445: (interview) From Facebook & eBay to AI Entrepreneurship: Anya Cheng's Journey to Disrupting Fashion & Tech

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: Neuro Performance by Andy Murphy
Episode: 445: (Interview) From Facebook & eBay to AI Entrepreneurship: Anya Cheng’s Journey to Disrupting Fashion & Tech
Guest: Anya Chen (Founder & CEO of Taylor)
Published: February 5, 2025

In this episode, Andy Murphy sits down with tech veteran and AI entrepreneur Anya Chen, whose career journey spans product leadership at giants like Facebook, eBay, Target, and McDonald’s, and her bold leap into fashion tech as the founder of Taylor, an AI-powered menswear subscription service. The conversation explores Anya’s personal immigrant story, her methods for managing high performance, the challenges of startup life, and her vision for making life easier—and more sustainable—for professionals through technology.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Emotional Drive

• [05:43] Anya’s background: Grew up in a blue-collar family in Taiwan, moved to the US 17 years ago, and faced language and cultural barriers.
• Immigrant resilience: Shared humorous and poignant anecdotes about misunderstanding English (“Are you seeing someone?” “No, I don't see anyone behind me”) and struggling with job rejections.
• Motivational story: Described a low point in New York: “my teardrop on the rice because it was such a simple and family meal back in Taiwan. But here it seems everything is so hard.” (Anya Chen, 07:10)
• First break: Persistence led her to cold-call thousands of alumni and businesses: “I start calling every single newspaper. Hi, I'm interesting… eventually I actually met with New York Times CEO and all their company’s executive.” (Anya Chen, 08:38)
• Mission: Her drive isn’t just about money, but about helping others be “the best version of themselves without worrying about things they shouldn’t.” (Anya Chen, 11:44)

2. Career Path Through Tech & Big Brands

• [13:42] Recap of roles: Led Facebook/Instagram shopping at Meta; Head of Product at eBay; Senior Director at McDonald’s; pioneered at Target.
• Impact: Helped build and transform multi-billion dollar departments and was pivotal in international expansion.
• Cultural leadership: Often the only woman and minority in leadership (“the only minority and also only woman head of product in the company” at eBay).

3. Managing High Performance & Mental Health

• [14:37]–[18:32] Switching hats: Learned to change mindsets for different task types—analytical, creative, execution—especially after COVID blurred work-life boundaries.
• Daily habits: Sets a single key intention for the day instead of overwhelming to-do lists.
• Recharge routines: Uses a deliberate “half-time” break each afternoon and treats herself like an athlete: “I try…definitely horrible in the running and everything, but I try.” (Anya Chen, 17:30)
• Burnout: Calls “timeouts” and embraces rituals like swimming and ice cream breaks to restore energy.
• Mental health awareness: “You probably always feel that if it's not successful it's all because you haven’t worked hard enough—and the fact is just not true.” (Anya Chen quoting Andy Dunn, 20:31)

4. Startup Vision & Disrupting Fashion

• [25:19] The “Taylor” concept: Not just another menswear subscription. Inspired by her own experience of imposter syndrome and the desire for effortless style for professionals—especially men who are “purposeful,” dislike shopping, but want to look good.
• Uniqueness: AI (and human stylists) select rental outfits tailored to each customer; clients can purchase favorites at a discount. Aims to remove the friction of shopping and laundry.
• Why menswear, from two women founders? Spotting the unmet needs of male professionals who don’t want to engage with fashion but still need to look sharp.
• Social impact: Tackles fashion sustainability—“10% of clothes go directly from factory to landfill…by giving the rental model, people give feedback right away” helping brands predict trends and reduce waste (Anya Chen, 29:58–30:35)

5. Leveraging AI in Fashion Tech

• [31:44] Tech evolution: “The era of algorithm is dead…in the era of AI it’s all about data—unique data.” Data from user preferences, clothing quality, and feedback loop with 300+ brands feeds into Taylor’s proprietary AI for improved recommendations.
• Differentiator: Not just automated fashion picks; their AI is enhanced with future trend data, real feedback, and professional human stylists—creating an adaptive, unique customer experience.
• Licensing model: Taylor's tech is being licensed to other brands for AI-powered styling and content, opening new revenue streams and partners.

6. Fundraising, Networking, & Advice for Founders

• [40:35] Origin of VC support: “Sometimes, money is there when you are not looking.” Anya shared how authentic networking—helping others without immediate ask—led to critical investor introductions and a million-dollar investment.
• Pitching insights: VCs “spend 2.5 minutes on a deck, 45 seconds on the team slide…not just about how cool you are but how relevant your team is to what you're building.” (Anya Chen, 43:40)
• Strategic team-building: Emphasized the value of complementary skills, using a basketball analogy—“all-star” teams can fail, but “championship” teams win through diverse, needed skills.
• Practical founder tip: Understand feedback by asking “why,” not just accepting “what”: “When people give you feedback, do not take the what, ask for why.” (Anya Chen, 49:45)
• Believe in yourself: Recounted a pitch competition where over-preparation led her to fumble—urges founders to trust their expertise and “be yourself.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On perseverance and the immigrant journey:
  “As soon as the waitress served the dish, my teardrop on the rice because it was such a simple and family meal back in Taiwan. But here it seems everything is so hard.” (Anya Chen, 07:10)

• On the Taylor mission:
  “The mission for Taylor is not just about picking clothes for you, it’s about how can I help you to take one thing, even one tiny thing a month off your busy plate, so then you can focus on being the best version of yourself.” (Anya Chen, 11:44)

• On using AI and data:
  “The era of algorithm is dead…in the era of AI it’s all about data—unique data…when you pick the clothes with AI support, it’s what you truly love, not just because it’s in discount.” (Anya Chen, 31:44)

• On high performance habits:
  “I used to create a to-do list like this…very quickly the 3-item to-do list becomes 300…and then you just hate the list…In the morning I will ask myself, okay, what's one thing I have to get done today?” (Anya Chen, 17:30)

