Here’s How Kola Tytler Created dropout from the ground up
Statista found that the global online fashion market is set to grow to $872bn by 2023. This shows that the demand for clothing and footwear is steadily increasing, and dropout, a business specialized in the sale of limited edition sneakers and apparel, is a prime example of this.
Today we explore how Kola Tytler, one of its founders, used his life experiences, as well as his entrepreneurial spirit, to overcome challenges and obstacles and propel him and his venture to success.
Firstly, who is Kola Tytler?
Kola Tytler is actually Dr Kola Tytler. Kola is a 27 year old medical doctor who works for the NHS. He is currently undertaking a MBA at University of Birmingham and he is a popular figure in the fashion-streetwear industry, seeing that he founded dropout in 2018. The business currently has a physical store in the centre of Milan, Italy and an e-commerce (dropoutmilano.com) which have been doing incredibly well.
The road to creating dropout
Kola Tytler grew up in Latina, a town near Rome. Having gone through a range of trials and tribulations, he has been moulded into the hardworking and driven individual he is today.
Kola’s business journey started after buying a pair of Jordans. This exposed him to the underground sneaker resale market, which then inspired him to code a sneaker bot in 2015.
Shortly after this, Kola met Yiannis who launched YEEZY Mafia, as well as Stefano, who later on launched Italian prime streetwear magazine Outpump. Together with the latter he collected data and ran statistical analysis in order to determine patterns in price changes. HypeAnalyzer was created from this.
In 2018, Kola decided to found his business in Milan, Italy. This was done with no external funding, with him being the main investor and biggest share owner. The prices, consignment rates and sales were all objectively dictated by HypeAnalyzer, the analysis software mentioned earlier. dropout guarantees that their products are 100% authentic.
The business’ revenue has exceeded seven digits and the store has welcomed over 50,000 people since the opening. The website has been even more successful regarding traffic, having over a million visitors in 2020 and 2021.
At the same time the business was founded, Kola had been struggling in university, seeing that he had been diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia. His frustration regarding his studies inspired the name “dropout” and references Kanye West’s debut studio album, “College Dropout”. It has to be noted that Kola did not drop out of university. He qualified as a medical doctor while running the business.
dropout’s Equity Crowdfunding campaign
dropout has announced the launch of an Equity Crowdfunding campaign on Mamacrowd, a crowdfunding platform. Equity crowdfunding, which is also known as crowd-investing or investment crowdfunding, is a way for startups and early-stage companies to raise capital. Equity crowdfunding allows investors to purchase the company’s securities in exchange for financing.
The collection target is between €300k and €500k at a pre-money valuation of €1.5M. According to Kola, sneaker enthusiasts and supporters of dropout are able to be actively involved in the business, by taking part in this campaign. The funds raised will be used to expand the point of sale, the online store, and of dropout® brand products.
Kola also plans to establish a few pop-up shops where he has identified a high potential and reports being interested in exploring and investing in sustainability, by exploring the second-hand market. Thrifting and sustainable fashion has become a prominent fashion trend, while it also contributes to decreasing the individual’s carbon footprint.
Looking forward
Kola is a driven entrepreneur, with a lot more gas in his tank. Kola says, “I am proud, looking back, to see that I have come far. I truly did come from nothing and created myself a lot of opportunities via hard work, networking and what I like to think as someone looking out for me from above. But I am hungry for more.”
