from the crossroads of America and the hoer state of Indiana this is get in the podcast focused on the unfolding stories and extraordinary Innovations happening in the Heartland today I'm Nate spangle and I'll be your host for today's conversation today we have a live recording from rally the largest global cross sector Innovation Conference held right here in Indianapolis on the show today is Tanya Couture founder and CEO of West by [Music] East Kan Couture is the founder of West by East an AI powered design service for custom fit cultural clothing please enjoy this live episode of get in from rally I'm the founder and CEO
of West by East which is an endtoend service for custom fit and On Demand culture gments oh okay elaborate into that there are folks from the diasporas whether you're South Asian East Asian African and Middle Eastern and there's a required traditional attire for momentous celebrations like weddings will leg just cultural events and the number one option to Source these garments is a trip back to the motherland which is ridiculous and with technology we built a solution where our customers can design their outfit from the comfort of their own home so they can select the silhouette color Fabric and then they can use their phone to
take their measurements virtually in 60 seconds and they can see their Avatar in the design that they created on their actual body before we go into production oh my gosh so is it a mixture of the software of doing the measurements as well as the hardware of actually producing the garments exactly so we're building a 3D knitting machine so think of it as braiding your hair right there's three strands and it's going vertical but the 3D knitting machine there are multiple strands and it's going from all direction to create a physical piece of a garment whether it's a blouse or a sari which is our
MVP so that's the backend production okay so I might need a little bit of Education here can you elaborate on what culture this is used in and what is different from normal textile manufacturing yeah there are other 3D knitting machines out there but they're used for thicker materials like wool to create LED sweaters or cotton to make basic shirts but those are not those wouldn't work for cultural garments because it's pure silk that you're using and these materials it just wouldn't work so we have to build our own version and as well as so the software component will seamlessly inter great with the machine it's
like a bundle yeah so you have the hardware like the actual textile manufacturing and you have the software I've been in like 10 Bachelor parties this year or 10 weddings and it's like going every time to get fitted for a suit is like a the software alone is just like very intriguing to me um how long have you been working on this for over 3 years now and the company has been self- sustaining itself I like to say we've been tetto strapped okay but now we're raising Venture Capital to scale okay and what's your background I have a business degre de Ree and I worked
for an emerging designer in Chicago and I helped build their brand from the ground up now was cared at sax fth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman and then I went to London to attend the conas College of fashion and design and I was seled as one of the next leaders of luxury fashion oh my gosh that's amazing and then where do you reside at now I'm in Brooklyn New York Brooklyn New York okay so how did you hear about rally so I've done several fellowships and accelerator programs which I believe has been instrumental for my growth as a Founder so I'm part of a slack groups
I'm I get a lot of newsletters honestly I have no idea I saw it I applied and I got in what uh what Fellowship groups are you a part of I'm a Tory bur fellow ladies who launch fellow I've done a visible hands accelerator program gold house Ventures accelerator program yeah done so for other Founders out there that might be like interested or considering joining these communities or these Fellowship programs what have been the biggest benefits for you I think for me is being part of a community that will support you in any way possible whether it's raising funding where it's like trying to find
a team member advisers it's just you need those people when you're an entrepreneur because it can be a very lonely journey and those are the people that will be there whenever you're when you're at your lowest yes absolutely having the community super important where did you come up with this idea at it was a personal paino um I'm a first gen indian-american who grew up in the starbur of Chicago and like having that dual identity of being Indian and American and the fact that I had to wait to go to India to get these clothes was just it was just so annoying oh my gosh
I can't imagine yeah and it wasn't just for myself but it's everyone I talked to within my own Community friends and family and I realized that it wasn't just the South Asian Community it was everyone else whether you're Nigerian Ganan Korean thae same exact paino oh my gosh yeah definitely I definitely see how that that would be very frust you have to travel across the world to get your get a set of clothes yeah so let's talk about you came in for rally besides the pitch competition what has been the best part of rally for you and where have you found it be to be
