Fashism

Sep 28, 2013

1.1k 2013-09-27 21:04:12 UTC Fashism, a website and mobile app that lets users solicit community feedback on style, announced that it is officially closing down on Friday, making it the latest casualty in a tough year for social media-focused fashion startups. The New York-based company was founded in 2009 and attracted a community of fashion-interested American teenagers looking for feedback on the outfits they were putting together for school. In late 2010, it raised $1 million in Series A funding from a number of high-profile investors, including actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, Project Runway judge Nina Garcia and Highline Venture Partners. See also: 11 Startups Reshaping NYC’s Fashion Industry By 2012, it still had enough money to attempt a pivot into ecommerce , but success there was limited, and Fashism struggled to find additional investment. As of this summer, co-founders Brooke Moreland and Ashley Granata had moved onto other projects, Moreland at another fashion/tech startup, Fashion GPS . (She is now consulting for Guest of a Guest. ) Fashism's struggle is not unique. Between 2009 and 2011, a range of other startups in the category — Pose, Snapette and Go Try It On — were able to raise six and seven-figure rounds to launch their ideas. But they struggled to turn their ideas into real businesses. Go Try It On folded, its founder now employed by another fashion startup called Rent the Runway. In August, PriceGrabber acquired Snapette for an undisclosed sum. Pose is small but still running, monetizing through a nascent advertising business . The startup is also reportedly in the middle of raising more funding. We'll have to wait and see whether it can carry the torch forward. Image: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images 1. @fredwilson Fred also blogs daily at avc.com , and engages with his followers in the comment section. (Bonus: the comments are sometimes as good as the blog post itself. ) Wilson has an MBA Monday series, which educates both investors and entrepreneurs on all aspects of a startup, from return on investment to cap tables . He posts links on Twitter along with additional educational content. 2. @sacca Angel investor turned VC Chris Sacca doesn’t have a blog, but he does retweet relevant investor information (and occasionally some funny content, as well). He was an early adopter and investor in Twitter a few years ago, and more recently, invested in Turntable.fm. He tweeted often about his use of Turntable. Without Chris’ advice, it would have taken me weeks to learns about the company - a lifetime in the world of startups. As new companies and technologies emerge, investors like Chris have an opportunity to see great companies before the masses. They can point you to what is currently hot in the market. It is beneficial to have this insight when you are looking to invest. 3. @danprimack Dan is a reporter who writes about private equity and venture capital for Fortune . Among his daily Twitter posts, you’ll find pre-marketing links related to private equity. He organizes all the most interesting content for the day into one place, and comments on stories evolving throughout the day. 4. @msuster Mark Suster is an entrepreneur who made the leap to venture capital, but blogs for Both Sides of the Table . His posts are very well-thought out, well-written and go into a lot of detail about topics helpful to new investors. He also engages with his community in the comment sections, which provides a lot of additional insight. Since he doesn’t blog daily, I rely on his Twitter feed to alert me to his posts and any additional links he shares. 5. @bfeld Brad Feld is a venture capitalist at Foundry Group. Follow Brad on Twitter for insights into current topics in the venture capital world. He has been blogging for a long time, and has a lot of great content on his website . Also, see his great set of posts on term sheets ; they were the basis of his recent book Venture Deals , a must-read for every investor and entrepreneur. 6. @cdixon Chris is an angel investor who runs Founder Collective, and also a co-founder of Hunch. Although he doesn’t blog as frequently as a lot of the other investors, his content is reliably valuable. He organizes posts into sections , like Raising money, Startup Sales/Marketing, Operations and other great topics. You can spend hours learning about startups and investing on this blog. 7. @robgo When I first started following Rob, he was with Spark Capital, but has since moved to NextView ventures. He occasionally writes about investing and startups on his blog , and tweets about topics that any investor will find useful. I also like to follow Rob because he tweets about Boston and NY startups, a perspective I might not otherwise be focused on. 8. @bryce Chris Sacca recommended Bryce Roberts, saying that “he writes thoughtfully. " I have to agree with Chris. I frequently click on Bryce's recommended links and read his blog to gain insight into the industry. 9. @bussgang Jeff Bussgang is another entrepreneur turned VC and a partner at Flybridge Capital. His blog is similar in concept to Mark Suster’s: a VC’s perspective with former entrepreneurial experience. He only blogs 3-4 times per month, so I rely on Twitter to update me with his new content. Jeff is a frequent Twitter user, and posts a lot of additional thoughts on investing. He also has a useful book called Mastering the VC Game that every investor should pick up.