Don't you hate needing a new dress, suit or parka for the kid, and you haven't a clue where to go? Hadas Post, 28, an economist at Microsoft, aims to help.
Post is the fourth (and first female) winner of EasyStart, a contest sponsored jointly by the Dan David Foundation and TheMarker. Post plans to use her $100,000 award to turn her ground-breaking fashion portal 2dress.co.il into the next wrinkle in clothing.
"It all began a year ago when I told my friends that I wanted to go shopping, but I didn't know where," says Post.
Advertisement
Her friends suggested several designer stores that Post didn't know. "I asked myself why, when a person looking for a good restaurant can visit a Web site listing almost all the restaurants in Israel, and someone who wants to compare electrical appliance prices can visit Zap[.co.il] - there was no comparable site for clothing."
Good question, Post's friends thought, which spurred her to work on a solution.
"First, I scoured the Internet to see if there was such a site in Israel or anywhere else," says Post. There were none, and she set out on her new project: a single portal representing everything connected with fashion in Israel."
She launched the site two months ago, listing over 200 stores selling men's, women's and children's fashions. Post aspires to create a directory of all Israeli clothing stores, and plans to recruit two salespeople now and two more as the portal develops. If all goes well, by year-end 2008 the site will list 1,000 clothing stores throughout Israel, with address, phone numbers and their entire inventory, virtual tours and comparison tables.
Unlike entrepreneurs who assume they know best, Post is modest. "The more opinions I hear, the better the final product. Sometimes it's better to listen to people who disagree with you than with those who think like you."
Post is thorough. She consulted someone partly responsible for the success of the rest.co.il Israeli restaurant portal, and spoke to its operating manager. Then she hired him to help her write a business plan. She also contacted Mati (the Small Business Development Center) in Ra'anana.
"Writing the business plan was an important stage," says Post, "particularly since the writing process helps you clarify what you want and how to bring your idea to fruition. It helps you focus."
With business plan in hand Post approached friends who work in venture capital funds and asked their opinion.
"It was important for me to hear if there were any problems with the plan - both to correct them and to be prepared for questions from [potential] investors," says Post. "Since I was studying for my MBA at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, I roped in one of my teachers and sat with him for hours."
She had saved NIS 150,000 for the project. The consultations cost NIS 20,000-30,000, money she feels was well spent.
Then she was ready to seek investors, and found a big company indirectly involved in fashion.
"I didn't have a product," she says. "When we met, I drew the [business] model on a paper napkin and they were very excited. They planned to invest a few hundred thousand shekels and create an advertising and marketing platform."
The offer tempted but she couldn't accept their terms, she says. "For example, they wanted to appoint someone to be in charge of marketing, who knew nothing about marketing. My gut feeling was negative, and my lawyers supported it. I realized that I was alone, and it wasn't easy, but it was better for me to walk away than to share my enterprise with people whose abilities were doubtful."
To move beyond the "paper napkin" stage, Post decided to build the Web site herself and meet with potential investors when it was up and running.
Less than two months after launching, Post's hard work had attracted hundreds of clothing stores to the site. They aren't paying to be listed, but from next month will start paying a few hundred dollars a year.
Why didn't you contact one of the big fashion companies, Castro, for example, and offer them an investment opportunity?
"It would be better for me if they buy me out in four years or so, when I'm worth a lot more."
How much is a lot more?
"At least a million dollars."
First, Post wants to reach all the clothing and fashion stores in Israel - including those in the ultra-Orthodox sector - and provide basic services, including a listing on the portal, building a dedicated Web site featuring a virtual tour of the store, and banner ads. Later 2dress will offer inventory management services, and the stage after that will be the inclusion of accessory, makeup and cosmetics stores. "The final stage will be expansion overseas," says Post.
In addition to studying the market, listening to experts and believing in a product, Post says that positive thinking and joie de vivre are important tools for every entrepreneur.
How long do you think you will keep working at both Microsoft and 2dress?
"Microsoft has been very supportive of me, but working on 2dress needs my involvement 24/7. I won't be able to juggle both my job and the portal much longer."
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