• On founder mindset:
  “I know more than what I thought as a founder. Like, you think about a problem 24/7, right? Probably you are one of the 10 people in the world who know this topic more than anyone else.” (Anya Chen, 48:05)

• On authentic networking:
  “You were genuinely just intrigued and interested…and you gave him value, right? You didn't ask for anything, you didn't take. And I feel so many entrepreneurs get that model wrong. They're all about just taking. There's no giving.” (Andy Murphy, 45:33)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 05:43 — Anya’s origin story, tough immigrant journey
• 13:42 — Anya’s rapid career overview (Meta, eBay, McDonald’s, Target)
• 15:19–18:09 — Managing high performance, daily routines, “half-time” breaks
• 20:31–23:54 — Mental health, founder burnout, creating a “superpower” product
• 25:19 — The birth of Taylor and identifying the need for AI-powered menswear
• 29:58–30:35 — Fashion sustainability crisis, role of Taylor’s model
• 31:44–35:10 — AI’s role, data as the unique differentiator, licensing technology
• 40:35–49:51 — Fundraising stories, VC insights, team-building, practical founder advice
• 51:46–57:56 — Anya’s heart: Why helping others is her true motivation and the deeper mission behind Taylor

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Tone & Style

Genuine, motivational, and practical. Anya balances humor, vulnerability, and technical depth while Andy Murphy’s warm and inquisitive style elicits behind-the-scenes wisdom, not just business success stories.

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For Listeners

If you want to understand the intersection of tech, AI, and fashion entrepreneurship—and what it truly takes to build something from scratch as an outsider—this episode will inspire and equip you. Anya Chen’s journey is as much about grit and giving as it is about data, disruption, and high performance.

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Discount Mention:
Taylor Style offers 30% off for the first month for podcast listeners—promo code: NEURO30.

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[Podcast ads, intro, outro, and non-content were omitted from this summary.]

Transcript

[Andy Murphy]

But I can, as I've got to know you over the past, like in this episode, I can also see your heart, right? I can also see there's the, there's a deep, much deeper side of you than probably most people actually see because they see your analytics, they see your drive, they see your leadership, but I see your heart with this. And so what is this drive? What is this? Because it's not just money.

[Podcast Narrator]

Welcome to the Neuro Performance Podcast with your host, Andy Murphy. Join us as we delve into the advanced high performance tactics he uses with his elite clientele across the globe. Let's unlock a whole new world of business potential together.

[Andy Murphy]

What's going on, Euro performers? And welcome to episode four. Four, four. Hope you're amazing as always and life is treating you really, really good. Thought I'd mix it up today for you as over the last couple of weeks I've been doing these. Well, I hope you've been attending. I hope you've been attending. These are the Eight Figure Thinker Infinite Income Live series. So every week on a Wednesday, what I'm doing is, especially for the next couple of months, I'm really showing you behind the scenes of some really sophisticated biohacking, neuro performance, neuro conditioning, really the things that I do with private clients, what the Eight Figure Thinker members club experiences. So hopefully you're joining in. I'm going to put links in the description for you. So that's what I've been sharing with you the past couple of weeks. Today is an interview with Anya Chang. Anya Chang is. I really got on well with anya. She's got 500,000 on a Facebook page. She's got awards like Girls in tech, 40 under 40 and so many other things. Do you know what I'm actually going to read from her bio? Because it's a lot, right? It's a lot, but it's worth it because she's. There's so much knowledge in the, in this lady. What her current business is, is. It's really, actually really cool. She's the founder and CEO of Taylor it's an AI powered menswear subscription service that keeps men looking sharp. That's for the busy, busy guy, right? Really cool stuff. But listen to her accomplishments. You include pioneering the development of Facebook and Instagram, shopping at Meta. Right? Servicing or servicing, serving as head of product at ebay. And she also emerged into Latin America, Asia and Africa with that. She was the senior director at McDonald's. She also played a really key role in developing Target's tech Team in Silicon Valley, two time TED speaker. She's a lecturer at Northwestern University for global startups. You get the idea. She's a best selling authority. This, she's a wealth of knowledge. Absolutely wealth of knowledge. And what a lot of people who interview because she does a lot of cool interviews, but what a lot of people focus on is all those accomplishments. What I wanted to really understand with Anya is who she is behind all of this that people don't really see. And the clip I'm going to start with with this interview is actually the end bit of the interview. But I really wanted to share that first because once you understand what her drive is or what I call the emotional driver, once you understand that, then the interview makes even more sense. So I know you're going to love this interview, so pay attention. And also because she's such a good marketer, if you watch, you watch this on YouTube, it's really, really cool because she has a background and she's constantly moving the background to fit what we're talking about. It was really cool. And she even had the promotional code. So if you want to test this tailor out Taylor AI, you can actually type in Neuro 30 and get 30% off for the first month. So that's pretty cool. And speaking of pretty cool, make sure that you are hit me up on andymurphy.online. andy Murphy online, Andy Murphy online and you can sign up for these weekly lives. They should be paid and they probably will be in the future. And right now you get access to them. So go and check that out and maybe, hey, we could work together in some capacity in the future. Make sure you share this podcast, review this podcast, write me something nice, hang out with me. I'd love to connect and chat with you. I will see you on the next episode. But I can as I've got to know you over the past. Like in this episode I can also see your heart, right? I can also see there's the, there's a deep, much deeper side of you. Then, then probably most people actually see because they see your analytics, they see your drive, they see your leadership, but I see your heart with this. And so what is this drive? What is this? Because it's not just money.

[Anya Chen]

Yeah, I started as a brand bull collar family. My mom is a housewife, my dad is a factory worker. I came to the US 17 years ago, went to Northwestern University and my English was so as I'm from Taiwan and while I remember that I pointed at the swimming pool and I yelled that's a Great ocean. I thought swimming pool is equal to oceans. And someone, a guy was trying to ask me out so that he asked me, are you seeing someone? And I turned around and I said no, I don't see anyone behind me. I didn't know what are you seeing someone? Means, are you seeing someone? I said no, I didn't see any ghost. Do you see any ghosts here? It's Halloween. So.

