In this episode of "20 minutes VC," Harry Stebbings interviews Nadia Bajawa, founder and CEO of Deer and Co, a startup offering premier plus-size clothing and styling for women. Bajawa shares her journey, emphasizing the personal experiences that led to Deer and Co's creation and its mission to address the underrepresentation and supply-side failures in the plus-size fashion industry. With over $20 million in funding from top investors like Alfred Lynn at Sequoia, Bajawa discusses the importance of category creation, customer devotion, and the challenges and strategies of securing venture capital. She also touches on the broader implications of sexual harassment in the VC industry, advocating for more female VCs and a culture that supports women's voices.
This is the 20 minutes VC with me, Harry Stebings at H debbings 90 96 on Instagram and at H stepbings with two B's on Snapchat. I always so love to see you there and for the show today, I'm thrilled to welcome a very special guest to the show as Nadia Bajawa joins us in the hot seat today.
This quote introduces the podcast and the host, Harry Stebbings, while expressing excitement for the guest, Nadia Bajawa.
Now, Nadia is the founder and CEO at Deer and Co. The startup that provides premier plus size clothing and styling for women. To date, they've raised over $20 million in funding from some of the best in the business, including the likes of Alfred Lynn at Sequoia and the team at Nextview Ventures.
This quote provides background on Nadia Bajawa and her company, Deer and Co., including its focus on plus-size women's fashion and its successful fundraising efforts.
Dear really is a business that was founded from very, very personal experience, both for me and my co-founder, Lydia.
This quote explains that Deer and Co. was founded on personal experiences that Nadia and her co-founder shared, which is a common motivator in entrepreneurship.
There are 100 million women in the US who wear a size 14 or above, which is what the industry classifies as plus size.
This quote highlights the large market size for plus-size clothing, emphasizing the potential impact of Deer and Co.'s mission.
To be successful in an enduring and transformative way, you really have to be able to own an important problem in the minds of your consumers.
This quote emphasizes the importance of solving a significant problem for consumers as a way to create a category and build a successful business.
The actual industry side, this is one of the most artificially constrained markets that we think exists.
This quote points out the limitations within the plus-size clothing industry, suggesting that these constraints are not due to lack of demand but rather supply-side issues.
Truly, it is a failure almost at every place in the value chain for this customer.
This quote identifies the widespread issues in the supply chain for plus-size clothing, suggesting systemic problems that need to be addressed.
Overcoming those challenges that would require additional investment becomes much, much harder.
This quote explains that the lack of focus on plus-size customers by the industry makes it difficult to invest in the necessary changes to improve the situation.
"ms being too small to not being sure whether or not your size may be carried in a store are really things that impact the customer experience."
This quote highlights the difficulties plus-size women encounter when shopping, including the lack of certainty that their sizes will be available, which negatively impacts their overall customer experience.
"I think it really comes down to building a business from the point of view of a problem that you want to solve."
Nadia Bajawa emphasizes the importance of founding a business based on a problem the founder is passionate about and equipped to address, which is key to success.
"It's tough, because I think the flip side of really having a distinct and contrarian view on a category is that it takes a leap of faith for other people to also see it."
Nadia Bajawa discusses the difficulty in securing early VC interest when the business concept challenges existing market perceptions, requiring investors to take a leap of faith.
"There was nothing fancy about what we were doing. We were shipping product in free USPS boxes. We were buying inventory at stores and shipping it to customers."
Nadia Bajawa describes the early, unsophisticated methods of operation during the bootstrapping phase, underscoring the focus on fundamental customer needs rather than extraneous details.
"By the time that we had founder collective re emerged in conversations, the business was already doing millions of dollars in run rate revenue."
Nadia Bajawa explains how demonstrating solid traction with significant revenue was a turning point in gaining VC interest and support.
"I think it was just traction."
Nadia Bajawa suggests that traction, likely reflected through key performance metrics, was instrumental in convincing VCs to invest after initially passing on the opportunity.
"on long term relationships with our customers. And so the metrics that we think are most indicative of the overall health of the business and the impact that we're able to have on the community that we serve is what that relationship looks like over time."
