Before joining Connectd, what was happening in the business that made you seek external support?
Amelia Tombs, Co-Founder & CEO, under+beneath: We'd just finished a fundraising accelerator and an incubator with UAL, but we had identified key gaps in our advisory board and within the business, specifically around financials, sustainability at scale for a fashion retailer, and supply chain management. I expressed that to Emily on the Connectd team, along with a strong desire for those specific skill sets from our advisors. We had documentation in place for investor rounds, but we hadn't really finalised a financial strategy or business model.
We'd seen quite a lot of traction with our waitlist and won a few awards, but I really wanted expertise from senior individuals outside of the business. Through Connectd, we found Andy, Ricardo, and Yui.
What were the biggest challenges as founders at that stage?
Chloe Grant, Co-Founder & Chief Design Officer, under+beneath: We needed to fill knowledge gaps. We had the passion, we could identify what was wrong with the industry, but we needed that insider knowledge to help us learn how to turn a fabulous idea into something actually usable and scalable.
Amelia Tombs: It's been a real step change in our acceleration, and that's down to the advisors on the Connectd programme. The key challenges we had: I'm quite a numbers-driven person, but I didn't know how to create a sustainable financial model for such a complex business. Most businesses only target a tiny part of the supply chain, whereas we're building a completely data-native value chain for bras, and that was above my expertise. Ricardo, our financial advisor from the programme, has been absolutely fantastic in that area.
The second challenge, to put it bluntly, is that we're two female co-founders, and we were attracting a lot of successful executive females. I was having lots of great conversations, but I really wanted male voices on the executive board as well. Being an underwear-focused startup, that can be quite challenging. Women tend to understand the user challenge with bras and fit issues from lived experience. Male advisors bring a different perspective, and they may have experienced someone in their network facing those challenges, and that has been genuinely fascinating and valuable.
What made the advisors suggested by Connectd feel like the right fit for under+beneath?
Chloe Grant: The main advisor I connected with was Yui, a sustainability expert with years of experience working for companies like Coca-Cola and Zalando. He's worked for major household names, and if he can influence sustainability in businesses of that scale, he's just a wealth of knowledge. From the very first conversation, I thought, "Wow, he's so helpful." The knock-on effects and connections we've made through him have really shaped the digital product passport side of things in particular. It would have been a real challenge without someone who already had that prior experience. A fabulous connection to have.
Amelia Tombs: Ricardo is fundamentally a business leader, a CFO with over 25 years of experience. He has really shown us how to take a vision and create a scalable, operationally defensible financial model. And it's not just advisory either. He's actually built some of the spreadsheets we've been working from.
Then there's Andy, who has 25 years of experience working for global organisations at a local level within their supply chains. He's helped us build our end-to-end process flow. My background is in supply chain and operations, so I had a fairly clear idea of how things could work, but I didn't have clarity on how it would work specifically in the fashion industry, or on an on-demand basis for such a small item. Andy has been really focused on that and has built a clear vision for the data-native value chain I keep referencing.
What did the cadence with the advisors look like?
Amelia Tombs: We started on a weekly cadence, and then we realised that the questions we were asking were quite strategic. If we hadn't reached a point where we needed another answer, we didn't want to take up their time unnecessarily. So we moved to biweekly with some, and then to monthly. We were very flexible in our approach and also communicated via email in between. They all signed NDAs, so we were confident sharing pitch decks and financial models with them directly.
In terms of why the Connectd model works better than having full-time advisors, at this stage of the business we're still quite early. We wouldn't have been able to afford these individuals on a full-time basis, to be honest. Having that biweekly cadence, funded through the Connectd programme, and getting strategic insight from senior executives who are genuinely invested in what we're building, has been fantastic.
What are the most meaningful outcomes you can trace back to the advisors' support?
Chloe Grant: From a sustainability perspective, the most meaningful outcome has been the narrative around our digital product passports. I was working on the storytelling, and Yui kept asking, "How can we underpin this with data?" That back-and-forth collaboration was really iterative. We'd have a call, and then there'd be collaborative work happening for weeks in between. His influence was threaded through all of it. Having that narrative, and knowing that our future customers will be able to look at our digital product passport and genuinely understand it rather than just seeing a load of data behind a QR code, has been instrumental.
Amelia Tombs: With Andy, we've mapped out a full supply chain master spreadsheet, from suppliers providing fabric and components, all the way through to the consumer and aftercare. That's been incredibly valuable and has allowed us to create samples and batch tracking with a live production register and bill of materials.
With Ricardo, the key outcome has been the financial model, building everything from the P&L to unit economics, profit margins, profitability, and costs. A lot of founders underestimate how real you need to be about your numbers and knowing every single data point. That's where we are now.
What made Connectd stand out from other agencies or networks?
Amelia Tombs: Customer service is key to me. Emily and Emily, yes, there are two Emilys, were sensational with their communication, and made me feel that my requirements for the business were never too much or unrealistic. The communication with Connectd was fantastic. I had calls simply to align on whether we gelled, and all three advisors said yes, which was fantastic.
Agencies lack that human connection, that people-centric customer service. As a result, I've actually started introducing people in my network to Connectd. And to be completely honest, I will not introduce anyone I don't think is exceptional, because I am very vocal about businesses or clients that aren't delivering.
What advice would you both give to founders considering Connectd today?
Chloe Grant: Do it. The people we were speaking to are at the top of their game. They're so experienced. You don't often get the chance to be in the same room as people like this, let alone on weekly calls with them, and to have them actually helping out on work and being so hands-on. I was really blown away by the level of support we received.
For any founder setting things up by themselves, it's hard. There are so many hats to wear. So if you can pass a few of those hats to the right people, it makes all the difference.
Amelia Tombs: I want to echo everything Chloe said. The only thing I'd add is that across all three advisors, I felt genuinely respected, and that is a massive thing for me. We often walk into rooms where we don't feel respected as female founders. All three of our advisors really believed in our vision, really wanted it to work, and want to continue the relationship with us, formally or informally, going forward.
Amelia Tombs, Co-Founder & CEO, under+beneath Chloe Grant, Co-Founder & Chief Design Officer, under+beneath