[Andy Murphy]

So.

[Anya Chen]

And. And I graduated from the school with a master degree in marketing. You happened to be 2008. So there was Lehman Brother went bankruptcy. There was no job anywhere. I was very interested in doing marketing for a media company because I had marketing degree and I was a reporter back in Taiwan. However, I didn't know that media company doesn't need marketing. Like when was the last time you see CNN run ads on espn, right? So you know, they don't need marketing. So I obviously couldn't find any job. And I went to New York and I started cold calling 2000 alumni. And I was able to get some meetings by because one day I was. It was raining after I got rejected again by an interview. So. So I walk outside the building, it was snowing. And you know, the New York snow is actually not really like white snow. It's more like the black slash, you know. And as my high heel, I was stumped onto the water and my whole feet was soaked. It was super wet and cold. And I saw a Chinese restaurant. And I walk into the restaurant, I order just pour over rice. And as soon as the waitress served the dish, my teardrop on the rice. Because it was such a simple and family meal back in Taiwan. But here it seems everything is so hard. And I was like I was somebody back in Taiwan. But why am I here begging for a job? So I finished a meal, walk out to a restaurant, it started raining and I was like, oh great, even the God tell me that you should stop. So I was trying to avoid the rant by zipping between different newsstands. And I trying to wait. So I glanced onto the table and I saw there are newspapers on the stand. New York Times publisher name blah blah blah blah. If you want advertise, call this number.

[Andy Murphy]

Great.

[Anya Chen]

So I bought all the newspaper back to my friend's living room. I stayed in different friends living room every week. So I start calling every single newspaper. Hi, I'm interesting. And then eventually I actually met with New York Times CEO cnvp all of their company's executive. But everyone say we are name of people we are not hiring. And I thought this Is seems working but just not fast enough. So I want to go to a conference but you know, so the ticket of conference are so expensive. So then I called the magazine back in Taiwan and say hey, I heard this amazing conference in New York. Would you like to report it for free that you want to hear a story. And then I called the conference say hey I'm a reporter from Taiwan, can I get a press pass for free? So then I was able to get into a conference and I start getting a lot of meeting with a lot of executive in media company. But eventually I got no jobs. So I went back to Chicago. I thought of I learned a lot during the process even though I didn't get any job. So I put together a business plan and from what I learned from those company and I pitched to a local magazine company and they are magazine for farmers and also the salon owner. So I went interview the salon on different salon owner as their reader. I find a magazine they have advertiser. I call calling those advert. I started interviewing them and I put together a business plan and I pitched to a company. I said you should launch your digital department which you need someone who know marketing, know a little bit media and part ideally not too expensive because they just out of school and I know someone with me. So the CEO asked me would you like to be a contractor? I didn't know what contractor mean in English so I say yes. I went home, I Google contractor. I didn't know why she want me to be a plumber. Plumber, right. Plumber is a contractor. So I Google contractor, you'll come up with a plumber. I didn't know why she want me to be plumber but that's why I got my first job in the US So my drive is that I I got my American dream. I'm not sure I have achieved really all but some. And I really hope that everyone can be the best version of themselves without worrying about outfit or whatever stuff that they shouldn't be worrying about. Like when I was the head of product at ebay. I shouldn't worry about that. If I am capable enough to be the head of product, I should be worrying about what the next digital product that we should be launching. I should be worried about how to implement Agile for the company. But in fact I did worry about my outfit. So I think the mission for Taylor is not just about picking clothes for you, it's about how can I help you to take one thing, even one tiny thing a month of your busy play so then you can Go ready to pitch, you can go ready to hire your next amazing executive. You can go and find the insight from your customers so then you can focus on being the best version of yourself.

[Andy Murphy]

That's awesome. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing all that. That makes me, that makes me happy. Because to end the podcast on that note, I think I'm gonna clip that and put it at the start because I think that shows you in really who you are behind the scenes. And that was my mission for this. And I love to do this with guests because by the time we end up, the podcast ends, we end up friends because I end up finding out truly who you are, Anya. And it shows why this brand is going to be incredibly successful because you're driving this thing. It shows your heart behind it, it shows your intelligence, it shows your experience. And yeah, for everybody out there listening, right? And he has had on the screen the entire time because she's a badass at marketing. 30% off code with neuro30 and I'll put the link there, but it's Taylor Style and, and I'm going to be going check it out immediately. So thank you for everything today. It's been, it's been a pleasure. And now you're part of the Neuro performance community.

[Anya Chen]

Great. Thank you so much. I'm Anya Chen, founder and CEO of Taylor Style. Thank you.

[Andy Murphy]

Thank you. Okay, here we are today with my new friend, Anya Chang. I'm very excited to bring you on the show, the Neuro performance podcast. We've had so many guests on over the, over the years and you know what, something we were just speaking before Anya is I really need to bring amazing female CEOs on the show and more of this. So I'm really excited for you to be here and welcome to the show.

[Anya Chen]

Hello. Hi everyone. I'm Anya Chen and founder and CEO of Taylor. We use AI to style men and send you real clothes for you to wear. And before starting the company, I have 15 years in big tech companies before most recent at Meta where I help build out Facebook, Instagram shopping as a head of product at ebay, I help build their new business in US and also new market in Latin America, Africa, Asia. Was a senior director at McDonald's, help people build our food delivery business. So if you are hungry at night, in the middle of night, then you order the fried chickens and sorry, that was my fault. And I also was a head of product for the Target, which is the second largest retailer in the US for their mobile tablet E commerce. I start my Career as a marketer and as a data scientist, but last 10 years, most leading software engineering teams. So glad to be here.

[Andy Murphy]

Yeah, good to be. And I love the intro. That's fantastic. And so let's delve into you. Let's delve into you because that's what's fascinating. You've obviously done so many things and you've led so many teams. So how do you switch between those different versions of you and you? Because. Because the version that sits there and has to really get creative is not the same version of you who sits there and looks at the algorithms and builds the actual. Builds the logic side. So how have you found that that shift for yourself? Is it hard? Is it easy? And how do you be you? Because you got to switch off at the end of the day as well, right?

