Behind Her Empire #33: Why Balance is BS 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. [5:00]
* What prompted Shilpa to go to business school at age 32 was a desire to do more. [7:22]
* Balancing being the primary caretaker and the primary breadwinner. [11:05]
* One of the mistakes co-founders make in selecting one another is looking for someone similar to them. [15:02]
* How the direct-to-consumer concept arose from a desire to build a fashion brand. [16:50]
* The value of setting clear boundaries for what you can and cannot compromise on in business. [19:12]
* Focusing on supply chain and the business model in the first two years of Cuyana. [19:51]
* What makes building businesses difficult is taking the time to figure out what works. [23:05]
* How Shilpa came to understand the right messaging for her customers which was critical in the brand’s growth. [23:53]
* Educating their customers on Cuyana's “fewer, better things” concept. [27:13]
* Why staying close to your customer and seeing how they interact with your product is key. [29:07]
* Fundraising in the early days and why understanding the business is the true first step. [30:40]
* Hear Shilpa’s analogy for sustainability in a tech company and why Cuyana’s focus was always on profitability. [32:59]
* Getting male investors to understand their concept during the fundraising process. [34:57]
* Despite all the challenges, Shilpa and Carla never gave themselves the option of quitting. [39:52]
* How Shilpa and Carla’s entrepreneurship was received by their immigrant parents. [41:25]
* Why it is essential – as an entrepreneur – to become comfortable with failure. [44:40]
* Discover Shilpa’s perspective on work-life balance – and why she thinks balance is BS. [45:46]
* Shilpa’s advice for female founders with families: Make sure you’re solving the right problem. [49:46]
* Some challenges Cuyana has faced and how Shilpa and Carla overcame them. [52:19]
* Why Cuyana’s biggest success during COVID is simply surviving the pandemic. [54:33]
* Some of the key takeaways that helped propel Cuyana forward, like thinking quickly. [55:33]
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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