Chia-Lin currently serves on the Board of Directors for Servco Pacific, a $1.6B global automotive / consumer goods company in the automotive, mobility and consumer space. In her free time, Chia-Lin founded the #bindersproject, which helps connected global women tech founders with investors. Chia-Lin graduated Magna cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from U.C. San Diego and received her MBA from Cornell University, where she was a Park Leadership Fellow. Chia-Lin is also a licensed New York State attorney and earned her JD from George Mason University School of Law.
Keep up with LookyLoo:
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