Foundr Magazine Podcast | Learn From Successful Founders & Proven Entrepreneurs, The Ultimate Startup Podcast For Business

Phoebe Gates went from failed prototypes in her Stanford dorm room to building one of the fastest growing fashion-tech startups in the world. In this interview, the co-founder of AI shopping app Phia shares how she and her co-founder Sophia Kianni scaled from 200 early users to half a million downloads, raised $9M from investors like Kleiner Perkins, Kris Jenner, and Sara Blakely, and turned their vision into a personal AI shopping assistant trusted by a new generation of consumers. From building in public and hacking growth with feedback loops to pitching high-profile investors and navigating privilege, Phoebe breaks down the exact strategies that fueled her rapid rise as a young founder. What you’ll learn from this interview: • How Phoebe went from 50+ failed ideas to finding product-market fit in fashion-tech • The grassroots tactics she used to get her first 200 users • Why feedback loops and “pizza nights” became their biggest growth hack • How she pitched and secured investors like Kleiner