We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Craig Kitto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Craig, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
Absolutely – starting Kitme was one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken. I left a stable path to pursue a vision that didn’t have a guaranteed outcome. I believed in the idea of transforming how people engage with their owned items and/or past purchase history, but building something from scratch, especially a consumer app, meant an incredible amount of uncertainty. I’ve had to invest all of my time, money, and energy without knowing for certain what the result will be. However, I do know that making the necessary sacrifices and persevering through everything gets you closer to the end goal, day by day. Taking the leap in working full time on a startup taught me to trust my instincts. Resilience is everything, and conviction is of the uppermost importance.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Thanks so much, happy to be here. I’m Craig, the founder of Kitme, a platform that turns your verified retail purchase history into a dynamic, digital closet. Before starting Kitme, I worked at the intersection of consumer tech and brand strategy, always with a focus on how technology can make everyday experiences more personal and seamless. I’ve always been fascinated by the relationship people have with the things they buy, wear, and use—and how that story is often buried in email receipts or forgotten in a closet. Kitme came out of that curiosity and the desire to reimagine what commerce, identity, and self-expression could look like when you put the user at the center.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Since we’re still early, growing our user base has required a scrappy, grassroots approach. Every user counts, so we’re incredibly hands-on, whether it’s hosting in-person install events, tapping into college ambassador networks, or having 1:1 conversations with early adopters. This approach keeps our costs down, which is crucial at this stage, but more importantly, it gives us direct, invaluable feedback. With this strategy it’s not just about acquiring users, we’re building relationships and shaping the product in real time based on what our community actually wants.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
One of the biggest lessons in resilience comes from the daily grind of being a founder and hearing “no” 99 times out of 100. Whether it’s pitching investors, reaching out to creators, or potential partnerships, in the early days it’s constant rejection. But you learn quickly that the one yes makes up one hundred fold on the 99 no’s. You just have to keep going.
As an example, in the very early days of Kitme we were going directly to fashion brands. I’d send thousands of emails to these brands in hopes to secure a meeting to talk with them about Kitme. I think it was on email 600 that I got my first response and it was from a top 5 brand in the world. Although our customers are not brands anymore, this brand is still very much connected to Kitme and will be a strategic partner going forward. It’s those 1/600 odds that seem crazy but are worth it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @trykitme
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-kitto/
Image Credits
@uesphoto