Why Your Friends Might Not Be Your Customers | Founder Lessons from By Rotation & Reformation

A couple weeks back, I attended the By Rotation x Reformation partnership event in London, expecting to learn more about fashion rental and sustainability. Instead, I walked away with some surprisingly powerful founder lessons. In this video, I'm sharing my reflections on: • Why your friends and family may not be your target customer • How innovative companies create new customer behaviors • The importance of finding the right community instead of convincing everyone • What Reformation's climate-positive strategy teaches us about thinking ahead of the market • Why rental fashion exposes the truth about garment quality • The underrated power of asking questions and showing up in rooms As the founder of 919 Vrede and 919 Source, many of these lessons resonated deeply with me as we continue building within fashion, sustainability, regenerative agriculture, and traceable supply chains. Whether you're a founder, creative, fashion professional, student, or simply curious about how businesses grow, I hope these reflections give you something to think about. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments: Have you ever realized your target audience wasn't who you originally expected? And what founder lessons have you been learning lately? Subscribe for more conversations on entrepreneurship, fashion, sustainability, business strategy, and building meaningful brands. #Entrepreneurship #FounderLife #FashionBusiness #Sustainability #ByRotation #Reformation #StartupLessons #CustomerPsychology #FashionIndustry #BusinessStrategy #919Vrede