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Why your ‘Brilliant’ technology fails to have impact
Confidential – for intended recipient only
2
3
ECONOMICS CONSULTANCY INTERNET 3G
PRIVATE JETS BAND MANAGEMENT FILM GAMING/GAMBLING
Where have I been since school?
4
What I Learned from Sportal…
• Started 1998
• Raised & spent £100m
• 375 people, 9 countries
• Sponsored Euro 2000 &
Juventus for 3 games!
• Administration 2001
Timing wrong!
Ex-colleagues
successfully floated for
£500m, 2012
5
What I learned from 3…
Took 6 years for the handset to come along to deliver on 3G
expectations…and it wasn’t even 3G!!
6
What did I learn from MarquisJet?
The European market wasn’t
big enough for scale
7
What did I learn from my time in the arts?
Market not ready or just too small
8
How about Inspired?
Ideas are all about customer
problems & needs
9
Smoking ban unintended consequences…
…but too little too late
10
Multi-win roulette x2 revenue = no-brainer!
11
Wrong – we forgot about something key
3x 100 hr weeks later…..
12
How did we win?
People Market Defensibility
13
Timing was also critical
Gaming Act 2005
Implemented 2007
14
2007 I was ready to go alone
15
I needed an idea solving real customer issue
MINIMISE
16
Consumers want the same as always
Price
Quality
Convenience
Making clothing fit for all
Every Garment…
…for Every Body to try on
By digitising…
19
• Founded 1998
• Raised $135m
• Spent all and bust
by 2000
• Blue-sky’ed every
idea in online
fashion retail
Big ideas:
• Free returns
• 3D garment
visualisation
• Virtual assistant
The company I nearly joined in 1999…
20
My focus on avoiding failure
People Market Defensibility
21
The classic UK tech problem
Vs
USA UK
22
The classic UK tech problem
USA UK
Vs
23
For all the talk of tech startups…
Total valuation = $139.2bn Total valuation = $121bn
Highest ranked EU tech company in
world global companies at #56
24
Timing key to ability to be global player
25
But…..
Icelandic
banks
26
I started in a UK market that was in decline…
GREATER ENGAGEMENT
MeModel Try-On
27
Also we were blocked…
RETAILE
28
And key focus had become
29
We were saved by…
People Market Defensibility
30
We also had to become a no-brainer
“…any technology startup must …build a product that’s at least 10 times better at
doing something than the current prevailing way... Two or three times better will not
be good enough to get people to switch to the new thing fast enough or in large
enough volume to matter.” — Ben Horowitz
31
How we extended Metail to deliver more value
CHEAPER IMAGERY GREATER ENGAGEMENT BETTER PRODUCTS
Composed Photography MeModel Try-On Customer Size & Shape
MAKING CLOTHING FIT FOR ALL
32
Metail’s core pillars for the clothing industry
MAKE CLOTHING FIT FOR ALL
Drive
EFFICIENCIES
Create
EXPERIENCES
Generate
INSIGHTS
33
Global trends accelerating
change meant the market
finally caught up

34
The threat of Amazon…
Source: Mediapost.com; Bloomberg; Drapers; The Wall Street Journal
55%
of mobile product search starts
35
Global loss of cheap and ethical labour
36
Protectionist moves towards local manufacturing
37
New consumer pressure on the supply chain
38
DISCOVER
Paralysis of choice => personalisation
The challenges of modern commerce are opportunities
DECIDE
Always mobile => convenience Know your customer => speed
PURCHASE
Bra size: 32D
Waist: 68 cm
Hips: 98 cm
Age: 28
Height: 1.73 cm
Weight: 64 kg
Recommended size
Recently purchased
Returns: 30%
Spends: £40/m
We can also help enable a more efficient consumer
centred supply chain
40
People and the consumer
41
Perfect example of why brilliant technology fails
42
Best since…
43
So back to…
1. Surround yourself
with good people
2. Attack a growing
market
3. Make sure you have unique
IP or commercial contacts
44
And be lucky…
Work hard to increase the chances of something lucky
happening for you
No paralysis, do analysis!
45
Making clothing for all
Tom Adeyoola
CEO & Founder
tom@metail.com
@tadeyoola

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Tom Adeyoola (Founder, Metail) - Why Your 'Brilliant' Technology Fails To Have Impact

Editor's Notes

  1. In addition to the competitive threat of Amazon, UK fashion retailers are facing incredibly challenging macro conditions After the 6th consecutive monthly drop in sales, UK apparel has suffered its largest slump since 1991 Shopping has often been considered a fun pastime but increasingly, consumers are choosing to spend their cash on leisure activities and eating out They’re no longer getting their serotine rush from shopping And this has been exacerbated by the move to online While it might be more convenient, it delivers a less fun, playful and pleasurable experience Have no doubt about it – UK fashion retailers are facing immense challenges
  2. In addition to the competitive threat of Amazon, UK fashion retailers are facing incredibly challenging macro conditions After the 6th consecutive monthly drop in sales, UK apparel has suffered its largest slump since 1991 Shopping has often been considered a fun pastime but increasingly, consumers are choosing to spend their cash on leisure activities and eating out They’re no longer getting their serotine rush from shopping And this has been exacerbated by the move to online While it might be more convenient, it delivers a less fun, playful and pleasurable experience Have no doubt about it – UK fashion retailers are facing immense challenges
  3. In addition to the competitive threat of Amazon, UK fashion retailers are facing incredibly challenging macro conditions After the 6th consecutive monthly drop in sales, UK apparel has suffered its largest slump since 1991 Shopping has often been considered a fun pastime but increasingly, consumers are choosing to spend their cash on leisure activities and eating out They’re no longer getting their serotine rush from shopping And this has been exacerbated by the move to online While it might be more convenient, it delivers a less fun, playful and pleasurable experience Have no doubt about it – UK fashion retailers are facing immense challenges
  4. Rather than talking about fashion, I started off by discussing two internet giants…Amazon and Google At Metail, we found this statistic particularly illuminating 45% of mobile product searches now start directly on Amazon This means that instead of using Google to find products, they are now going direct to Amazon to search for them And of course buy