This quote emphasizes the focus on long-term customer relationships as a key metric for assessing the health and impact of the business, highlighting the importance of sustained interactions and the evolving customer experience.
"I think for sure in some categories, Amazon is a market maker and really enabling market expansion."
Nadia Bajawa acknowledges that Amazon can be a catalyst for market growth in certain categories, suggesting that its presence can be beneficial rather than solely competitive.
"True market expansion is what's most important, to be able to interact with our customers in a way that not only shifts dollars that are being spent either in a different channel or with a different company towards us, but really being able to create dollars for the first time is something that we are uniquely positioned to be able to do."
Nadia Bajawa explains that for DiA, success is defined not by taking market share but by expanding the market and creating new demand, which is a distinctive strategy in their category.
"I think in our case we've always been very clear about the scale of our ambitions and the commitment that we have to fundamentally change a landscape for a community of over 100 million women."
Nadia Bajawa states that DiA's clear ambition from the start has been to significantly impact a large community, an ambition that is shared with their board and influences their approach to potential industry consolidation.
"I think this is probably the most important conversation that we're having as an industry at the moment."
Nadia Bajawa highlights the crucial nature of the discussion around sexual harassment within the industry and the broader national context, recognizing the impact of individuals who have shared their stories.
"Can I ask? I think there kind of needs to be a certain case of benchmarking to an extent, and just kind of outlining what is professional and not professional."
Harry Stebbings expresses the need for clear benchmarks to define professional behavior in the VC industry, acknowledging the complexity of the issue.
"The relationship that I am able to build, the trust, the partnership that we have with the members of our board and with our investors is critical to our success."
This quote highlights the significance of strong relationships between founders and investors for the success of a company.
"And making sure that that happens in the same way that it would happen with a female VC and a male founder. A male founder and a male VC or two females in the same situation needs to absolutely be the case."
Nadia Bajawa stresses the importance of equitable relationships in VC dealings, regardless of gender.
"Desert island is tough if it's desert island, I'm probably taking nonfiction. But as it relates to our current conversation, I think one of the books that articulates best how we think about our customers, a book called competing against luck, which really talks about how you come to identify exactly what your customer is hiring you to do and building a business around that, which I think is critical."
Nadia Bajawa chooses "Competing Against Luck" as a book that aligns with her customer-focused business philosophy.
"I think nearly every company will tell you that they are customer centric and that has to do with getting products out faster and cheaper and kind of all the functional benefits of being able to serve a customer. I think customer devotion is something completely different."
Here, Nadia Bajawa differentiates between customer centricity, which focuses on product efficiency, and customer devotion, which is about understanding and building an emotional connection with customers.
"The best piece of advice that I've applied to the deer journey is probably something that I learned a lot earlier from my wise, wise mother, who is full of one liners. And one of my favorite is she always says, you don't have the luxury of thin skin on the front lines."
Nadia Bajawa shares a piece of advice about resilience and the importance of having a thick skin in business, especially on a personal venture like Dia.
"I think one of the most insightful newsletters that I read is one called loose threads written by a guy named Richie Siegel."
Nadia Bajawa recommends the "Loose Threads" newsletter for insights on the retail industry.
"I think one of the biggest opportunities that we have for change in the world of VC is really in having more women venture capitalists."
Nadia Bajawa advocates for more women in venture capital to address gender dynamics and potential missed opportunities in funding.
"The next five years at DIA are exciting, I think for us. We are really excited, I think, for the opportunities that we have to set a new trajectory for this category overall and really be a part of making completely new experiences."
Nadia Bajawa expresses optimism about the future of Dia and its role in creating new experiences for its customer base.
"What a fantastic guest it was to have on the show there. And again, a big thank you to Mika at Founder Collective, Rob, go at next for you and Alfred Linus Coy, all for the introductions."
Harry Stebbings expresses gratitude for the introductions that led to Nadia Bajawa being a guest on the show.
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Harry Stebbings promotes Cooley as a leading law firm in the venture capital space, emphasizing its extensive experience and services.
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