The Product Mavens is the name brandished for a monthly meet up of Product Managers in Sydney. Congregating at Cook & Archie in Surry Hills, a group of individuals from different walks of life catch up over coffee with a passion to share anything Product. And because we’re learning so much about each other, we wanted to introduce you to them here!
Say 'hi!' to Mike Knapp (@mikeee), Director of Technology at Shoes of Prey, an online based shoe retail store that let’s buyers custom make their shoes in a few easy steps. Shoes of Prey was recently a finalist in the ‘Best Bootstrapped Startup’ category in this year’s Crunchies, and recently featured on Techcrunch, giving away a $290 gift certificate (wow!) for Valentine’s Day.
What is your role at Shoes of Prey?
I’m basically responsible for creating and running our web site and backend systems. I also cover a variety of roles that range from the day to day running of the business, customer support (posting customer’s inserts), tracking return shoes, and dealing with our Chinese manufacturers. So it’s pretty hands on!
What inspired you to start Shoes of Prey?
Both Michael (Michael Fox) and I were always interested in starting our own business. We dreamed up a bunch of ideas whilst working at Google, but at the time we saw the value in working for someone else to learn the ropes. It was Michael’s partner, Jodie who inspired the shoes concept with her experience in shoe design in Asia. The concept sounded like a good opportunity since shoes would be relatively easy to market, especially if the target market was females, broadly speaking! If we did it well, we also thought it would also more than likely create a lot of positive buzz online.
How different is it working for yourself vs working for Google?
Actually I find them both quite similar. Working for yourself means longer hours though, usually 7 days a week, as you have greater responsibility and you have a genuine desire to be involved in all decision making that affects the business.
What’s your user base like?
Females who are visually creative and enjoy the freedom to create something of their own. Also, people with problematic feet and are of an older demographic with reasonable income. We see it as quite niche, not competing with your usual retail stores.
How do you manage the different cultures amongst your suppliers and customers?
Having an appreciation of their cultures is a first, but we’re lucky to be dealing with suppliers and employees who also speak perfect English. Our Japanese website, for example, was created in partnership with a Japanese company whose founders previously worked for Yahoo! Japan and Ogilvy. Giving them autonomy has helped localise our web site and develop the business there. We now also provide customer support in Spanish and French.
What's a key learning from your experience thus far at SOP?
Go to market as quickly as possible, no concept or execution plan will ever be perfect.
For example, we thought shoe sizes would be problematic so we undertook endless testing and tried out alternatives. It turned out it was easier to just ask customers and it was right 95% of the time. If it doesn’t fit, we just remake the shoe. So, start simple and evolve it as you go.
Our next Mavens catch up is on the 4th August, Wednesday morning. Keep checking here for details!