[Anya Chen]

Yeah, I. I think so. Probably we all gained this skill after Covid, right? So before that it was more of the worm. Now the word more. And nowadays and everyone is in between, right. So and actually reflect. We see that literally in our customers. They, they before the COVID which we just started doing the COVID But at the beginning they will ask is a work close. It's fun clothes. But now that everyone wants something versatile, which just means everything in between they can hop on a call while also having the relax for another 30 minutes with friends and get back to work at night. So I, I think that it's the. We all probably start getting this skill. One thing that I found it helpful is really kind of switch off the mindset of I should do. Because before I will when I need to work on something, start from the fun and need to work on something, I will say I should do what. But the reality is the more that I say I should do, the more that I don't want to do it because I feel pressure and I feel that I'm blending on myself. Like why are you not doing that? But now I try to switch and say hey, I would like to. So I would think I would like to do that. I would like to do that. And you feel the motivation say yes, I want to do it. So I think that really helped me to switch between different roles. I also found it helpful. My days usually pretty long, like starting 8 o' clock in the morning all the way to 11pm non stop. But I try to also make sure I have a half time off. Like we all watch the sport, right? We know half time is so important for the athletes. So I usually like my half time is usually between 3 to 4pm because that's before Asia time. People get off, get off and get started and then that's before people end. So I have a little bit break and I went or usually go downstairs and do a little bit swimming. It really helped me to regain energy right back and then ready for the second half?

[Andy Murphy]

Gotcha. So do you, I love it. So do you treat yourself like an athlete?

[Anya Chen]

I try. I tried. Definitely horrible in the running and everything, but I try. I also try to not, you know, you. I used to create a to do list like this. You need to do that. You just do that. But then very quickly the 3 item to do list becomes 300 item to do list. And then you just hate the list. You don't want to open the list. You actually don't want to do anything on the list. So what I no longer do and start doing instead is that in the morning I will ask myself, okay, what's one thing, one thing I have to get done today? And the rest of things just go with the flow, but at least the most important thing is get done today.

[Andy Murphy]

I love it. I love it. So you're micro itemizing what you have to get done and you're looking at that one thing that at least can give you that dopamine hit, right? That you know you're going to tick that box off. That's cool. That's. That's a good way. Do you. So if you're finishing at 11 o' clock at night, is that a normal, a normal day for you?

[Anya Chen]

Yeah, unfortunately. And yes, it's a normal day. And so I'm a startup founder. We started a company two years ago, so still very early on. And we are also backed by VC which are the early investor of Spotify, Facebook, Tick Tock. So we will expect to grow a lot. And we grow 10 times year over year last year and continue to grow a lot this year. So the day is long. However, I do want to make sure that I. When I feel that I'm not really in a mode and I call myself Timeout. So the same thing when you think of the basketballs, like somehow it's just not scoring right. So then this time the coach will say, time out. Get this person off. Sometimes I will look at my screen and then start feel like I'm wandering and doing random stuff, timeouts. And it's time for ice cream. And so unfortunately I got a lot of ice creams.

[Andy Murphy]

So the sugar makes you feel good. I like it. I like it. So. So I love that. Let's move to. Because your Brand is tailor. Right. And it's quite a unique concept in many ways. I mean there's obviously been lots of clothing manufacturing like membership or communities before. But this is obviously special because if you've got the VCs of those type backing you, I can understand Anya, where the pressure is coming from. For a start, I understand why you're doing it. Working till 11 o'cl at night, this is your baby and there is a window of opportunity for you to really make this happen and change your life. So 11 o' clock at night, what do you do to switch off? Is it just exhaustion and you just fall asleep or what. What, what gives you the ability to. To get motivated again and actually enjoy this process rather than it just beating you down like so many people do like happens to them, you know.

[Anya Chen]

Yeah, I think some. I was just in tech quant last week as one of the company who picked by to to pitch at the aside events and so I heard Indy Dom, the former CEO of Bonobo, he talk about how he deal with mental health and one thing he said this, you probably always feel that if it's not successful it's all because you haven't worked hard enough and the fact is just not true. Like rationally we all know it's not true, but mentally we probably feel that yes, it's just me. So I do try to cool down a bit before and just like many of you but I might, I have book time, I have Netflix show times.

[Andy Murphy]

Yeah, okay, okay, okay.

[Anya Chen]

But for me is that the cuddle with my cat is my really the me time in the end of the day. But I think everyone is different. Some people feel like a lot of exercise is needed. Some people feel like BFF time is perfect and you just have to find the time the things that work for you. And, and some people doesn't feel long hour is productive for them. Some people like to have short and really focus hour. You know when I was the, the leading the Facebook shopping at Facebook and also had a product at ebay I work with colleague across globally in Europe, in China, in India and some colleague they, they work delay, they work really late and some colleagues especially in Europe they work a lot of shorter hours but then they are extremely focused. Right. So I think this think of yourself as an iPhone, right? So iPhone is amazing but it's very different from Android and both of them are pretty successful. So how would you build yourself as next amazing product? IPhone is known for a good user experience. Android is known for being open sources. So you don't have to win by checking every single box. But you do have to have one thing that is your superpower that no one else can have. And for example, Target, the retailer that I work for before when I was at Target, people want the moms go to the store and they go to store to get lost because they're wandering around, is it easy to shop? So when we are building their mobile apps, we decide not to do product comparison because ebay will have more product. We decided not to do price comparison because Walmart have a cheaper price. We decide not to build something that will be in store GPS because we will focus on mobile tablet e commerce experience on the tablet at home. The name back moment. Right? But we decide to do one feature, one feature alone, which is we decide to do shoppable Instagram because we want to bring the in store walking around wandering experience to their online experience. And we do that one thing. And second thing we did is we fix a crash. You used to open the app and you were low forever and you crash.

[Andy Murphy]

Okay.

