Over 10 years, Jodie Fox built a fashion technology empire that captured the world’s imagination and attention. Shoes of Prey raised AUD$37M, delivered shoes to more than 100 countries a month, and even built a factory in China. She heartbreakingly closed the business in March 2018, after-sales growth didn’t match the pace needed for further investment.
Current Work:
Credited as one of the first Australian female entrepreneur role models, Jodie has inspired an entire generation of women to turn their hand to bringing their idea to life. Her generosity in sharing hard-won lessons continued after the business closure, with the publishing of her book Reboot: Probably more than you ever wanted to know about starting a global business in November 2019 by Wiley.
Paul Greenberg, a serial entrepreneur, and eCommerce expert calls it, ‘a searingly honest and very gutsy account of her entrepreneurial journey as a co-founder of Shoes of Prey. I would highly recommend the read. A deep dive not just into the Shoes of Prey journey, but also an insightful and reflective examination of the psychodynamic nature of entrepreneurship.
Jodie’s honest, raw, gusty tone delivers crisp, actionable lessons from a place of humble experience, and highly engaging story sharing. Some of the areas Jodie specialises in include:
- Customer Experience: How to gain them, how to test them, and knowing when to move on
- Purpose & Values of a high-performance culture - How to create it, and how it drives high performance and loyalty, even when presented with the direst of situations
- Managing stakeholders, staff and yourself
- Cultivating resilience and innovation
- Mental health in the workplace
And more, outlined below.
As a highly respected businesswoman, Jodie has judged the World Retail Awards three years in a row, lectured the Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA Class many years in a row and regularly keynotes for clients as diverse as Atlassian, LimeBridge Australia, CBA, SCRIO, ANRA, Telstra, Department of Premier and Cabinet to Success Resources Australia, Slatts Group, and Business Chicks. Jodie has also spoken at the prestigious National Retail Federation big show in NYC, and Mastercard Global Brand conference.
This March Jodie has just become a new mum and is working on her next move.
Talking Points
The Shoes of Prey journey: Fame, failure, resilience and leadership under fire
Jodie Fox is the co-founder of fashion tech company Shoes of Prey that went from idea to breaking even within two months and multimillion dollar revenue in under two years. Shoes of Prey raised ~AUD$36M and shipped to more than 100 countries every month, and finally closed after 10 years of trade.The Shoes of Prey journey: Fame, failure, resilience and leadership under fire
She has seen the world of ideation, fast growth and tough personal lessons that only entrepreneurialism can bring from the inside out. And, she’s distilled these learnings into digestible, valuable, shareable pieces for you to fast track your growth - Both personal and professional.
Who it is for:
- Organisations looking to bring greater boldness, innovation and risk taking into their culture
- Organisations experiencing significant change
- Entrepreneurs
- People at career inflection points
Key takeaways:
- How to overcome the fear of failure
- How to foster innovation
- Building a high performance culture
Sub topics that can be addressed / featured / expanded upon within this topic:
- People management
- Negotiation in China / USA
- The value of values
- A woman in business
- Cross cultural management: Moving a business from Australia to the USA
- Fashion technology
- Omnichannel retail
- Supply chain
- The future of retail
- Mental health for leaders and employees
Building award-winning customer service
Customer service is the coalface of your company, rich with detailed insight into the behaviors and perceptions of your customers. Not only is this an incredibly valuable data for your marketing team, but great customer service is one of your best sales and marketing tools. Learn how Shoes of Prey built a 24 hour customer service team that made customers smile ear to ear, and helped build our business.Building award-winning customer service
Who it is for:
- Organisations with customers at the heart of their operations
- Organisations who want to highlight the customer experience
- Organisations who want to improve their customer experience (NPS)
- Entrepreneurs
Key takeaways:
- Consumer journey mapping and your role at each stage
- Learning what your customers need but cannot tell you
Sub topics that can be addressed / featured / expanded upon within this topic:
- Customer engagement, building advocacy and repeat purchase
- Omnichannel retail
- The value of values
Building culture in a global organisation
With offices in USA, Australia, China and the Philippines it may have seemed impossible to build a cohesive company culture across so many different countries. But we did. When the average annual attrition rate in industrial China stood at 25%, Shoes of Prey stood at less than 1%. When Shoes of Prey Headquarters in Australia invited 24 people to move to the USA, 22 said yes and joined them.Building culture in a global organisation
Hear how the company largely achieved being “a family that operated like a professional sports team”. Tight knit, but all with skills and training to play an excellent match together.
