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Co-founders of Wauw, Ali Sipher and Melanie Shaul
From separate dorm rooms in LA and Chicago, Ali Sipher and Melanie Shaul are trying to solve an age-old problem: getting honest feedback in the dressing room from friends. An even bigger problem? Getting that feedback even when those friends are far away. The fashion-forward college students created Wauw to make getting immediate feedback easy. The app, targeted at ages 13 – 24, is aiming to launch this fall.
From the Dressing Room to the Board Room
The co-founders – friends since grade school – found themselves taking selfies in dressing rooms and sending them to each other for feedback. The duo wanted to find a better way to exchange the photos and get real-time feedback.
“The whole app really came out of that behavior and our friendship,” said Sipher.
The premise is not that different from how they began. When in a dressing room, users take a selfie with the app and send it to a selected group of friends. Users can add a question, such as "is this top too revealing for my date on Friday" or "would this be good for my job interview next week?" Those on the receiving end have a timer telling them how long they have to respond. That allows users to get almost instant feedback from their friends on what to buy, even when they aren’t in the dressing room with them.
Wauw decided to use the snapchat model for sending messages. Users can choose to ask for feedback from just one person or many, but either way, the message is private. This helps ensure feedback from one friend doesn’t influence another’s.
Shaul is pursing a degree in computer science and developed the beta app entirely on her own. They're currently making small design changes before launching in the app store.
The company went through numerous rounds of beta testing, including a first round with friends and family and then branching out.
Bringing in Retailers
Eventually, the app will incorporate passive tracking technology to improve the overall shopping experience. The app will identify what pieces of clothing users are carrying into the dressing room with them and when the user sends out a message to friends, the app adds additional information including catalogue pictures of the item and pricing details. For price conscious shoppers, that can help provide even better feedback.
This next step involves partnerships with retailers and requires stores to implement tracking technology on their tags, but Wauw says many stores already do that (especially for analytics on what is tried on versus what people actually buy).
From the Dorm Room, with a Twist
Building a company from a dorm thousands of miles from your co-founder might not be ideal, but the two are taking strides to get the business off the ground, like participating in the incubator program at USC (the Startup Garage) last summer. The mentorship and community were invaluable to the founders who were given advice on anticipating (and overcoming) potential hurdles.
Despite their age, the women think they have a distinct advantage in the fashion space. Sipher and Shaul found that most companies in the space are led by much older CEOs and often times men. Their position as young women gives them access to the mindset of their target users, who after all, are their friends.
“Sometimes people don’t really take us as seriously and sometimes people are even more impressed by us,” Sipher said of having two women founders who are both in still in college.
The co-founders have advice for other young women (and men) who are looking to start their own company. “Don’t wait,” said Sipher.
Both are set to graduate this spring.
