How I onboarded 200+ fashion brands before Shoppin' even launched

Notable brands onboarded

The Context

Shoppin' had not launched yet. No app, no users, no market presence. Just a social media page and a landing page collecting waitlist signups. The concept was a discovery-first fashion platform somewhere between Google and Pinterest, built for people who browse before they buy.

A discovery platform with no brands to discover is an empty room. Before any consumer would care, the platform needed supply. My job was to fill that room before the doors opened.

The Insight

Before reaching out to a single brand, I needed to understand what problem I was actually solving for them. I spoke with fashion brands across categories and kept hearing the same thing: discoverability was broken.

Instagram had become too crowded and too pay-to-play for smaller brands to cut through. Myntra, AJIO, and Amazon ran on algorithms and ad systems that smaller brands could not compete on without serious budget. Brands that deserved to be found were not being found.

That insight became the pitch. Not "join our platform." Instead: "your brand deserves to be discovered and the current channels are working against you."

My Role

Partnership Strategy and Brand Acquisition

• Identifying the supply-side acquisition strategy before outreach began
• Building the brand prospect database from Myntra listings and Instagram
• Defining the outreach positioning around the discoverability problem
• Running all email and Instagram DM outreach solo
• Managing conversations directly with founders and brand teams
• Closing 200+ brands into active pre-launch accounts

The Execution

Solo outreach across three channels. I scraped Myntra's brand listings, found brands on Instagram, tracked down founder contact details, and ran personalised email and DM campaigns targeting 200+ brands in under a month.

The brands who responded were not just signing up for a waitlist. They were creating active accounts and committing to be present on the platform at launch.

What Worked

The brands that converted fast were the ones who already knew discoverability was their biggest problem. I did not have to convince them the problem existed. I just had to show up with a credible solution at the right moment.

Finding that insight before the first outreach message went out is what made the difference. Every message was built around a problem the brand had already felt. That is why 200+ brands committed before the app existed.

What I Would Do Differently

I would have made the platform exclusive to homegrown Indian brands only. The mix of large brands like Puma alongside small independent labels created a positioning problem the platform could not credibly serve both audiences at the same level. Homegrown-only would have created a tighter, more defensible identity and given smaller brands a genuine reason to join that the big platforms could never replicate.

I also would have built a brand collaboration layer into the strategy from day one. Structured collabs around shared moodboards or seasonal looks would have served as marketing content for both Shoppin' and the participating brands simultaneously generating user-facing content while deepening brand commitment to the platform before launch.