[Anya Chen]

And by these two things we won the Webby award, which is the Digital Wars Oscar. And then we buy 1 million revenue per day. So just think of yourself as a product. What's one thing that you do better than others? And then what's the table state that you have to do otherwise other people beat you down.

[Andy Murphy]

That's. Love it. Love it. This is solid advice. And the advice you're given is just being able to maintain this high pace that you actually do on a daily basis. This is great. This is great. And you spoke about mental health and I find with a lot of entrepreneurs, and you are obviously you've got your grip of this in a good way because a lot of entrepreneurs end up burning themselves out. And I feel it's such a shame because there's so many incredible people, but also incredible, so many incredible ideas and concepts that don't actually come to. To fruition. They don't actually come into the world because the entrepreneur burns himself out. So I love what you just said. So tell me about Taylor. Right? Because where did this come from? Because. Let's rewind. What was that idea? Where did. Were you looking at something? Were you analyzing data? Because I can see that you're going to analyze a lot of data in your world. So, so where was the first time that you thought about Taylor? Was the name, did the name come first, the concept come first? Did the, the conscious venture come first? What was that first little glimpse into, into the brand they call Taylor?

[Anya Chen]

Yeah, it actually, you're probably curious why two woman me and my co founder Phoebe who was my University of Chicago MBA classmate more than 10 years ago. Why two womans and one does finance operation. One is me per like really have backgrounds in AI and technology and actually started menswear company two years ago. So it's actually the idea started when I was at ebay. I was a head of product there the only minority and also only woman head of product in the company. I felt imposter syndrome. I led large technology teams and I feel that I must be not good enough every day. So I try to at least look presentable. Like if I'm freaking out at least people don't shouldn't think that I'm freaking out. So I look for some subscription boxes out there on the market that they are great that someone style you such as Stitch fix. But you have to buy from every single shipment. So they style you. But then when they mail to you it's e commerce. You have to buy before you can wear. And I didn't want to own that much stuff. So I looked for some rental options like company like newly by Urban Outfitter which is a profitable unicorn in just four years. And also like Rent the Runway which is a public company. And I realized it's great that you can rent. You don't have to wear the same thing again and again. But there are 10,000 garments on the apps and you have to go through one by one. And there was a moment I realized all of those fashion company they are designing for people who are into fashion, not for people like me. I just want to get ready for the day and be successful. I look at who like me. Hey shopping. Hey laundry. Very purposeful. They want to do good to get a job, get a day and close a deal. But they don't want to chasing after GQ and they are guys. So turn out that two woman to start a menswear business. We want to start our unlimited closet but then turn out become menswear business. So at Taylor we people pay a monthly fee say around a hundred dollar. Then you get to wear ten clothes per month. So our AI will pick the clothes to make you stand out and the item arrived clean and ready to wear. You wear for a couple weeks. If you love something you can buy with a discount. If not you return the dirty clothes after wearing for a few weeks. Then you get next shipments right away. So no more shopping, no more laundry. But on the other hand we actually helped you to help the world to be a better place by helping brand to get a lot more sustainable. Today, 10% of clothes go directly from factory to landfill because they don't know what people like. So by giving the rental model, people give feedback right away. Like your Netflix, you want to make sure you part the show. So then your next Korean drama is better. Right? So, so we feed a feedback back to the fashion brand and we also help them to monetize some of them. So inventory. So then you get to know brand internationally and also the best brand, but also emerging brand because through rental you only need to own it for a week or two. So why not try something new brand that you never tried before? So we actually help to solve the sustainability problem, which is a really big problem in the fashion industry.

[Andy Murphy]

It's a huge problem in the fashion industry. And we'll talk about that more because I love that concept. So you literally. I love the whole thing. I think it's very clever. One, you're given brand exposure to two upcoming brands, right? You're allowing people to be able to try a new look and feel, which actually it affects their identity, you know, because they. With the whole. Because they can actually try a new Persona on. And you're targeting guys because guys. Well, yeah, you know, some single guys out there want to. Want to be, you know, want to present themselves a different way. And you're just saying. Because with a busy entrepreneur, you don't have time to go to the shops necessarily. You don't have time to go shopping and try all these clothes on. So a lot of people end up wearing the same things again and again and again. I love this. And, and so from that sustainability model, it is a massive problem in the world. It really is. It's. It's. What do they call it? What do they call it with the, with its. Where the clothing just. It's. You wear it once, basically fast fashion.

[Anya Chen]

Which is generation 10%. 10% of carbon emission in the world.

[Andy Murphy]

Carbon emission. 10%.

[Anya Chen]

Exactly. So isn't crazy, right? So 30% of the clothes go directly from factory to landfill because it's just really hard for them to know what's going to sell. And so we help them to get feedback so then they can be smarter. But then if there's small amounts that end up still produced, then doesn't have to burn them. People can try it with professional stylist support and our AI do the work. And our human style doesn't make final chip before it goes to a customer.

[Andy Murphy]

I see, I see. I love that. I think it's such a clever concept. Hence why You've been backed by VCs right? At that level. But tell me more about AI because that's your background as well. Besides like you, you are. I'm going to use the word you're a badass. I can just see it right through all your research and I'm getting to know you right now and I love that. I love people who are, who are just outliers. I love people who are driven. And so tell me more about the AI side of you because that's changing rapidly in the world. As a marketer myself as well as a high performance coach and all the rest of it, it's helped me massively and it's helped me massively in ways that just to gather my thoughts thoughts just to be able to really utilize the the ideas but then it puts it into a structure. I'm also dyslexic so sometimes it's my. My brain gets pretty jumbled with how to actually structure this stuff. But how long have you been working with AI for? And I love the pictures you put up. They're really cool.

