Australian start-up 99dresses has temporarily closed its doors after 20-year-old founder Nikki Durkin ran into financial troubles, although the business\u2019 former incubator is confident that Durkin will bounce back.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 99dresses allows users to sell unwanted clothes online in return for a virtual currency, known as \u201cbuttons\u201d, to be spent on other users\u2019 unwanted items.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Durkin was 18 when she founded the business \u2013 her third \u2013 enlisting the help of tech seed fund Pollenizer, with co-founder Mick Liubinskas as her mentor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Durkin was recently selected to participate in the prestigious Y Combinator program in the United States, a three-month program culminating in a demo day attended by investors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As part of the program, Y Combinator invests a small amount of money \u2013 around $18,000 \u2013 into each start-up. In exchange, it takes a small stake in each one, usually 6-7%.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The start-ups move to the US to participate in the program, during which time Y Combinator helps them to hone their offering and refine their pitch.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s believed Durkin beat thousands of start-ups that applied for a spot in the bi-annual program.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, 99dresses has closed its doors after Durkin experienced financial and technical difficulties in 2011, including a lack of operating capital and a botched redesign.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201c2011 wasn\u2019t a very good year for 99dresses,\u201d Durkin said in an email to the site\u2019s members.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI had a lot of trouble with the technology, made a lot of mistakes and could not fix these very expensive problems.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI really screwed up\u2026 I gave it my best shot and, being only 20 years old, I have learnt a lot and realised that I would have been very fortunate for it to run to plan.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Durkin said she is working on a new version of 99dresses, which will re-launch as soon as possible, insisting she will not give up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis is not goodbye\u2026 I\u2019ve teamed up with a friend of mine\u2026 to keep working on 99dresses but from a different angle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe main problem with 99dresses in its current form was that whilst \u2018buttons\u2019 are super fun to trade with, they don\u2019t generate enough cash to maintain the website and admin support.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSo really, if we want 99dresses to continue, the buttons have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pollenizer co-founder Phil Morle says while he was aware of the news, he\u2019s not overly concerned about the fate of 99dresses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s just the natural stage of things to happen in start-up land\u2026 We all know it\u2019s the rule rather than the exception for start-ups [to change course],\u201d Morle says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAs far as I understand, Nikki hasn\u2019t given up. She\u2019s a resilient and intelligent entrepreneur, and will come back with whatever 99dresses comes back to be.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI think it will make her stronger. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a new business model right around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what 99dresses will become but I have confidence she will turn it into something positive.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Durkin is offering refunds to users to upload and digitise their wardrobe to generate \u201cthe perfect outfit\u201d and find clothes, shoes and accessories from other users to complete the outfit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Australian start-up 99dresses has temporarily closed its doors after 20-year-old founder Nikki Durkin ran into financial troubles, although the business\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}