CF:G asks.. Anna Bance

Anna Bance is the co-founder of GirlMeetsDress.com,  
a luxury fashion e-commerce site which allows customers to rent the latest fashion pieces for high-street prices. She answers our burning questions from what her greatest challenges have been to how she knew she had the right idea. 
Tell us about your journey prior to starting Girl Meets Dress? 
After completing my degree at The London College of Fashion, I worked at InStyle magazine, The Telegraph magazine, Harpers Bazaar, and then joined Hermes as UK PR Manager where I stayed for 3 years before launching Girl Meets Dress.

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How did you know that Girl Meets Dress was the right idea?
I knew it was just a matter of time before I started my own business.  Something I had always wanted to do when the right idea came along. Launching a business is always going to have an element of risk, but I believed in the idea, my co-founder and the market potential.  Designer dress rental allows women to wear a different designer dress for every occasion whilst not breaking the bank - the perfect retail cocktail for the customer which the fashion industry has been unable to provide until now.

What has been your proudest moment?
The biggest ones are yet to come I hope and 2014 has a lot of potential for exciting news for the business!  I am really happy with the fact that we’ve created a fantastic product for all women to have their cinderella moment. We all need to feel amazing for life’s special moments and Girl Meets Dress democrazes fashion, enabling millions of women to afford luxury every day.

What advice would you give to students who want start a start-up?

• Although not 100% necessary, I recommend choosing an area that you know something about.  There are exciting ways to pioneer every market, whichever field you love. Of course, you can learn about any new topic – but will you be able to compete with people with years of knowledge and expertise.
  
• Find a Co-Founder with different skill sets to you. This is a brilliant way to launch without needing to hire a full team on day 1. If you can split the main areas of the business between you, then you can launch with minimal cost and test the product at market – which is the first step to seeing if there is demand.

• Don’t over think it. There will never be a perfect time to leave your secure job, risk your salary decrease, take a chance on an idea which might not work – but what’s the worst that can happen? You’ll go back to your previous role until you come up with the next idea!
  

What has been your greatest challenge in starting GirlMeetsDress.com?
When we started, ensuring we have a full team in place while bootstrapping was no easy feat. We were lucky to find so many hardworking and ambitious staff to stick with us and the vision.
Becoming knowledgeable in so many different areas is challenging but it definitely helps to have 2 co-founders with complimentary and different skill sets. Fulfilment and logistics is an area which has to evolve and improve all the time as the company grows and orders increase. New processes and staff roles have to adapt to demand for the product to maintain efficiency.

Looking back, if you could change one thing what would it be?
My biggest mistake was not delegating certain areas soon enough in the early days. There are many things as a founder you get used to doing yourself, or think you can do it best. But it is important to trust, and let go.

And finally.. what is your favourite dress?
My current favourites for versatile party dresses to wear in the day and then straight out at night are Alice + Olivia and Rachel Zoe.

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