Startup Spotlight #188: Renoon
Startup Spotlight #188: Renoon
Renoon empowers brands and consumers to have a digital conversation on the topic through the world's first app that combines the offering from hundreds of websites at once and verifies sustainability.
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I got the chance to speak with Iris Skrami, co-founder and CEO of Renoon, about what she’s working on at her startup, and any advice she has for emerging entrepreneurs.
Founded in 2020 in Amsterdam, Renoon is empowering sustainable values in purchase decisions at scale. In less than a year from development, it has been recognized as innovation of the year by Global Fashion Agenda and featured by Apple more than 10 times. Skrami, the co-founder and CEO, is involved in advising the municipality of Amsterdam in these matters and is part of the Forbes Under 30 list in Italy.
Startup Spotlight: Renoon
Problem: We all confront the impact of climate change and prioritize businesses with sustainable values. However, when every brand claims to be sustainable, how can companies differentiate themselves? There is no easy way to articulate their efforts objectively, build trust, communicate it and influence purchase decisions at scale.
Market: Renoon is currently focused on the $160B market for online apparel and clothing. Our vision is to then expand omnichannel and cross-sector, tapping into the furniture, food, and cosmetics markets.
Solution: We provide sustainability software that allows merchants to aggregate each meaningful action taken, categorize it into values and easily communicate it at the point of sale. Our dashboard, widgets, and consumer tools allow brands to turn sustainability into trusted brand value.
Team: From friends to co-founders: we like to think some star alignments brought us 4 together to cover all the fundamental skills to build Renoon (Nico, Piero, Gabri & I). Most importantly, to focus on the fashion industry, you have to know it from the inside out, so of course, the majority of us experienced global brands NIKE, Oakly, TOD's, Tommy Hilfiger, and Calvin Klein.
Recent Success:
Skrami: Iterating. Fast. With a clear vision. When we started, we were very well aware that other companies had tried and failed to solve this problem for decades. It seemed almost impossible to solve, but we believed we had the right timing, team and resources. We just needed to roll out our sleeves and find out what would & would not work. Fast forward today, I'm honestly blown away by how fast we got here, having 400+ brands asking for Renoon and 2M reach per month. We pivoted to where we are today just 2 months ago and managed to build such incredible focus in our team.
Recent Struggle:
Skrami: As it happens with most new services, here is what we are struggling with the most up until today: pricing. You know that feeling when everyone tells you their opinion because something is clearly off and you get all the craziest advice?! One day it's too little, one day it's too much. But, I guess this is the way to find the answer. When the majority will stop having the craziest opinions, it will mean we have found a good way to price our product. The struggle for us now is also figuring out a way to get to efficient pricing in the fastest way possible.
Founder Advice:
Skrami: Just a question: "How much do you really want it?" I've recently been using my chill time to watch startup TV series and something I've noticed for the first time by watching founders from the outside - which is different from reading a book, I feel - is that you can tell if someone is building out of passion or not. It's also a great question I ask myself now every day. It pushes me and reminds me that new is met with resistance, and if it was easy everyone would do it. So, how much do you really want it?
Three Cool Founders You Should Know About:
Skrami: Here are three founders you should check out next!
Francesca Gargaglia, Co-founder and COO at Amity: Amity powers digital communities everywhere. Amity allows developers to easily add plug-and-play social features to any app or digital platform.
Siran Cao, Co-founder and CEO of Mirza: Mirza is a “Care Now, Pay Later” option for childcare. Mirza allows companies to reduce turnover and give talent acquisition a winning edge with zero interest, BNPL benefit.
Leo Armel Tchoudjang, Co-founder and president of BetaStore: BetaStore is helping African grocery shops to better source products and get working capital financing to grow.
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