Wondering what to do with that “only wear it once” holiday outfit? No worries, there’s an app for that!

Last month, the Asia Society hosted a Corporate Briefing with Poshmark founder, CEO and Fremont resident, Manish Chandra. With offices in Menlo Park and Chennai, India, Poshmark is the leading mobile marketplace for fashion, making it simple and fun for anyone to shop the most fashionable closets across the country and sell directly from their own. What follows is a summary of his remarks.

Influence of South Asian Roots on Entrepreneurship:

Growing up in his grandfather’s Delhi pharmacy, Chandra had early exposure to retailing. Later, he relied on TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) to overcome the barrier of jumping from “CTO to CEO.” TiE provided access to Angels, Role Models and Advisors.

The Road to Poshmark:

Chandra was the founder of “Kaboodle” – the first social shopping company, which was eventually acquired by the Hearst Corporation. Chandra notes that while Kaboodle wasn’t originally designed for women’s fashion, that’s what it ended up being used for. Early-on, Chandra saw the demand for creating a new kind of fashion community. However, Poshmark only became possible with the debut of the iPhone 4 because the platform allowed women to easily take photos and create listings from anywhere.

Expansion:

Over one-third of all fashion items purchased are not worn, and thus the business model was ripe for success. On a daily basis, $1M in items are uploaded to the mobile marketplace and the average user browses for 20-25 minutes – all of this after only two years in business. Areas for growth include category and international expansion with targeted areas of Asia and Europe (particularly Japan) and the evolution of Poshmark’s signature “virtual shopping parties.”

Establishing Trust:

The taboo against second-hand clothing is dissipating, although merchandising is different depending on the country. For example, there is less trust for used clothes in India and China but very high demand.

Top Sellers:

Mainstream designer favorites like Tory Burch and Coach sell well as do “fast fashion” brands such as H&M and Forever21.

Motto:

“Every closet has value and every unworn item has a buyer.”

Performance:

Women across America shipped over one million items this year. In most cases, the time from order to shipping is less than 48 hours with 80% of all orders received within five days – with credit due to the U.S. Post Office!

Competition:

Companies like eBay and Amazon are based on a search model, whereas Poshmark is focused on discovery, which in the past has been very difficult to scale. Poshmark also has the advantage of managing an unlimited amount of virtual inventory coming straight out of women’s closets.

Silicon Valley Importance:

Silicon Valley is revolutionizing every industry. Silicon Valley knows how to simplify and how to scale – turning hardware into software, and then making it engaging.

Impact of Millennials on Commerce, Based on Buying Behavior:

There are three important themes: 1) More fun; less commitment 2) Virtual connectivity 3) Constantly busy. Based on these themes, it’s important for merchandising to have high velocity, substantial content and ongoing changes.

Advice for Budding Entrepreneurs:

Focus efforts on how you present your ideas, and take the time to understand how Silicon Valley fundamentally works. You must meet expectations. You must have skin in the game. You must show growth. And sadly, you can’t expect life balance.