So I realised I needed to stop guessing.
Instead of sitting behind my laptop and trying to predict what people might want, I started looking at what was actually happening around me.
When I commute to the office using public transport, I started paying much more attention to people around me.
I began observing the styles people were wearing, the colours they seemed to prefer, the types of fabrics, the way they put outfits together, and how those choices changed depending on the season.
It became a completely different way of doing research.
I also started popping into clothing stores on my way home.
And instead of just looking at clothes as a shopper, I started looking at the whole experience differently.
What challenges are retailers dealing with?
What makes it difficult for customers to choose an outfit?
How do people decide whether something actually looks good on them?
What do they do when they're not sure?
Do they look in the mirror?
Do they take a photo?
Do they ask a friend?
Do they try different sizes or colours?
I started noticing that people don't simply buy clothes—they try to convince themselves that the outfit will look good on them.
And that made me think even more deeply about the problem Strylez was trying to solve.
Maybe the opportunity wasn't simply to put more clothes online.
Maybe it was to help people make that decision with more confidence.
And at the same time, help a small retailer understand what customers are actually interested in before investing heavily in stock.
That became an important part of my entrepreneurial journey:
Before building the next solution, I needed to get out there, observe, listen and understand the problem from both sides—the customer and the retailer.