Building a Fashion Brand with Purpose, Why Work-Life Balance is BS, Power of Word of Mouth & more with Shilpa Shah, Co-Founder of Cuyana

Shilpa Shah is the Co-Founder of Cuyana, a fashion brand that
marries luxury-level branding with premium quality apparel and
accessories, offering "fewer, better things" to women at
accessible price points. 


Shilpa spent the first part of her career designing web and
mobile interfaces for Fortune 500 companies. Although she was
passionate about design, it wasn't until she was pregnant with
her first son that she felt empowered to do more in her life.
Unsure what the right next step was, Shilpa decided to apply to
business school at 32 while having a 2½-year-old at home. Good
thing she did because through the process, she met her co-founder
Karla and they were inspired to create an affordable luxury
direct-to-consumer brand - which might sound like the norm now
but they were true pioneers in this space in 2011. 


Today, they’ve grown their SF based company profitably despite
taking funding of more than $30million dollars. Cuyana has been
recognized as one of the most innovative companies in America and
continues to have a loyal base of customers and a strong
celebrity-following.


We’ll talk to Shilpa about building a strong brand that is
largely driven by word of mouth, why the concept of work life
balance is BS, and how they’ve navigated multiple challenges from
raising money from investors to restructuring their business in
the pandemic environment that we're in.


In this episode, we'll talk to Shilpa about: 


* How Shilpa has intertwined the creative and analytical sides of
her personality. [5:47]


* What prompted Shilpa to go to business school at age 32 was a
desire to do more. [8:09]


* Balancing being the primary caretaker and the primary
breadwinner. [11:52]


* One of the mistakes co-founders make in selecting one another
is looking for someone similar to them. [15:49]


* How the direct-to-consumer concept arose from a desire to build
a fashion brand. [17:37]


* The value of setting clear boundaries for what you can and
cannot compromise on in business. [19:59]


* Focusing on supply chain and the business model in the first
two years of Cuyana. [20:36]


* What makes building businesses difficult is taking the time to
figure out what works. [23:52]


* How Shilpa came to understand the right messaging for her
customers which was critical in the brand’s growth. [24:4013]


* Educating their customers on Cuyana's “fewer, better things”
concept. [28:00]


* Why staying close to your customer and seeing how they interact
with your product is key. [29:54]


* Fundraising in the early days and why understanding the
business is the true first step. [31:27]


* Hear Shilpa’s analogy for sustainability in a tech company and
why Cuyana’s focus was always on profitability. [33:46]


* Getting male investors to understand their concept during the
fundraising process. [35:44]


* Despite all the challenges, Shilpa and Carla never gave
themselves the option of quitting. [40:39]


* How Shilpa and Carla’s entrepreneurship was received by their
immigrant parents. [42:12]


* Why it is essential – as an entrepreneur – to become
comfortable with failure. [45:27]


* Discover Shilpa’s perspective on work-life balance – and why
she thinks balance is BS. [46:33]


* Shilpa’s advice for female founders with families: Make sure
you’re solving the right problem. [50:33]


* Some challenges Cuyana has faced and how Shilpa and Carla
overcame them. [53:06]


* Some of the key takeaways that helped propel Cuyana forward,
like thinking quickly. [55:20]


Follow Shilpa:


* Personal Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/shilparshah/  


* Cuyana Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cuyana/ 


* Cuyana Website: https://www.cuyana.com/


Follow Yasmin:


* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/


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