Ep 74: How SOJO Got Into Selfridges: The Real Story

Josephine Philips is the founder of SOJO, the UK's first on-demand clothing alterations and repairs app. She started SOJO by manually cycling garments across London to validate the idea before raising £1.8M in pre-seed funding (backed by Depop's own founder), landed Forbes 30 Under 30, and opened a permanent concession in Selfridges.

In this episode, Josephine gets brutally honest about the real journey: finding a tech co-founder early on,, the hiring mistakes that slowed her down, a six-week fundraising sprint that changed everything, and what it actually means to build with the end in mind.

This is a masterclass in doing more with less, moving fast without breaking your team, and why representation in VC funding is still one of the most urgent conversations in entrepreneurship.

What we cover:

• Finding a tech co-founder as a non-technical founder
• Navigating the fashion space outside of fast fashion
• Finding a niche in a typically crowded space
• The timings and strategy of raising investment
• The stats around investment for Black Women
• Hiring and growing a team for your business, not following the status quo
• How to build a B2B strategy without losing focus
• How to SOJO x Selfridges Partnership happened
• The honest truth about representation in VC

If you're building something new or struggling to articulate why your idea matters, this one's for you.

We Are Ladies Who Launch!

CHAPTERS

00:00 Meet Josephine, Sojo Founder

03:17 The Tailoring Niche

07:48 The Problem with Fast Fashion

13:52 Validating The Business Idea

16:59 Finding A Tech Co-Founder

22:24 Launch Traction And Press

23:40 Funding And Getting Investment

29:48 Hiring Growing Pains

33:01 Corporate vs Startup Hiring

34:19 The Right Time For Funding

35:24 More Team Slower Progress

37:09 Focussing On Your B2B Strategy

38:11 Where Is Sojo Today?

39:16 Hiring for Complementary Skills

41:36 Testing Agility in Interviews

43:43 Representation in VC Funding

47:53 6-Week Fundraising Sprint

50:57 Selfridges Partnership Breakdown

54:49 Global Expansion Plans

01:00:33 Build With the End in Mind

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FOLLOW SOJO

SOJO Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sojo.uk/

Josephine Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josephine__philips/

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