[Anya Chen]

Yeah. Time for AI time, right? So AI it's I think we started two years ago and which was right around the time Gen AI started and I think people probably many of you know that the era of algorithm is dead like before like the whole world is about algorithm right? Like Google search bar you don't know what's behind it's a really interesting algorithm then for Instagrams and you don't know why you see this post it's interesting and amazing and secret algorithm, right? The same thing for the your show that it's the algorithm that you show however it's very very different concept in the era of AI it's all about data unique data because today the 34 company Elon Musk X AI and OpenAI Google's AI Meta's AI the larger language model now is dominant in the world however the model is model whatever make model smarter is the data right? So you can own a unique data still using those LLM large language model but then you want your unique data you can put it on top of their model and so then you will be unique to you that no one else has. For example at Taylor we know people's true preference so when you pick the clothes along without AI support then is actually what you really like not because it's in discount right? When you go to a department store many times you buy something that you loan lobby but it's only $5 right? So 90 perfect. I will bring you home. Right. So it's like how you decide what to watch on Netflix show. You pay a monthly fee. So what you pick together with AI is what you truly love. Second, for example we do know the customers. The, the, the. We do know the quality of the clothes after washes after three times. Does it shrink or does it good? We also know the future. AI only know the past. AI doesn't know the future. Right. But we do know the future because we partner with over 300 brands and they are already designing the collection two years down the road. Also have professional. Right. So why AI is perfect but you may still ask some professor some question. Right? Because the person has professional knowledge and so does us. We have human professional stylists that we hire from Stitch Fix and some amazing best fashion companies. And then we beat all of these together and we become and put it into a module. We put this module on top of our LLM model. So every time the model grow, we grow but we always one step ahead. So in the era of AI think about what's unique about your data.

[Andy Murphy]

I love it. That's a, that's a, that's a fast, a fast little lesson we got about AI But I, I, it's, it's, it's cool. So, so that's really. Do you feel obviously data is the most expensive thing in the world right now. It's the most valuable thing I should say. Right. Everybody's people are online and they don't realize what they're doing. They're just giving data. That's all they're doing. Right. So with this data is that really the, the IP behind your company? Is that why the VCs have got involved? Is that, is that what I take it you're heading towards IPO or an exit. That's the big picture with what you're doing.

[Anya Chen]

Yeah. I think we both we open my day to go to IPO or as it was company acquirers. For example E commerce company. Yeah. Start getting to circular fashion like Amazon. Partner with secondhand companies or international brands in company in Saudi who want to enter the US market but don't have time to go figure out how to grab those million of of white collar busy men's then potentially be our acquired or of course fashion brand like Urban Outfitters. Spend four years to build a business. Now is a unicorn profitable and also surpass the revenue surpass the the wholesale business which debut during the last 30 years. Right. 3030 years surpassed by 4 years with their rental. So Nike Unique Colors or Lululemon who want to enter this new circular fashion market but doesn't want to from scratch can potentially be our future acquired in the future. We are pretty open minded. But the reason I think why we are backed by the founder of YouTube and two leading investors VC I think one is that we really focus on the attractions. And you know that different from before COVID which you can raise just with ideas. Now it's all about show me the numbers, show me the money. So we were able to grow revenue 10 times in the last year. Of course we're still early to start up but we are now attraction more than the eight rounds company. And we are actually just right around C round. And I think second thing was also that we have a little bit more diverse revenue share the revenue model. So for example, our customer do pay a monthly fee. But when they love something they can also buy the clothes. And in fact buy clothes customer receive after where on average one or two gets sold right away after three rentals by three people. Right. So we also on top of them today we partner with over 300 brands. Pretty much any known brand that you know on the platform today. But we also help them on the AI side by licensing our AI technology to them. So we think so we cannot we the best way to have best product for our customer is that we have amazing brand with us. But by getting those amazing brands we cannot just treat them as a vendor. We have to be a strategic partner. And what's lacking in this fashion industry is that they are really good in producing amazing quality clothes. But most of them are horrible in technology. Right. You know, right. Look at any fashion site, right? If you go to the E commerce side, it wasn't the best. Right. So so however oppositely we are company here in Silicon Valley. And I believe last 10 years I built Facebook shopping and also Instagram shopping back end ebay new business. So I I know technology. So then we decided to licensing some of our technology back to them. Okay, so you love that we now have AI stylist perfect. You want AI stylist on Lululemon website and LV's website perfect. You can use it or hey, you know everything's on our website today were generated by AI including the styling nodes. Which is generating something by AI is easy but generating something correct by AI is not easy. And we were able to get that. And so today you see how to compare. And because we do have two people on the team who are formerly founders of menswear for other company their own startup before they tried to do it in the last 10 years, it wasn't successful. There wasn't AI before we hire them, we get their data into our models. And so today we were able to generate those styling notes on the website and now we licensing back to fashion brands. So then they can also reduce time and energy on their side.

[Andy Murphy]

I love it. I love your brain. I do. I love your thinking. That's. That's genius in so many ways. So clever because you're using their data analytics to be able to literally resell them in the advancement that you found in this niche. That's really, really clever, Anya. That really is. So it can't have been easy, right? Because take it from a concept of Taylor, like you've told me where the idea came from and there's so many people obviously watching and, and they're like, well, I've got an idea. I can see, I can see a niche. I can see this. I'm really scared about getting in front of VCs. You know, I can pitch and pitch and pitch. But did you get in front of VCs because of your existing network? Is that was the in for you? And once you got those meetings, what was it like? Go into pitch to them this brand new concept and were you just doing basic sales off like a slideshow? Was there anything unique that you did, like some of your secret sauce that really got the VC interested. I can talk more, but I'm just curious.

[Anya Chen]

Yeah, I think so. It's really. Actually our story was that we.

[Andy Murphy]

You and your pictures, I love.

