Jodie Fox - Reboot: Probably More Than You Ever Wanted to Know about Starting a Global Business

First published in 2020 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd
42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064

Office also in Melbourne

Typeset in Alegreya Medium 11/14pt

John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2020

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

ISBN: 978-0-730-34943-3

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Cover design by Wiley

Back cover image Shoes of Prey Inc.

Internal background image: Ursula Alter / Getty Images

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

Everyone has faced a moment in which they had absolutely no idea what to do. Perhaps they were confronted with a blank page. A cliff to jump off or a ladder to slowly climb down. An unknown path or a known path. Maybe they received lots of advice about which option to choose. Maybe they studied other people who had faced similar circumstances. Ultimately, though they were alone. Because the only person who can make a decision for you is YOU.

These intersections are lonely places. If anyone does offer advice, it often sounds something like just make a decision'. In these situations, without an immediate, clear answer, we feel weak and incompetent. We think everyone else has it figured out. But the more open we are about the logical and emotional process of decision making, the more we realise this experience is normal and surmountable. This gives us courage, and the more prepared we are to make decisions for ourselves when there is no map.

I remember facing my first major decision without a map. I was 17 years old and I was finishing up my high school exams. I was sitting on the kitchen floor with a book that listed every Australian university course offered. Essentially, I was supposed to find what I would do for the rest of my life in this book. Dancer, lawyer, industrial engineer? And what did that mean anyway? Little did I know that this was my first step on an entirely unmapped path. I had talked to career counsellors. I did work experience. Yet for the first time, no-one knew better than I did.

This experience was a daily occurrence for me in building Shoes of Prey.

Shoes of Prey grew from an idea dreamed up over a lazy afternoon at the beach to a business with over US$27 million in funding, shipping to over 100 countries every single month, completely reinventing the supply chain for footwear, and, at its peak, employing a team of 220 across four countries.

It ended with me alone, at risk of kidnapping, navigating the demands of stakeholders and public scrutiny while unsalaried, burnt out and blindsided with the most unmappable decisions imaginable, multiple times a day, every day, for months and months on end.

But I didn't break. I found my core values. I found my identity. And I chose to reboot and try again every single day.

Most stories of entrepreneur and business successes are reflections with 20/20 hindsight and rose-coloured glasses. They're written when success is a sure thing, when every decision, it turns out, was the right one. Or, if not, a perfect lesson that leads to ultimate success.

I think that would be an interesting book. But I don't think it's actually that helpful. And, Shoes of Prey was not that business. It didn't work out.

This book shares what it felt like at ground zero. Which is probably more than you wanted to know about starting global business. It shares the frameworks I worked out to make decisions rather than stagnate. I hope it will help you to feel both prepared and normal' when you inevitably hit these moments. Maybe it'll even help you to not make some of the poorer decisions I made along the way.

And, maybe, when you've read this book, you'll share with me and with others your experiences at your own unmappable moments, and we'll all get so much better (and feel less lonely) in these moments.

Jodie Fox is an entrepreneur who may or may not make it.

Jodie Fox was a co-founder and the creative director of Shoes of Prey. A banking and finance lawyer by trade and a dedicated creative, Fox created a perfect nexus of the corporate and creative worlds when she co-founded Shoes of Prey.

Identifying and serving a gap in the market for custom-made shoes at non-luxury prices, Shoes of Prey was considered a global leader and innovator in mass-customisation and on-demand manufacturing. A vertically-integrated business that raised over US$27 million in funding, and with more than six million shoes designed, Shoes of Prey changed the way the retail industry thought about product and manufacturing.

Shoes of Prey ceased trading in August 2018. Now Jodie Fox is rebooting herself for her next venture.

In recognition of her work at Shoes of Prey, Fox was a judge at the World Retail Awards (2016, 2017, 2018) lectured the Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA Class (2016, 2017, 2018) and regularly keynotes events including the National Retail Federation conference (2017), Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (alongside Renzo Rosso, Nicola Formichetti and Fern Mallis) and the American Apparel and Footwear Association Executive Summit (2016).

Accolades collected by Fox personally include:

• Two Ten Women In Footwear Industry Impact Awards Inaugural WIFI Influencer Award (2018)
• listed as number 6 in the Top 50 Australian and New Zealand Women in Tech (2016)
• ElleMagazine Style Awards Fashion Innovator of the Year, Australia (2015)
• Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumni (2015)
• Top 30 most influential women in Australian retail (2014)
• Top 10 Australian female entrepreneurs (2014)
• finalist for the InStyle Audi Woman of Style Awards (2014)
• CosmopolitanMagazine's top 30 women (2013)
• Telstra Businesswoman of the Year (Australia) Private & Corporate Sector (2011).

Shoes of Prey was the place where women could design their own shoes. What started as an idea hatched by three friends became our full-time jobs, then a venture-backed company with over US$27 million in funding and a loyal global following.

Our energies were focused on building technology so that our shoe-loving customers would be able to create a shoe design, and see a photo-realistic version of it in real time, before clicking buy'.