#FoundersFridays: Meet Nelli Jeloudar

#FoundersFridays is a StartupAmsterdam interview series: for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. Each hero answers questions on their entrepreneurial journey, their learnings, milestones and bottlenecks, as well as on Amsterdam and the Dutch startup scene. It’s a platform for entrepreneurs to speak their minds freely and pass on their learnings to anyone who’s thinking about founding a startup as well.

This week we spoke to Nelli Jeloudar, the co-founder of Bundleboon. The company provides a platform where consumers can easily discover new brands and trends for their child's outfits - for every season or occasion.  By ordering a personalised box, shoppers can turn their living room into a catwalk for 5 days and pay later for the items they want to keep.

How did your career journey lead you to found Bundleboon?

It all started when I worked for The Cloakroom, a personal shopping service for men. I never expected to become an entrepreneur because I was very content with my stable income and position in this role. However, when I started working for the two founders of The Cloakroom, they inspired me to seek success and step beyond my comfort zone. They encouraged their employees to become entrepreneurs! So, I took the jump and launched Bundleboon as a side hustle in 2017. I met my cofounder, Monique, during an Amsterdam Startup Weekend in the same year. By chance, we ended up in the same team and quickly connected on a personal and professional level. Monique’s background is in e-commerce and purchasing and she spent years at Zalando and De Bijenkorf. As founders, we compliment each others skills and this helps with the growth and development of Bundleboon.

What makes Amsterdam a great city and a great ecosystem for a startup founder?

The startup community in Amsterdam is unbelievable! Whether you are looking for funding, mentorship, or just meeting fellow entrepreneurs, this is THE best city to start a business. My personal experience with the ecosystem in Amsterdam has been that if I faced any obstacles or needed guidance as a first-time founder, it was easy to get access to resources. One of the things that truly stands out is the diversity and the support for female founders.

Our main goal for 2022 is to launch a revamped styling tool for our customers and introduce additional features on our website. This will make every aspect of our job easier and will also improve our customer experience. Following this, we are launching in Denmark and have some pretty great collaborations planned with other DTC brands - plus a mini capsule collection! Lastly, we are also looking to raise another round of investment to drive future growth.

What has been a recent 'win' for your business?

The biggest win was our appearance on Dragons’ Den in 2020. But if we look at our main 'win' from the last couple of months, I would say the increase in the number of returning customers. Not only are they coming back for more personalised boxes than ever before, but they also spend a lot more compared to last year. We have been fortunate to gain a loyal customer base.

What has been a recent 'challenge' for your business and what have you learned from it?

The biggest challenge for us was the decrease in the number of new customers due to digital platforms and market changes. However, this made us take a more critical look at our marketing strategy and revise the overall planning. We are now splitting our efforts over new and innovative channels and are putting more weight behind our brand marketing. This will help us to strengthen our strategies further and incorporate a lot of exciting plans for the future of Bundleboon.