Unleashing AI Power in Fashion, eCommerce & Community

In this episode:

Siva Avvaru, yWhales Solutions Managing Director, and Jessica Billingsley, yWhales Board Member, speak with Chris Schmidt, Founder & CEO of Parallel. Parallel is a social commerce platform that curates your shopping experiences. Chris explains how Parallel's AI system matches users with people of similar body sizes and allows them to see what those people are wearing and what size they wore. Chris and Siva discuss how Parallel is flipping the influencer creator world upside down, making everyone an influencer.

About Chris Shmidt

Chris started his first business at the age of ten and is still protecting Winnipeg's trees from Dutch Elm Disease. After completing a B.Sc from the University of Manitoba, he decided not to follow in his family's footsteps and pursue medicine. Instead, he founded the world's first Snapchat filter company, Geofilter Studio.

Geofilter Studio exploded at an unprecedented rate of 24,000% and grew to 85 employees in the first year. It was Canada's fastest-growing company in 2017 and created over 100,000 filters that accumulated 5 billion views worldwide. Chris then formed EveryStudio, which housed Geofilter Studio, EveryStudio AR, and EveryStudio Stickers. EveryStudio AR created augmented reality products, while EveryStudio Stickers made iOS sticker packs with over 150 million views in the App Store.

In 2019, EveryStudio was acquired. In 2018, Chris started Pluto Ventures, an artificial intelligence company with a world-class team backed by a strong group of investors and advisors. Together, they are building Parallel, a social commerce platform with users spanning 191 countries. When Chris is not working on his companies, he enjoys helping others with their business journey and has presented at over 130 events. You’ll learn about: Parallel's diversity and how it has exploded internationally How Parallel solves the sizing inconsistency among retailers Parallel's powerful data points and the ability to expand marketing initiatives.

Parallel’s Social Links:
Parallel’s Website: https://www.joinparallel.io/
Parallel’s YouTube:    / @joinparallel  
Parallel’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinparalle...
Parallel’s TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinparallel.io?
Parallel’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/joinparallel
Parallel’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/join...

Guest Social Links:
Chris’ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-c/
Chris’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_ChrisSchmidt

You’ll learn about:

• Parallel's diversity and how it has exploded internationally
• How Parallel solves the sizing inconsistency among retailers
• Parallel's powerful data points and the ability to expand marketing initiatives

Timestamps

0:00 Siva’s intro

0:47 What is Parallel

6:29 Building Parallel

8:05 Chris’ background

11:46 Why Parallel

12:51 Brand integrations

17:28 The community aspect

19:03 Building the AI tool

29:34 What is AI

32:09 Challenges

33:51 Launching Parallel

36:42 Parallel’s roadmap

37:20 Creators, influencers & making money

44:59 On entrepreneurship

52:24 How to get involved

53:49 Closing thoughts

Other places to listen: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Pocket Casts | Podbean

DISCLAIMER: yWhales is not affiliated with YPO. Support and production for today’s episode was done by Truth Work Media. Nothing in the podcast constitutes professional and/or financial advice, nor does any information on the podcast constitute a comprehensive or complete statement of the matters discussed or the law relating thereto.