[Anya Chen]

Yeah, you have to do the magics. Right. But, but in fact our story was I started by posting just on, on two different groups and I was, I am Northwestern University alumni and also University of Chicago alum. So I post into of the groups and say, hey, I'm alumni. We are fundraising studies company. Our mission is to help people to end the imposter syndrome and help to save the environments. And we start getting some angel. And one of the angels, including our professor, so an osteology professor from University of Chicago. And the professor said, hey, you guys are startup founder, you should talk to my another classmate who is also a startup founder. So I talked to the founder in the meeting. I forgot, I forgot that I was intent to ask him about fundraising. So I was just generally listening to his company. And it's a security camera company powered by AI. And after that I introduced a lot of people to him. Oh, I travel for Facebook in Nigeria before. Let me connect you to the security company that we partner. Oh, let me Connect you to my police office friends. And so two weeks after he circled back to me he said oh Anya, thank you so much for those leads by the way. What did you ask me for? Was this something that I can help you? And I realized oh, I forgot I was intent to ask you use a meeting to ask for a of investor. So then he connect me to his investor Berlin Capital, which is early investor of Lyft in Instacart and founded by a guide. So Ben Lynn who was a early executive of Google. So we talked to a band half an hour we got million dollar investment. So sometimes money is there when you are not looking but when you go on the pitch I I think some everyone knows that ideally you find people to refer you now through co calling. I know it's hard because then how many referrals that you have and need it. But I was just in TechCrunch and I will also recently speak an AI summit. And this is what other speakers say. They say on average VC spend 2.5 minutes on a deck and through 2.5 minutes they spend 45 seconds in the team slide. And so when you are on the team slide not just about how cool you are but it's about how relevant your background with that company. For example, at Taylor we need AI. So I have tech background, right? So Woman's in tech 40 under 40. I we also need marketing because we are consumer product. So I am marketer at lecturer and Northwestern University and I work for consumer brands Facebook, ebay and Target McDonald's. Right. And my tech teams are people who I hire from my former north consumer tech companies. And we also need fashion and which you also need operation because we do ship real clothes for the customer, right? So my co founder Phoebe she used to run operation for largest food companies such they offer food for like Starbucks or Singapore Airline. And we hire from fashion brands like Stitch Fix and Gap and Puma. And we also have two formal founders who are in the mental rental business on the team. So it's not about how great you are. I'm sure you're amazing but it's about what you are building, how the what is the skill needed and do you have the team? And I think you should think about that. It's back to the basketball example. We tend to see the all star team play horribly, right? They are all star but they are horrible. But the championship teams they are great because some people assist, some people score, right? So think of your team is it's about the diverse background that's needed for Your business. And they also say VC spend 30 seconds in the slide of purpose. So the problem you are solving, right? So for example, we, if you illustrate in product, if you illustrate problem clearly, people can imagine the solution. There was a company, they, they say, hey, the problem is that I was trying to remodel at my home. I have to go to 10 different store to find different materials and I have to buy a whole bunch of tool that I will never use it after my remodeling of my house, right? Even without the guy saying the solution, you already know what he or she is building, which is an app that you can buy all different material from different store. An app that you can ram equipment that you don't need in the future, right? So, so if you explain the problem well, then people can imagine the solution.

[Andy Murphy]

I love it. That's the again, that's magic what you just said. That that's like, that's so high level, valuable. So basically to distill some of that down, you were so strategic, right? In who you're bringing in as your magic team, as your dream team. But before that, even before that, what I loved about what you said is you were genuinely just intrigued and interested in listening to that gentleman and you gave him value, right? You didn't ask for anything, you didn't take. Right? And I feel so many entrepreneurs get that model wrong. They're all about just taking. There's no giving. Right? And you like energetically, intelligently network and, and, and just gave and because of all the things that you've done, because of all the things that you've done, you are, you built this huge network and then you were able to just share it with people and you didn't expect any ROI of that. You didn't want anything back from that. You just wanted to help. And that's rare. That's really rare. So the biggest advice you can give to people in that if you were to just distill it down into one statement, if someone had an idea and they wanted to get it out into the world, what would that one sentence be that you could, you would give them?

[Anya Chen]

Yeah, I think so. You should believe in yourself. And here's why. Here's an example. I was in a startup competition two years ago and in order to win the competition, I found 42 formal judges to do mock practice pitch with them. So after that, when I went on pitch, my pitch obviously was perfect because I practiced with 42 formal judges of their competition. However, at the moment of Q and A, as soon as the Judge asks a question. I stunned, I just don't know why, because all in my head I was thinking ah, this question, I know that is question because Practice judge number 37 asked me this question and the judge also tell me about the answer and I put in the appendix slide number 11 in my head. I wasn't trying to answer the question, I was trying to find an answer from other judges. It's almost like when you are students you were wanting you go to an open book exam, but you didn't you see the question, you start open the book and start finding the answer. And then after half an hour the time's up and you still haven't write down the answer. And then you realize if you look at the questions and count down, you actually know the answer, right? But many times you don't believe you can do it. So you were trying to find it as a wrong instead of just being yourself and sit down and think about what's the answer. So of course I didn't win in that competition. But you really helped me realize that I know more than what I thought as a founder. Like you think about a problem 24 7, right? It's probably you are one of the 10 people in the world know this topic more than anyone else. So yeah, other people, the point of view matters. But when I give you an idea, do not take it however you ask for why. Like for example, when I start pitching and someone say you should take remove the team slide. You shouldn't say you guys are Fortune 500 company manager and executive. And I didn't do it. I was like, why? Like it sounds amazing, right? We are cool people who are experienced and achieve something in our career. And then he said, you know what? Because if you are startup Fortune 500 company executive sounds slow. I say, okay, that's a great insight. How about can I say we build zero to one department for Fortune 500 company. He said, that's perfect, right? So instead of removing entirely, I asked why? So when people ask give you feedback, do not take the what and ask for why.

[Andy Murphy]

I love that. That, that's, that's huge right there. And, and because you, what you're doing is you're not just taking for granted their credibility. You know, just because they are brilliant at what they do doesn't mean it's also, it doesn't mean it's the right answer, right? It means you're, you're going deeper and you're looking for their motivation, you're looking for their wisdom behind it. And then what you're doing is you're making your own analytical decision. Right? You are, because you are leading this thing. So I think that's huge. I think that's huge. So when you're in these. First thought I laughed when you said I really did laugh when you said yes, when he asked me a question I was going back into. Oh, it's an appendix. This is. And it's, it's in this slide three and appendix this. That shows me what your brain is like. I kind of think that you've got a good memory.

