I’m joining Lyst
Believe me, I hate ‘hey I got a job!’ posts as much as you do but, kool-aid or not, I just really want to talk about this. I’ve not written in a while. Indulge me…
As the title suggests, I’ve joined Lyst as Head of Design. I’m super excited, with a light dusting of terror. It’s a real privilege to be joining an already successful company, with a genuinely world class team, and I can’t wait to get stuck in.
If you don’t know Lyst already: we’re building a way to shop the world’s fashion. We want to do for clothes what Trivago did for hotels, and what Rightmove has done for property. It’s not a store, but more like a high-end concierge turned data scientist, wearing Common Projects trainers (don’t tell them I described it like that).
I’ve spent the past 18 months working for myself. Working for yourself is great. You set your own schedule. Work on what you want. Work with who you want. You get to be your own boss. You also get to start a lot of great things, only to hand them over to your client to run with. And (in my case) you get lonely — you miss being part of the gang.
So I started thinking about what’s next. I met with a number of really lovely people, doing really interesting things, at really exciting companies. It’s easy to think all the action is happening in the Valley, but when you dig into it, London has a lot going on, and it’s getting better every day.
So, why Lyst?
- Team
This is the main thing. The more people I met, the more convinced I was that Lyst was going to be a great place to work. Everyone from the design team — Emma, Mitchell, Joe — to the founders — Seb and Chris — to the people I passed whilst waiting in reception, were warm, intelligent, and fun to talk to. - Timing
Lyst have been around since 2010, and in that time have grown to serve millions of products to millions of people. With an amazing HQ in the old White Cube gallery on Hoxton Square and an office in NYC, they’re not exactly a bootstrapped startup. However there is so much still to do, and now is the best time to do it. How can you find the needle you’re looking for in a haystack of 3+ million products? What should a ‘fashion utility’ look and feel like? What are the behaviours we should tap into on mobile? What about the rest of the world?! From the founders down, the team is 100% invested in building a product people love, and they’re putting everything into it. This is music to the ears of a designer.
I only started yesterday, and so don’t have much more to share right now. However expect to see a lot more of me and the team over the next few months as we shape the vision, ship a load of stuff, and embark on some big, exciting changes.
They say if you want to go far, go together, and we have a long way to go. If you’re a product designer, and like the sound of working at, quite literally, the intersection of technology and fashion, then get in touch! You can email me on tom.petty@lyst.com, or message me on twitter.
Stay tuned!
