Pietra is an ambitious idea to create the world's first shared eCommerce platform. Members get access to software, services, and turn-key infrastructure to run their businesses more profitably.
Highlights from our annual event. Helping brands save more and grow faster.
Wow. After announcing the Pietra ai that helps entrepreneurs design/manufacture products it’s gone bonkers. Every second someone is designing something unique. Pietra is positioned to create the largest manufacturing dataset with a global network of factories
Pumped to work
@rabois
and
@foundersfund
to build something that many ppl think is too big, too hard, too crazy. I knew
@rabois
was the right person to join Pietra’s board 10 mins into the pitch. Let’s goooooo
Pietra is frequently misunderstood. So, I'm going to share why Pietra exists and our huge mission. It's ambitious and not for the faint of heart. This is why we raised VC and are playing the long game. If we do it right, we can change how the world of global commerce.
Last wk Pietra announced a financing round. Today I'll share our plan to use that capital to change the way business is done.
First: We're revamping Pietra Memberships. As a member you'll get access to tools and infra that will meaningfully lower costs and save your biz time.
It could be that working closely with
@rabois
and
@andrewchen
got us here but after looking more closely at the data...there may be another theory in play lol
It surprises me how many founders think they should work for a company to “get experience before starting their own thing”. Nothing prepares you for startup war…you just have to do it
Today Pietra is sharing a new set of product design tools that we believe is the future of concepting and product design. Many first-time entrepreneurs come to Pietra with an idea and struggle to communicate it to suppliers. Not anymore. Go from prompt to product in just weeks.
Today we officially came out of beta with Pietra’s Creator Hub. Pietra makes it so that a single Creator can launch and scale the next best selling consumer brand. We don’t pick winners, our platform democratizes access to infrastructure so everyone has an equal shot.
@igobylukas
Documenting successes to inspire others is cool. But let’s be real, they are mostly flexes? I would argue if you want to help others build then actually open up your books. Show ppl your vendors, accounting, open it all up and make it public domain
Pietra's Head Of Product is now an expert garment designer thanks to Ai. She only has one customer but she's banking on a high LTV. Design > Custom samples > UGC.
@ngoel36
@shoppietra
I’m not kidding when I say that the last thing
@rabois
told me after our first board mtg was “don’t talk to any other VCs except me for 6 months and see where we end up”. I thought he was kidding but listened anyway. Some real gangster shit right there
The number of entrepreneurs that sign up for Pietra with the intent of launching a business is inspiring. It's still too hard to start a business though. So today we're making Pietra's Business Builder free to everyone with the hope it helps more hustlers build great businesses.
Proud of the speed of building @ Pietra. One of our areas of focus is to be help brands and entrepreneurs sell more, everywhere. Introducing Pietra's Sales Network. Anyone who uses Pietra 3PL will get access to it. Just click to list and we'll fulfill and pay you out.
Congrats
@rabois
on the move.
@vkhosla
is about to add a HOF player to the team.
Pietra wouldn't be what it is today if Keith wasn't on our board. Founders just starting: seek him out and pitch to him. It might change your life.
Excited to share that
@petegilligan
is joining Pietra as our VP of Growth. Love it when the best and brightest from
@foundersfund
join a portfolio company ;)
Welcome to the other side, Pete. It’s a lot crazier and a lot more fun 🤩
Company merch so fresh ppl take it off the shelves of the holiday party venue before employees even get it. Then you see it all around New York before you get one🔥 🔥
Getting to this level of detail (proposed stitches per inch) used to be something you'd pay hundreds of dollars to a designer for. These models are only going to get smarter and faster. First 25 designs free on Pietra.
Excited to introduce our trusted partners module in Pietra. We can't build *everything* so we decided to point entrepreneurs to the most useful tools in the industry to help grow a valuable business. Soon we'll be launching a perks program with select partners for members 🚀🚀
Dream up a company and launch it. Introducing Pietra Brand Kits. For all those who need help getting started. Use AI to help with ideation, market research, design, product specs — then launch the whole company with your Pietra Membership. 🤩
We're doing something special for entrepreneurs. We're making our sourcing marketplace open to all so you can browse/ find a factory with before signing up for Pietra. If you're a
@Shopify
operator who relies on Alibaba for all your sourcing, it's time to check out
@shoppietra
This year was a defining year for Pietra. What we accomplished is nothing short of amazing. When the last board meeting of the year, scheduled for an hour, only lasts 18 minutes, you know we got it dialed in. Time to just go do the thing.
