Parallel | Unleashing AI Power in Fashion, eCommerce & Community
In this episode:
Siva Avvaru, yWhales Solutions Managing Director, and Jessica Billingsley, yWhales Board Member, speak with Chris Schmidt, Founder & CEO of Parallel. Parallel is a social commerce platform that curates your shopping experiences. Chris explains how Parallel's AI system matches users with people of similar body sizes and allows them to see what those people are wearing and what size they wore. Chris and Siva discuss how Parallel is flipping the influencer creator world upside down, making everyone an influencer.
About Chris Shmidt
Chris started his first business at the age of ten and is still protecting Winnipeg's trees from Dutch Elm Disease. After completing a B.Sc from the University of Manitoba, he decided not to follow in his family's footsteps and pursue medicine. Instead, he founded the world's first Snapchat filter company, Geofilter Studio.
Geofilter Studio exploded at an unprecedented rate of 24,000% and grew to 85 employees in the first year. It was Canada's fastest-growing company in 2017 and created over 100,000 filters that accumulated 5 billion views worldwide. Chris then formed EveryStudio, which housed Geofilter Studio, EveryStudio AR, and EveryStudio Stickers. EveryStudio AR created augmented reality products, while EveryStudio Stickers made iOS sticker packs with over 150 million views in the App Store.
In 2019, EveryStudio was acquired. In 2018, Chris started Pluto Ventures, an artificial intelligence company with a world-class team backed by a strong group of investors and advisors. Together, they are building Parallel, a social commerce platform with users spanning 191 countries. When Chris is not working on his companies, he enjoys helping others with their business journey and has presented at over 130 events. You’ll learn about: Parallel's diversity and how it has exploded internationally How Parallel solves the sizing inconsistency among retailers Parallel's powerful data points and the ability to expand marketing initiatives.
Parallel’s Social Links:
Parallel’s Website: https://www.joinparallel.io/
Parallel’s YouTube: / @joinparallel
Parallel’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinparalle...
Parallel’s TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinparallel.io?
Parallel’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/joinparallel
Parallel’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/join...
Guest Social Links:
Chris’ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-c/
Chris’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_ChrisSchmidt
You’ll learn about:
Parallel's diversity and how it has exploded internationally
How Parallel solves the sizing inconsistency among retailers
Parallel's powerful data points and the ability to expand marketing initiatives
Timestamps
0:00 Siva’s intro
0:47 What is Parallel
6:29 Building Parallel
8:05 Chris’ background
11:46 Why Parallel
12:51 Brand integrations
17:28 The community aspect
19:03 Building the AI tool
29:34 What is AI
32:09 Challenges
33:51 Launching Parallel
36:42 Parallel’s roadmap
37:20 Creators, influencers & making money
44:59 On entrepreneurship
52:24 How to get involved
53:49 Closing thoughts
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DISCLAIMER: yWhales is not affiliated with YPO. Support and production for today’s episode was done by Truth Work Media. Nothing in the podcast constitutes professional and/or financial advice, nor does any information on the podcast constitute a comprehensive or complete statement of the matters discussed or the law relating thereto.
