Farfetch's zero-inventory model stems from Neves's past fashion failure
José Neves · 20VC: Farfetch Founder, José Neves on Zen Buddhism and Its Impact on Leadership Mentality, Why Head vs Heart is Not the Right Way To Think About Decision-Making & How To Work Through Self-Doubt and Identity as a CEO · May 20, 2021 · at 8:10
José Neves is the founder and CEO of luxury platform Farfetch. He explains how the failure of his 1990s shoe brand, Swear, shaped Farfetch's asset-light model.
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“The concept behind Farfetch, the way Farfetch is structured with, for example, no fashion risk, No inventory risk, but also a risk-free channel that we make accessible to creatives like I was to have a global audience without having to go and open stores everywhere. All of these things are coming from learnings of my mistakes and things I've done in the past”
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More from José Neves
Executive detachment under pressure does not rely on financial security
“I think that doesn't depend at all on external events. So it has nothing to do with the financial security.”
Archegos liquidation drove Farfetch trading volume to 10x its average
“I mean, the volumes to give you an idea Were 10 times more or less the average volume. I think it was around 10% of the company was dumped on Friday, and probably another 10% on Monday, something like that.”
Effective decision-making requires involving emotions alongside logical reasoning
“And what he demonstrated is that you cannot make good decisions without involving your emotions.”
José Neves built all his companies as a solo founder
“I never had a co-founder. I was always the only CEO and founder of my businesses.”
Entrepreneurs are 'risk curious' rather than risk-averse
“Most people are risk averse. I think entrepreneurs are risk curious. So they like to play with the probabilities of success and failure, and they get kick out of this game.”
Self-doubt is healthy if viewed as a mental construct
“So self-doubt is very healthy as long as it doesn't cripple you. As long as you can have that detached view, again, that conscious view that, okay, wow, I'm doubting myself here. And as long as you can clearly see it for what it is a mental movie. It is a ment…”