052: The business model behind custom window coverings, Alice Orozco of Pret-a-Portiere

Product Startup · 9 May 2017 · 47m

What this episode covers

Alice Orozco, founder of Pret-a-Portiere, explains how she built a custom window covering business by reinventing the traditional drapery model through direct-to-mill sourcing and an online sales funnel. She details her journey from bootstrapping with no initial capital to iterating through multiple failed business models, including ready-made and traditional in-home sales, before finding success with a made-to-order online approach. Orozco highlights the critical importance of supplier relationships, sharing how she overcame a major quality failure by training overseas manufacturers and implementing strict quality assurance protocols. She also discusses her unique marketing strategy, which uses free physical samples as a lead magnet to achieve high conversion rates, and her focus on transparency and customer education to compete with larger, fragmented competitors in the Australian market.

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