Excited to announce that Pietra is making entrepreneurship even more affordable. Starting today, we're rolling out new bundles for builders of all sizes, and different stages. We'll also allow existing brands to purchase individual modules based on their needs and scale up. 🚀🔥
Excited to start rolling out Pietra Crowdfunding to the world. Many first time entrepreneurs struggle don't have the capital to start a business. We're making a little bit easier. Milestones tied to discounts for production, packaging, fulfillment, and more. More to come.
Build the business that a lot of VCs said was too ambitious/crazy/weird to build. It's really that simple. If it feels easy...that's probably a bad thing.
Best part of building the future is the late nights and weekends building something you know will be unlike anything ever built 💪🏽 Pietra Product Design studio launching in beta tmrw
Pietra's team is building some really cool design tools. The first launch uses AI to help with creating patterns, graphics, packaging, labels, and more. This solves the "blank page" problem which we hear so much about. From idea to custom fabric to production all on
@shoppietra
At Pietra, we’re trying to eliminate the idea that you need to become a fulfillment expert. We’ve redesigned our fulfillment dashboard so that entrepreneurs don’t have to become experts in something they need to “just work”. Now live to all Pietra members.
Excited to share that Pietra Product Studio is live for select users. This beta program is to get feedback from you all on, about what you want to bring your product ideas to life. We're rolling out new features every day! We hope this enables the next 1M entrepreneurs to build!
Factory owners are going to wake up Monday morning and ask themselves how tens of thousands of entrepreneurs because product designers overnight. 😂
What’s next? An Ai agent to negotiate the best COGS across 1000+ factories?
When founders tell me they’re having a tough day I remind them I once went to a concert in prospect park and had to lock myself in a porta potty for an hour reciting numbers from an excel sheet on my phone to close a fundraising round.
Launching a new version of Pietra Product Design Studio. We're moving quick. So quick, we launch the features before we make promo videos.
In this release:
- Refined product suggestions
- Measurement tool
-Collaborative commenting with factories
Next: Sketch to 3D design to RFP
The next chapter of Pietra is about community and providing the most value to the most entrepreneurs as we can. It's about being better together, and celebrating entrepreneurship.
Full blog post here.
If you're interested in joining the mission DM me
This is what the future of product development is going to look like. It’s gonna get weird in the best way possible. Still needs to taste good though :)
So much about Pietra is building experiences that are obvious but not available. Today, Pietra's enabling video collaboration with your manufacturer and we've partnered with
@Zoom
to make it happen! Work with factories all around the world with real time translation too.
What does the next $10B+ eComm company looks like? It looks like a platform that solves a different type of problem. It doesn't need to solve checkout and web design. It needs to solve everything else. It will look more like AWS than Shopify.
Cool to see
@shoppietra
on
@business
talking about how we’re leveraging AI to do the hard things — like help entrepreneurs and brands get to market quicker. Can’t wait to see where this goes! Shout out to
@M13Company
for the plug
97% of people who come to Pietra want better sourcing & procurement tools. Reinventing Alibaba for the rest of the world is harder than it looks. Our goal is to make it easier for eComm brands work with factories. First of many updates coming. What else do you want to see?
I’m very proud to announce our first Pietra Fellowship! We will be funding 20 black Creators and helping them launch their creative business through Pietra.
Over the last few months, Pietra has been expanding the platform to allow Creators to launch different types of creative businesses. Today, we're entering the food & bev category w/ specialty tea! From sourcing -> product assembly -> distribution. Which category is next?
First AI designed products hitting the shelves. Many big retailers are already asking to explore this deeper with Pietra. The future of consumer goods is starting to get fun :)
We're expanding Pietra's marketplace to include best in class service professionals. From logo designers, to email marketing specialists. If you're interested in joining the network and helping young brands get off the ground, DM me!
8 years ago when google glass was a thing I almost tried to start a company that made holographic talking heads for video calls. This was the prototype made with a CD case and an iPhone. Funny to look back at something I wasted like 4 weeks on but was convinced it was dope
Proud that 1000+ entrepreneurs have started using Pietra's Business Builder to launch their first business. It's a good reminder that Pietra is first & foremost a company that democratizes entrepreneurship. Opening it up to the next 1000 today.
