RealLook helps online shoppers find clothes that fit, by using machine learning to connect them to people with a similar figure.
How did it all start, what’s the story behind your startup?
Real Look started in May 2016, and developed quite quickly. We knew (from ours and other people’s experience) that buying online comes with a lot of uncertainty and that the possibility of returning it is a deterrent for many.
We went through a process of looking for the core issue in this equation. Once we did, the solution emerged naturally – a combination of customer’s experiences and technology. This mix allows us to be constantly in contact with the customer and the retailer, so we can seamlessly optimize our approach.
Name three key words that best describe your business
User-generated content, retail, machine learning.
What is your motivation? What gets you from thinking to DOING?
We love to travel and we’ve done it quite a lot. When we do, we always look at how people live and what their issues are, and we’ve always wanted our work to have a meaningful impact on larger communities. We believe RealLook has the potential to redefine the way people shop for clothes online, in the sense of a better experience for both the customer and the retailer. Solving a problem so big and for so many people is what keeps us going.
How do you plan to IMPACT the world?
We believe people want to act more responsibly towards the environment, but that’s difficult to achieve with everyday activities such as shopping online. RealLook gives customers something they want (a better experience shopping online) while in the long run having a positive effect on the environment. How we specifically aim to achieve that is by reducing the rate of returns for the clothing industry, which will minimize the waste and pollution associated with packaging, processing, and transportation.
Who is the team behind Real Look?
Doru Arfire (33), Bucharest. Doru holds a Computer Science M.S. degree from the Polytechnic University in Bucharest and has more than 10 years experience taking on challenging software projects. He is passionate about statistics, machine learning and distributed computing. He is also a firm believer in sharing experience and knowledge and creating fertile environments for collaborative innovation.
Ana Dragnea (29), Bucharest. Ana is a graduate of the University of Bucharest, and holds an MA in sociology and a BA in cultural studies. She worked with companies in Romania, Europe, and the USA, handling marketing communications in the online. She has experience with advertising, event planning, and PR, and has catered to both B2C and B2B sectors.
You can see this team pitching at one of the ”Pitch, Please” events in Bucharest & Cluj
Impact Startup Factory is an incubation program organized by Impact Hub Bucharest, Impact Hub Cluj-Napoca and Impact Hub Zurich, in partnership with the Swiss-Romanian Cooperation. The Social Impact Incubator is a partnership between Impact Hubs in Romania and Impact Hub Zurich to adapt an innovation and entrepreneurship methodology developed in Switzerland for growing Romanian communities through the power of startups designed for profit, people and planet. The initiative will be implemented March 2016 – February 2017 and is co-financed by a grant from Switzerland through the Swiss Contribution to the enlarged European Union in total value of 73,116.72 CHF.