Alexandra Wilkis Wilson walked into famed celebrity designer Zac Posen’s showroom in November 2007 prepared to give the pitch of her life. The Gilt co-founder was attempting to sell Posen and his team on putting some of the designer’s excess inventory on the yet-to-be-launched flash sales e-commerce platform. At the time, the flash sales industry was nascent, so many, including the fashion industry, had no idea what a flash sale was.
Wilson and her CTO at the time, Mike Bryzek, stepped into the meeting armed with a demo, a bunch of mockups, and information (all of which were online). However, they quickly realized that Posen’s office didn’t have Wi-Fi. So Wilson, thinking on her feet, just took a pen and paper and started sketching the idea out. Posen’s team liked what they saw and became the first designer to sell their items in Gilt in late 2007.