Who it is for:
Large organisations looking to unify teams, organisations experiencing significant change, entrepreneurs.
Key takeaways:
- How to build culture
- Cross cultural management
- Improving retention rate
- Motivating teams and individuals
Sub topics that can be addressed / featured / expanded upon within this topic:
- Team building
How to: Identify innovation and execute on it
Shoes of Prey was hailed as one of the most innovative retail companies of its age. It revolutionised the mass-manufacturing model and pioneered the mass-customisation space. But what exactly is innovation in a practical sense?How to: Identify innovation and execute on it
Shoes of Prey found it’s groundbreaking path by staying attentive to phrases like “wouldn’t it be great if” and “why is it so hard to” - They were often the words that proceeded a little gem of insight that lead to innovation.
Learn how Shoes of Prey applied this technique and executed on it, and how you can apply it too.
Who it is for:
- Organisations looking to bring greater boldness, innovation and risk taking into their culture
- Organisations experiencing significant change
- Organisations looking to identify their next big growth path
- Entrepreneurs
- People at career inflection points.
Key takeaways:
- Innovation starts with “what if”
- Expertise can get in the way of a good idea
Sub topics that can be addressed / featured / expanded upon within this topic:
- How to build culture
- Motivating teams and individuals
- The value of values
- People management
How to: Start your own company
True hands-on experience at each stage of building a company from the early days on the couch, through to scaling to hundreds of employees across multiple continents. Jodie Fox worked in the nitty-gritty of the entrepreneurial journey. How do you:How to: Start your own company
- Name a business?
- Hire your first employees?
- Think about raising money?
- Get the courage to simply start?
Get practical advice to be armed and prepared to build and scale.
Who it is for:
- Entrepreneurs
- Incubators
- Accelerators
- Small business owners / advocates
Key takeaways:
- Practical tips on early stage businesses
- Insight into the personal journey
- Confidence and motivation that you can do this!
Sub topics that can be addressed / featured / expanded upon within this topic:
- How to overcome the fear of failure
- How to foster innovation
- Building a high performance culture
- People management
- Supply chain
- Negotiation in China / USA
- The value of values
- A woman in business
- Omnichannel retail
- Mental health for leaders and employees
How to: Build a brand
People make decisions with their hearts, not their minds when it comes to purchasing. Brand wins over both hearts and minds, separating your business from your competitors.How to: Build a brand
Shoes of Prey built a cult following over 10 years with more than 75% of it’s website traffic attributable to word of mouth and a Net Promoter Score consistently above 70. Hear how along the way Shoes of Prey learned the value of brand work and it’s differentiation to purely sales driven metrics.
Who it is for:
- Organisations looking to innovate on current marketing strategy
- Entrepreneurs
- Incubators
- Accelerators
- Small business owners / advocates
Key takeaways:
Where to find and mine your best consumer insights
Sub topics that can be addressed / featured / expanded upon within this topic:
- Leveraging influencers
- What it takes to build a fashion brand
- The value of values
Video
My Story - Starting a Company
Thought I'd start documenting the ride of starting a company so here's a bit of my story so far :) Jodie Fox was a co-founder and the creative director of Shoes of Prey. A banking and finance lawyer by trade and a dedicated creative, Fox created a perfect nexus of the corporate and creative worlds when she co-founded Shoes of Prey.Jodie Fox - Women in Footwear Industry Awards
Jodie Fox was a co-founder and the creative director of Shoes of Prey. A banking and finance lawyer by trade and a dedicated creative, Fox created a perfect nexus of the corporate and creative worlds when she co-founded Shoes of Prey.Saxton Fireside Chat with High Growth Entrepreneur, Jodie Fox
The exchange of stories and ideas is more important now than ever. In this bi-weekly series of virtual Fireside Chats you can gain unprecedented access to the world's greatest storytellers and thought leaders. In this intimate session, Jodie chats with Scene Change CEO, Ian Whitworth, about her entrepreneurial journey with Shoes of Prey. Jodie shares her insights on corporate culture and the hard-won lessons she learned during the success and closure of Shoes of Prey.Jodie was absolutely fantastic. She engaged with our audience, gave a great presentation she is the total package and we would bring her back anytime. ... keep reading Central Coast Business Enterprise Centre BEC
