Rank & Style, a NYC digital startup, founded by Sarika Doshi, Pooja Badlani, and Sonal Gupta, has empowered the professional woman by transforming the way she shops online. The women-led company has developed a bias-free algorithm to find the best fashion & beauty products available which then cultivates simple daily “Top Ten” lists to further streamline the online shopping experience. List categories include everything from work pants, pumps, and sports bras to mascaras, red lipsticks, and hair tools.
The company’s algorithm methodically crawls the internet, so consumers don’t have to, searching for user reviews, editors’ picks, best-seller lists, celebrity favorites, and industry recommendations from knowledgeable sources, then further aggregates and indexes the data to identify the ten best items. Think Consumer Reports, Yelp, BuzzFeed, Zagat, and other similar ranking tools, but for the fashion and beauty space.
Columbia grad-turned Rank & Style CEO, Doshi, has a strong background in business development and spent three years practicing international corporate law in London prior to co-founding the company in 2013. Badlani was Art Director at Time, Inc. and Senior Designer at Sundance Channel before becoming R&S Co-Founder & CCO. She studied at Barnard College, Columbia University, and Pratt Institute. She also currently teaches web design at Pratt Institute in New York City. Gupta worked as a corporate lawyer for Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP and at a large advertising firm prior to co-founding Rank & Style and becoming its COO. She studied at George Washington University and Fordham Law School.
Rank & Style has been recognized by Fast Company as 100 Most Creative People In Business, plus won first place in Fashion Tech Forum’s Founders of the Future Challenge and Grow America’s She Can Pitch Competition for Women-Led Businesses.
Kristina Moore: What inspired you to unite and launch Rank & Style?
Sarika Doshi: Women…and personally experiencing the very challenge/problem we are trying to solve! I was planning a vacation and Googled ‘best natural sunscreens’ as I was preparing for my trip. The results I got back from my search were overwhelming and, more importantly, I didn’t know what sources I could truly trust. Women account for a majority of online shoppers, yet there was no objective, technology-driven platform for conclusive data and streamlined insights. We launched Rank & Style to empower consumers with concise, trustworthy and accurate recommendations of the best products for most every fashion, beauty and lifestyle need they may have. We were confident that, using technology and an understanding of consumer behavior, we could create the first objective, data-driven ranking, discovery and shopping tool to disrupt and improve this space.
Rank & Style Co-Founders: COO Sonal Gupta, CCO Pooja Badlani, and CEO Sarika Doshi. [Image courtesy... [+]
Moore: In what ways does it support the professional woman?
Doshi: Professional women have never been more interested in having the best products, and understanding a product’s value and quality, yet they have never been busier and more strapped for time. Our mission is to help women by saving them time, adding a degree of transparency in a highly subjective space, and making sure our users can trust that they are making the best decisions for themselves as informed, discerning consumers.
Moore: How is it possible your algorithm can provide equally (if not better) ranking results than personally testing each product?
Doshi: Rank & Style’s algorithm essentially amplifies proven, trusted, existing sources of influence. Think of us as a mix of TripAdvisor, Buzz Feed and Consumer Reports. In practical terms, that means we collect and analyze all of the research consumers already rely on: user recommendations, editorial opinions, expert reviews, best-seller lists and social buzz. Our mathematical, comprehensive process allows us to weed out any extreme bias, identify positive and negative buzz around products and arrive at trustworthy, accurate insights. While we believe testing products is imperative, we leave that work to others and leverage their research by including their voices in our data set.
Moore: How do you choose the product categories that are listed?
Doshi: We are constantly observing trends to make sure we are creating rankings that are relevant, in season and top of mind. We also call ourselves the ‘DJs’ of lists, which means we take and honor requests we get from our users each week. When it comes to staples like jeans, mascara and bras, we are always updating our rankings to make sure the lists are accurate and current.
Moore: What steps are in place to ensure the integrity of an R&S Top Ten list while still allowing you to generate revenue through brand sponsorship and product link affiliates?
Doshi: We don’t allow brands to pay us or provide free products in exchange for placement on our lists. We do work with retailers to create data-driven top ten rankings of the most buzz-worthy products within their inventory in a given category and theme, and we receive sponsorship fees for these placements, but sponsored content on our site is clearly marked as such. Also, we strongly prefer to direct traffic to multi-brand retailers such as department stores where possible.
Moore: What excites you most about working in today’s fashion and technology arena?
Doshi: The power of data! Consumer interest in data is rapidly growing, as is their interest in investigating a product’s relative strengths, value and popularity. Traditional advertising premised in part on brand recognition and logos is no longer as effective as it once was, and the notion of ‘influence’ in marketing is undergoing a meaningful shift. These days, buyers are initiating the search and are in the driver’s seat when it comes to ‘conversing’ with brands and retailers to obsessively learn about products before making a decision. This powerful change in the dynamics between consumers, brands and retailers has created the opportunity to leverage technology and the rising interest in data to create a new form of influence outside of traditional curation and editorial marketing. Our mission is to use this influence and rich data to identify trends and ‘best in class’ products and offer influential insights to consumers, retailers and brands. Using data creatively and thoughtfully has the potential to revolutionize traditional marketing and advertising in the fashion space and beyond, and we are thrilled to be a part of this exciting journey.
Moore: What is your current challenge as a startup?
Doshi: Making sure we grow quickly and strategically without compromising our core values. There is nothing more important to any company, and especially start-ups, than its people. We spend a lot of time meeting with every potential hire to make sure they share our values around hard work, passion and commitment. It can be really time consuming and requires a lot of energy and yet I hope we never change our thorough, careful and thoughtful approach.
Moore: What’s next for Rank & Style?
Doshi: Our goal is to rank the world of consumer products, which in practical terms means that every time you need or want something, you know exactly what your ten best options are across every category! We are rapidly expanding beyond women’s fashion and beauty into other lifestyle categories. We are also building a mobile app to optimize the Rank & Style experience in store and on the go.
Moore: In addition to running Rank & Style, how else do you enjoy spending your time? What activities do you do that allow you to replenish your creativity and energy?
Doshi: I find the best sources of creativity and rejuvenation as an entrepreneur are doing things that having nothing to do with my work. I also believe I am a better partner, manager and thinker when I take the time to disconnect and do things I like to call true, unconditional and absolute ‘positives’. Food, fitness, fiction and live music make my world go around. I love having friends over for taco and poker nights, working out by the Hudson River, and exploring new writers, bands and artists whenever I can. I’m working towards adding ‘meditation’ to this list in 2015!
Badlani: I’m getting married this September, so any free time I have available is spent wedding planning! I love planning events and thinking about how to make every piece of it personal and unique – it allows me to get my creative juices flowing. I also teach an undergraduate class at Pratt. This semester I’m teaching nine young women how to code and build their own websites – it’s really fulfilling and every semester is a new challenge!
Gupta: Working in an online start up environment can feel all-consuming, so it's really important for me to invest in quality time offline. I try to build this into my everyday with a regime of fitness and mindfulness. This can translate into anything from a short run, a yoga class, or if I'm short on time it might be 5 minutes using the 'headspace app'. I get my daily fix of inspiration from reading, music and spending time with friends and family. On weekends, I enjoy activities that involve fitness, the outdoors, and adventure, such as a quick getaway to explore a new city, or driving upstate to go hiking - these kinds of escapes give me a sense of calm and perspective.
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Kristina Moore is a style expert focusing on visual presentation as a dynamic professional tool. She is the founder and editor of Corporate Fashionista. Kristina welcomes your comments and questions.
