Technology Loves (Fashion) Company
Written by Katrina Daniel Wednesday, October 26 2011
Snapshot: Jinhee Kim and Sarah Paiji
 Jinhee Kim, left, and Sarah Paiji |
Snapette.com co-founder and Harvard University graduate Jinhee Kim is a rarity on another front: She is a fashionista who loves technology. An early user of all things new to the tech world, at one time Kim had a Blackberry, Android, and iPhone, all at the same time. Before that, she was first in line to buy any new Apple product on the market.
Kim has a design background. She made some charcoal drawings in a community college class, took those drawings to the dean of the Parsons The New School For Design, was immediately accepted into the school’s fashion design program, and went on to become a senior menswear designer for Ralph Lauren. Always enamored of technology, and by this time mother of three children, she then went on to create the True Learning app, one of the first early learning apps on the market.
In 2010 Kim was living in London; she went online to try to find some cool places to shop. She was also hungry, so first she tried to find nearby restaurants. “I pulled out my iPhone and searched for some restaurants, using Yelp and Foodspotting. I thought to myself, there are all these cool apps that help you discover places to eat, but there isn’t anything that tells me where I can find a cute pair of shoes right around the corner.” And so was born the idea for Snapette.com.
Sarah Paiji graduated from Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard and was working in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. She attended alumni presentations and recruitment sessions featuring Chanel and Bloomingdale’s executives. She also heard about ventures like Rent The Runway and the Gilt Groupe and then got bitten by the startup bug. She met Jinhee Kim at a Harvard alumni event and the partnership was created.
 Kim, left, and Paiji |
Snapette.com is based out of Mountain View, Calif., home of Google, among many other technology companies and about 40 minutes south of San Francisco. Kim commutes between Mountain View and London, England. Paiji commutes between Mountain View and New York.
Womenetics: Explain Snapette. Exactly what is your app used for?
Jinhee Kim: The primary function of our mobile app is to help women discover great fashion in the world around them. We make it easy to find, share, and rate user-generated photos of in-store products. It’s the first and only mobile app that lets you browse photos of items posted by other users that are in stores near you, based on your current location. Not only can you find photos of products that are physically near you, but you can also browse the most popular products being posted by our users from anywhere around the world. You can like, comment on, or share the photos via Facebook and Tumblr. You can also follow other users, so the experience is also very social.
Sarah Paiji: In a separate section on the app, we highlight some of the hottest stores in select cities so the user can check out some of the best or latest shoes and bags that are currently available in the featured stores. Users are able to easily get directions to the store from their current location through the app. This is great for users because they can easily window shop some of the best boutiques and local retailers conveniently on their phones.
Womenetics: What was the best advice you got when starting this venture?
Kim: Stop trying to make the perfect product and just get it out to the users. Let them tell you if your idea works or not. And then, iterate, iterate, iterate. Also find a great co-founder who provides the yang to your yin. Startups and especially tech startups are a hard road to venture down. So it makes it even more important to find a good partner to travel with.
Paiji: Agreed. That push has been helpful for someone with my background – very traditional, meaning everything has to be buttoned up. I would spend hours creating strategy, developing a work plan, developing a dashboard, tracking it. Early on in the program I showed one of the partners at 500 Startups (one of our investors) what I was doing. He said, “You’ve produced so much paper. Just go.”
Womenetics: What have been your biggest challenges and how have you overcome those, or not?
Kim: For me personally, it’s been very challenging balancing my roles as parent and entrepreneur. A startup is like a baby that needs all your attention day and night. I’m always feeling guilty that I’m not doing enough either for my family or my startup. My husband and kids have been extremely supportive and understanding. Simple gestures, like my older daughter packing school lunches for my younger daughter, make life smoother for the family. Thank goodness for services like Skype, iChat, and Facebook that allow me to stay very connected to the family even when I’m across the ocean.
 Paiji, left, and Kim |
Womenetics: What words of advice or support would you have for other young (or not-so-young) would-be entrepreneurs?
Kim: Middle-aged moms without a computer science degree can also be tech entrepreneurs. I know it’s at odds with the image of the young hacker dudes in the garage, but the experience and maturity we bring to a new company are very valuable as the company grows. Also building a startup is like running a household of multiple kids with crazy schedules and on a tight budget. You multitask and make it all work.
Paiji: I think it’s very important to have an emotional co-founder as well. I am fortunate to have also found this person in Jinhee. There are so many ups and downs with startup life; it’s great having someone that is a true confidant and partner in crime – someone who can be motivating when I feel discouraged and, in turn, I motivate when she feels discouraged. We definitely keep each other going.
Katrina Daniel is an award-winning journalist and broadcast reporter/anchor. She has worked in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, and as a national correspondent for several networks. She commutes between Miami and the Carolinas, writing for magazines and news organizations. She lives with one horse, four dogs, and a cat.