[Anya Chen]

I don't think I did. And that's why I stung. I said, where?

[Andy Murphy]

Which is like, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I. I love this. So going back to Taylor just before, before we wrap this up for you, because I know, I know you're busy. What's the big vision with Taylor? Because yes, it's, it's a money motivator for you for sure. That's why you're building this thing. But I can, as I've got to know you over the past, like in this episode, I can also see your heart. Right. I can also see there's the, there's a deep, much deeper side of you than probably most people actually see because they see your analytics, they see your drive, they see your leadership, but I see your heart with this. And so what is this drive? What is this? Because it's not just money.

[Anya Chen]

Yeah. I started as a Brink blue collar family. My mom is a housewife, my dad is a factory worker. I came to the US 17 years ago, went to Northwestern University and my English was so poor as I'm from Taiwan and well, I remember that I pointed at the swimming pool and I yell, that's a great ocean. I thought, swimming pool is equal to oceans. And someone, a guy was trying to ask me out so that he asked me, are you seeing someone? And I turn around and I said, no, I don't see anyone behind me. I didn't know what. Are you seeing someone? Means, are you seeing someone? I said, no, I didn't see any ghost. Do you guys see any ghosts here? It's Halloween. So. So and, and I graduated from the school with a master degree in marketing. You happened to be 2008. So there was. Lehman Brother went bankruptcy. There was no job anywhere. I was very interested in doing marketing for a media company because I had marketing degree and I was a reporter back in Taiwan. However, I didn't know that media company doesn't need marketing. Like, when was the last time you see CNN run ads on espn, right? So you know, they don't need marketing. So I obviously couldn't find any job. And I went to New York and I started cold calling 2000 alumni. And I was able to get some meetings by because one day I was. It was raining after I got rejected again by an interview. So I walk outside the building, it was snowing. And you know, the New York snow is actually not really like white snow is more like the black slash, you know. And as my high heel, I was stumped onto the water and my whole feet was soaked. It was super wet and cold. And I saw a Chinese restaurant. And I walk into the restaurant, I order, just pour over rice. And as soon as the waitress served the dish, my teardrop on the rice because it was such a simple and family meal back in Taiwan. But here it seems everything is so hard. And I was like I was somebody back in Taiwan, but why am I here begging for a job? So I finished a meal, walk out to a restaurant, it started raining and I was like oh great, even the God tell me that you should stop. So I was trying to avoid the ram by zipping between different newsstands and I trying to wait. And so I glanced onto the table and I saw there are newspapers on the stand. New York Times publisher name, blah blah blah blah. If you want advertise, call this number.

[Andy Murphy]

Great.

[Anya Chen]

So I bought all the newspaper back to my friend's living room. I stayed in different friends living room every week. So I start calling every single newspaper. Hi, I'm interesting. And then eventually I actually met with New York Times CEO CNVP all over their company's executive. But everyone say we are name of people we are not hiring. And I thought this is seems working but just not fast enough. So I want to go to a conference, but you know, so the ticket of conference are so expensive. So then I called the magazine back in Taiwan and say hey, I heard this amazing conference in New York. Would you like to report it for free that you want to hear a story? And then I called the conference say hey, I'm a reporter from Taiwan, can I get a press pass for free? So then I was able to get into a conference and I start getting a lot of meeting with a lot of of executive in media company. But eventually I got no jobs. So I went back to Chicago, I thought of I learned a lot during the process even though I didn't get any job. So I put together a business plan and from what I learned from those company and I pitched to a local magazine company and they are magazine for farmers and also the salon owner. So I went interviewed the salon on different salon owner as their reader. I find a magazine they have advertiser. I call calling those advertiser. I interviewing them and I put together a business plan and I pitched to a company. I said you should launch your digital department which you need someone who know marketing, know a little bit media and part ideally not too expensive because they just out of school and I know someone with me. So the CEO asked me would you like to be a contractor? I didn't know what contractor mean in English. So I say yes. I went home, I google contractor. I didn't know why she want me to be a plumber. Plumber, right. Plumber is a contractor. So I google contractor, you'll come up with a plumber. I didn't know why she want me to be plumber, but that's why I got my first job in the US So my draw is that I I got my American dream. I'm not sure I have achieved really all but some. And I really hope that everyone can be the best version of themselves without worrying about outfit or whatever stuff that they shouldn't be worrying about. Like when I was the head of product at ebay, I shouldn't worry about that. If I am capable enough to be the head of product, I should be worrying about what next digital product that we should be launching. I should be worried about how to implement Agile for the company. But in fact I did worry about my outfit. So I think the mission for Taylor is not just about picking clothes for you. It's about how can I help you to take one thing, even one tiny thing a month of your busy play. So then you can go ready to pitch, you can go ready to hire your next amazing executive. You can go and find insight from your customers so then you can focus on being the best version of yourself.

[Andy Murphy]

That's awesome. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing all that. That makes me, that makes me happy because to end the podcast on that note, I think I'm gonna clip that and put it at the start because I think that shows you in really who you are behind the scenes. And that was my mission for this and I love to do this with guests because by the time we end up, the podcast ends, we end up friends because I end up finding out truly who you are and. Yeah, and, and it shows why this brand is going to be incredibly successful because you're driving this thing. It shows your, your heart behind it, it shows your intelligence, it shows your experience. And. And, yeah, for everybody out there listening. Right. Anya's had on the screen the entire time because she's a badass at marketing. 30 off code with neuro30. And I'll put the link there, but it's Taylor Style, and. And I'm gonna be going check it out immediately. So thank you for everything today. It's been. It's been a pleasure. And now you're part of the Neuro Performance community.

[Anya Chen]

Great. Thank you so much. I'm Anya Chen, founder and CEO of Taylor Style. Thank you.

[Podcast Narrator]

That's all for this episode of the Neuro Performance Podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Remember to stay connected, rate, review, and visit andymurphy online to take the next step towards unlocking your pure potential. See you next time.

[Anya Chen]

Sa.