Founder Spotlight
Founder Spotlight magnifies our members’ progress and achievements.
Meet Mila Banerjee, Founder, and CEO of PRONTI AI , a smart wardrobe assistant!
Pronti AI is a smart wardrobe assistant who leverages understanding an individual’s moods, style, and context. Pronti AI plays a huge role in alleviating decision fatigue and boosting one’s confidence level. Pronti’s first beta launched in July 2021, and after a few tweaks, it is now ramping up its user base and aiming to reach 1,000 users by year-end.
The app allows users to answer two fundamental questions:
1. What should I wear today?
2. What should I add to my wardrobe that complements the clothes I already own?
Today is one of those short Fall days in Toronto, and we are meeting with Mila virtually. Daylight is almost gone, and Mila joins the call a few minutes later.
Mila has a lively voice, and you can feel the passion from behind the camera when she talks about her work.
We began the interview by asking about how she came up with the idea of Pronti AI:
“I have been an entrepreneur for the last ten years. I started businesses in five different countries and then had the opportunity to join CDL’s Quantum Machine Learning Stream, and I couldn’t say no to such an amazing opportunity.
My idea for Pronti AI first came about when I was coaching a young woman in London, England, and learned about the need to alleviate decision fatigue. It was funny because, on one particular evening, she said, “Do you mind if I pull my outfit together while we chat? ”And I thought, “That’s kind of funny, but all right!”
I learned that she spent between 1-1.5 hours every night putting together her outfit. It was really important to her to do this for her self-confidence, self-expression, and professionalism. She also felt the pressure not to wear the same thing repeatedly and to vary items.
As I listened to this I just thought, “we should be able to solve this with tech!” I started interviewing more people on the topic and realized that young men also feel a lot of this same pressure, likely because they grew up in the influencer era.
I also discovered a need on the retailer’s side. We’ve got all of these fantastic small and medium-sized brands out there that have blossomed because of Shopify and allowed them to put out their design ideas and start businesses. But they struggle to find the customer online - they can’t find you.
And users are also lost in an ocean of online shopping. Therefore, Pronti AI provides a way to personalize recommendations and bring you things that you may not have ever come across.”
How are you growing your audience and scaling the business?
“We launched the beta version last spring and asked people to try it out. They provided these little pearls of feedback that allowed us to produce a product that was much, much better. We kept iterating and added a new piece of machine learning in September that made a big difference. Once we also added the ability to sign up over email, our users started to increase enormously.”
What are the main challenges you face as a female founder?
“By far investment is a huge hurdle. The ecosystem in Canada for investment is not overflowing. It is challenging as a woman to raise money. So, I look to the CWN network to learn about how other people are raising funds.”
What is your morning routine?
“I have a golden retriever puppy and she wakes me up at 6:30 am! We go out for what is now a chilly walk, and then I grab my coffee and start to look over things that need to be done. I usually plan out my day the night before.
My mornings are my time to get a lot of my to-do items off my plate because I have a lot of calls during the day. Our team has a morning stand-up at 9 am, and then if it's Monday, we do our sprint planning. On Fridays, we do a “retro,” where we think back over the week and look at what went well, what didn't go so well, and what we could improve. I really appreciate this time to reflect.”
What are your next steps for Pronti AI?
“We have developed a very exciting new feature called, “Shop with Closet.” Essentially, our algorithm grabs clothing from your closet and pairs it with other items, so that you can refresh by adding a new top or scarf for example to your favorite pair of pants.
We are also integrating our technology on e-commerce sites and looking for retailers that are interested in trying it out. For example, if a user is shopping at Aritzia, they could see a button to view the clothing item with other clothes from their closet or match with other items from that retailer.
We are also hoping to raise a round. I am actively looking for somebody who's excited about what we're doing. My mission is to find other believers.”
And last, but not least, a piece of advice from Mila to our network:
“I think that when you're a startup founder, you always have to remember to stay hyper-focused because there are so many things that are pulling you. I have three goals that sit right above my computer that I use to question any incoming things. I ask myself, “Does it suit one of those three goals?”
Another big thing is to remember that you can't do things without other people. Remember the people in your life because your relationships will define you. This is coming from somebody who's employing AI technology! But, it is our relationships with others that matter. It's important to build trust every day while working together on shared missions.”
Thank you Mila for sharing your story!
Three Takeaways from our Conversation:
Be curious and brainstorm how to solve common problems to find entrepreneurial solutions. Ex. “Ask yourself, can this issue be solved using tech?”
Frequently ask for user feedback to iterate and improve your product
Clearly define goals to stay hyper-focused, set priorities, and remain on task
Get PRONTI. on App Store, Google Play
Written by Armita Maroufi, edited by Kennedy Quigley. If you’d like to be on our next Founder Spotlight, reach out to us here.
