As an official media partner, TFN spent London Tech Week 2024 meeting some of the UK’s, and the world’s, most innovative founders. In the first of our interviews with founders at the event, we spoke to Eleanora Barkun, the founder of Qlode, an AI stylist that makes it easy for retailers to offer their customers personalised recommendations.
Barkun told us about how Qlode could help its clients close the gap between customer needs and their business goals, her ambitions for Qlode, and shared some advice for founders.
Helping consumers and businesses get what they want
“I’ve been inspired by the idea to bridge the gap between the consumers’ and the business’s targets,” Barkun told us. “While we’re looking for a personalised experience, business needs to make money as well.” And in a business like online fashion, sales often became a loss when an item is returned.
Qlode is a B2B platform that helps both shoppers and retailers. By providing an online stylist for shoppers, businesses can increase sales and see returns fall as a result of Clod’s personalised recommendations.
The AI-driven platform can consider a range of factors before making its recommendations. It can take account of factors like past-customer behaviour, but also aesthetic factors like size, age, and skin colour. It can also factor in retail factors, such as stock levels.
Barkun says Qlode can fashion more sustainable, even if it’s fast fashion, by reducing the estimated 30% of each season’s clothing that goes unworn. “We’re not trying to abandon fast-fashion brands,” she told us. “I have always emphasised that people won’t stop buying clothes overnight.” She also points out the downsides that a sudden shift from fast fashion can cause to those in that part of the sector.
Instead, Qlode brings improvement through better retail operations and shoppers. “We’re trying to teach people how to match clothes,” she explained. “With our solution, they can upload the items they already own. So basically, we try to help them to make more conscious choices.”
Expanding in Europe and the US
Barkun highlights that Qlode is hoping to grow rapidly. Founded in Portugal, the company has run two pilots, running the AI service with partner retailers. “So far, we’ve been fully bootstrapped,” Barkun told TFN. “But now I’m looking for investments from angel investors to expand globally.”
Qlode’s ideal investor will be a partner, Barkun says, hoping for ‘win-win cooperation’. “We’re looking for the ones who are experienced in ecommerce,” she explained, “because our solution can be easily adapted to serve other big fields like food retail, design, or even travel.”
She’s also keen that investors share her desire to have an impact, particularly by supporting sustainable startups and female founders.
Her plans for investment are to increase the size of the Qlode team and begin their expansion into new markets. It is estimated The global fashion market will be worth $1.2 trillion by 2025. They are already in discussion with European retailers, but Barkun hopes for more, “I would like to expand to North American and the United Kingdom as well.”
The challenges of being a founder
And having goals is a key part of the advice that Barkun would offer to new founders. “Anyone who would like to start their business needs to understand that it won’t be one-day success,” she said. “You need perseverance and a long-term target.”
These are essential, she says, especially in the early days when you are making contacts and building a customer base. “You need to believe that you will reach the target, and be prepared for challenges throughout your journey.”
She also pointed that being a female founder can bring difficulties. “Believe it or not, someone said, ‘find that man’” Barkun recalled. “The one that is technical, who will validate your idea and help you build this.”
However, despite some negative experiences, Barkun believes that women do have some advantages. “It depends on your competencies, and above all, heart and soft skills. And sometimes soft skills are even more important.” She explained, “you need communication because you need to deliver your idea in two minutes.”
Her advice is to find the right team. “A founder needs to attract people who can build their idea,” she said. “Try to surround yourself with the people who believe in you, those who support you during the journey.”
And despite her experiences, she feels that any founder, with the right idea, can succeed. “It’s really tough, but once you can deliver the idea you’re trying to build in the market, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman,” she said. “Smart people will understand that you’re building an evolution, why not to join?”
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