beneficial I think meeting other Founders I met a fellow Tory Burch founder amazing yeah we're part of the same Fellowship so that was really great I'm meeting a few investors having that one-on-one conversations what else I got attended a private dinner last night oh where at at St Elmo St El okay what were your thoughts on St Elmo oh fantastic you get the shrimp cocktail I did what did you think of that I thought it was great it is a heck of an experience yes for your nose you to clear it out absolutely okay have you been to Indianapolis before no I haven't from Chicago
you didn't make the never made the Trek three hours down Ian I think maybe I did as a kid but I'm sure things have changed right okay so you coming from Brooklyn New York you you're plain lands I'm assuming you didn't drive plain lands what was the first thing you thought of Indiana super clean clean all right I New York that's fair okay previous to coming in for rally what was Indiana known for to you just a midwest state that's slowly thriving slowly thriving okay have you pitched already I'm pitching tomorrow pitching tomorrow how are you feeling going into it I think I'm pretty good
I've done a lot of pitch competitions what other pit competitions have you done I done like math challenge I'm trying to think just like a bunch yeah okay if you had to give advice to a Founder that's potentially like thinking about joining a pitch competition what would your one piece of advice to nail a pitch in a in a competition be I think it comes down to the Q&A answer the question and then you can elaborate don't do it the other way around cuz some people do that even I do that at at times cuz I'm trying to find the answer while I'm talking does
that make sense the lead yeah but then the the judges are they just want the answer otherwise they'll ask the same question again yeah what if you had advice for a pitch deck for Founders out there I think don't use too much words keep it super simple use imagery like you're really it's almost like a performance so you have to like sell what your whatever the product or service it is right yeah just keep us simple I love that that's great advice for we have a ton of like entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs listen to the show what's been the most what's been the coolest person
you've met at rally give them a shout out last night I met Harry Wilson for the dinner event who is Harry Wilson uh the brother of Russell Wilson oh no way like the football player yeah I messaged him last night on LinkedIn responded and I got in to the dinner let's go and I invited two my female uh founder friends as well amazing founder friends from New York or that you met me I met yeah amazing I love that what's your number one piece of advice for people attending conferences like this if they're not pitching how can they maximize their time at a conference like
this I think you have to prepare ahead of time the your agenda otherwise you're just going to miss like sessions that you wanted to be there or keynote speakers so just come prepared with your agenda and and coming out of it how can you keep the momentum going and maximize what the conference did in the week following follow with everyone connect with them on LinkedIn if you get their email email them if you get their phone number text them and try to set up another 101 via Zoom or love that absolutely you you're hitting the nail on the head final question what has been the
coolest part of Indiana thus far the coolest part coolest part what has we got you oh man that is so cool probably the restaurant ELO yeah that's fair yeah it was like a maze getting there till we got to the private room took us like 5 minutes you were back in the in the the catacomb of I love it if listeners out there want to one become customers of yours two people want to support you in your mission and what you're doing how can they find you where should they go how should they connect with you yeah so go to our website Westby east.com so
it's westx East pronounced like like South by Southwest and hit us up like you can DM us on Instagram you can DM me you can connect me on with me on LinkedIn and if you're going to a South Asian wedding or event hit me up I'm here to help you don't have to be of South Asian descent 25% of our customers are non-south Asian so really yeah I love it thank you so much for coming on the show it was a pleasure and best of luck pitching tomorrow thank you appreciate it are you ready to transform your brand with award-winning video content that captures your
vision and connects with your audience check out Alchemy the experts at building your brand using video from story-driven social media Snippets that leave a lasting impression to compelling fulllength documentaries they have got the expertise to take your brand to the next level Alchemy is actually our video partner here on get in they do amazing work all the videos you see across social across YouTube all that is done by Alchemy and they're an amazing partner to work with reach out to me Nate at powderkeg or check out Alchemy film.com to get connected with Alden and his team they will take care of all your video needs
this has been get in a powder kick production in partnership with Elevate Ventures and we want to hear from you if you have suggestions for a guest or segment reach out to Matt or or Nate on LinkedIn or on email to discover top tier tech companies outside of Silicon Valley in hubs like Indiana check out our newsletter at powder.com newsletter and to apply for membership to the powdercake executive Community Check out powder.com premium we'll catch you next time and next week as we continue to help the world get in since you just listen to this podcast you might be thinking about starting one for your
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