Boiling Point - Episode 088 - Kelly Lawson and ELLA

From Consuming to Sharing

Show Notes

From Consuming to Sharing

Introducing Kelly Lawson and ELLA

We have all heard the comment from the closest, “I have nothing to wear.” In fact, the average American woman spends approximately $300 per month on fashion items. In less than a month, 51% of these items go unworn or unused. This means that women are making a fashion investment of $250,000 in their lifetime without any type of return of investment. This week’s boiling point guest, Kelly Lawson, is seeking to change the trend and connect like-minded women by way of their closets.

A short time ago, Kelly took an idea that she had been toying with for some time and developed the iPhone app, ELLA. With ELLA, women can sell their unused or slightly used clothing for cash. With $50 billion in nearly new items sitting in US closets every year there is a lot to choose from. Not only are you helping out a fellow woman by purchasing from them, but you also help the environment so that all of these items don’t end up in a landfill. Check out this week’s Boiling Point to see how you or your loved one could make some money or perhaps find a great deal on a fashionable item.

In this episode

Greg and Kelly crack open a beer from Saint John’s Moosehead Brewery.
Kelly tells us how living in a dorm during university helped to spawn the idea for ELLA.
We discuss how ELLA is an idea for the sharing economy.
Greg suggests that apps like ELLA would change a person’s retail purchasing decisions to consider resale value.
Kelly tells us about how ELLA’s data will be able to track the best brands to buy for resale purposes.
She also discusses the amount of effort that goes into taking an idea to fruition.
Kelly tells us that the only thing you can be sure of in a start-up is your own process.
Kelly drops the line, “If you want money, ask for advice. If you want advice, ask for money.”
She also lets us know that she is still seeking investment capital and urges BP listeners to contact her if they are interested.
Dave loves Kelly’s entrepreneurial spirit and thinks it is great to see someone have an idea and do something with it.
Greg is struck by the fact that this idea hadn’t emerged in a big way already because it does good in so many ways.