Last night Dote was the big winner on Planet of the Apps, receiving (a massive) $5M in funding from the Lightspeed team (pro tip: follow Scoreboard of the Apps).
The most compelling part of the product and business is its ability to facilitate purchases inside the app without going to the 3rd party merchant. I'm curious what you're working on next, @lfarleigh.
Thanks @rrhoover!
Right now, we are working on better personalization via our recommendation algorithms so that as we expand into more demos and more brands, we are still serving an experience that is relevant to the user.
Right now we have almost 140 stores on the app and a waiting list of over 20 more. We think the problem we are solving applies to so many categories and demos, but in order to build a great product that isn't overwhelming, we need to really understand what a specific user wants to purchase.
Oh and like everyone else, we are also working on cheap ways to grow our user base as fast as we can :)
A centralized online shop in mobile? Very cool!
I wonder how this plays into branding and experience though, as I know stores want to provide a unique shopping experience to differentiate themselves from the rest. I'll be keeping an eye open :)
@hyunlee Thanks! We find our brand partners are starving for a solution like ours that preserves the brand experience (esp compared to an Amazon) but also allows them to be one of the home screen apps.
These types of purchases (branded products) are emotional, aspiration-based purchases. It is important that customers connect with the brands and products on that level so that they will convert and get what they want. This is what makes us, in many ways, different from Amazon.
That being said, there is so much more we can do to allow brands to tell their story and connect with their customers. It's a super important part of our thesis that we do so. Stay tuned :)
Awesome app @lfarleigh this presents a unique opportunity for brands that were made famous in brick & mortar to connect with the next generation. I'd invest if I had the capital (it's all tied up in NVDA). If you ever need free advice or a sounding board... don't be shy!
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