Building a company that moves things in the real world is more rewarding than pure software. It's definitely harder but it's also more fun when you make progress.
Can you believe brands spend up to $375/mo on returns software? No more.
Now, Pietra members get this capability as part of their membership. Brands that use Pietra can cover the cost of a yearly membership just from the savings of this feature.
Marketplaces will continue to evolve and soon virtual selection will be commonplace.
@shoppietra
already has 300,000 real items and I bet soon will have >1M virtual items that can be fulfilled by vendors.
There was a 5-10 year window when entrepreneurs could quickly grow small businesses thanks to Facebook advertising. But our newly hostile regulatory landscape for Facebook means that window is closing
Throwback to the heyday of Cameo leading to the most creative investor pitch I’ve ever got. I had to let him cut the check. That’s how you hustle as an investor
Explaining Pietra in a single graphic. The checkout / website is not where a brand will be able to make money in the coming years. It's everything underneath it.
Early signals that ai can disrupt how we manufacture and sell clothes. 40% of Pietra's custom manufacturing requests came from our ai design tools. How quickly will global manufacturing adapt? We're about to find out! CC
@shoppietra
One of the biggest gaps I see young founders have (which I learned the hard way) is not realizing that making a consumer pay you money is much harder than you think. If you work at a big tech co as a PM you almost certainly won’t learn this skill
Pietra not only provides the best print-on-demand products & prices to members but allows you to compare price, ship times, and production capabilities of the same items if they went direct-to-factory. Soon to become the most useful sourcing marketplace in the world.🚀
I went from being a sneakerhead to building a company that enables future sneakerheads. When they say founder-market-fit, this is what they mean. Seeing this makes the hard parts a little easier.
I’ve always wanted to do my own sneaker and been having fun with this one, one of three designs we have in progress
All done with a vendor
@shoppietra
helped me find whose excellent
Some pretty significant changes to go into second version, but I don’t mind v1 at all
This is
Walked into a WeWork in a different city today and the concierge was starting his business on Pietra. Flipped out when he checked me in and saw my Pietra sweater. We’re rooting for ya Tierney — you’ll buy the building with those designs 🚀
@shoppietra
There are only 26M eComm sites in the world, which seems like a low number relative to the internet. While the internet is global the barriers to start and operate a business online (profitably) are still too high. This is why the "AWS of eCommerce" needs to exist.
Another happy day at
@shoppietra
. We're rolling out Pietra's Crowdfunding platform to help more businesses get off the ground. Best terms in the industry and (real) rewards at each level of funding to help you manufacture, fulfill, and market your brand.
Great leaders set a relentless pace. Pietra is lucky to have
@rabois
on our board. The impact is felt through all parts of the company. Near instant responses whenever I have a question too - wild.
Fit in one new investment (18th lead) the end of 2021 w another colleague in Miami and verbally committed to a seed w others. Still made it to Barrys all but five days this year.
If the intern sits your whole team down and explains your next million dollar product line with a deeply technical white boarding session, you’ve hired well
We’ve had million+ follower Creators struggle to sell and a random blogger in a small town do a years worth of sales in a night. It’s all about your community
This sold out store is generated completely using AI. Every element on the store.
And now you can even start creating UGC ads to post on TikTok in a few clicks just from a link. We should check back on this in 1 year and see how much the tech improves.
It’s amazing how quickly you can tell if a candidate is too “big company” for a startup. I’ve found if they start asking about org charts and reporting lines it’s almost never a good fit.
I’m convinced that most people are larping as startup people and don’t have the grit to truly ride out the hard times and build something great. And almost nothing works on the first try. Respect to the builders who keep fighting until it works
Brian Armstrong tells the founding story of Coinbase: “Nothing was working”
After quitting his job in 2012 and joining Y Combinator to build Coinbase, Brian faced setback after setback:
“I was struggling to find anybody who would join my team and work with me... I almost
Today Pietra announced a partnership with
@unitedtalent
and a shared Creator Fund to help power the next generation of Creator businesses. Proud to be working with an iconic institution who believes so deeply in Creator led commerce.
Loved my convo with
@philwinkle
and
@brianjlange
. Pietra is the world’s first e-commerce membership. We’re taking the whole world of e-comm infrastructure and bundling it into an affordable membership. This is how operators get access to the best stuff.