Julie Bornstein

Too old to start a startup? Tell that to her $50M seed round.

Julie Bornstein isn’t just riding the e-commerce wave.

She helped build it.

Back in the early 2000s, while most brands were still figuring out how to put their stores online, Julie was already running the show.

Taking Nordstrom.com from $10M to $350M in five years.

Then she joined Sephora as Chief Digital Officer.

Her mission? Make beauty shoppable, personalized, and future-proof. She crushed it.

By 2015, Stitch Fix tapped her as COO.

She scaled it past $1B in revenue, built data-driven customer experiences with the engineering team, and helped pioneer predictive fashion.

But even with that résumé, when Julie said she wanted to start her own company, an investor told her: “You’re too old.”

So she launched THE YES at 47.

It wasn’t just another shopping app.

It was built on an AI-driven taxonomy that understood fashion with nuance like the difference between a “puff sleeve” and a “dramatic puff sleeve.”

Shoppers got curated feeds based on real-time data, preferences, and behavior.

The YES raised $30M+ and partnered with brands like Oscar de la Renta and Valentino before Pinterest acquired it in 2022.

Then came her next big bet: Daydream.

A totally new search experience for fashion.

Think: “high-end suits for a business trip in NYC next month” or “linen jumpsuits for a wedding in Tulum.”

One prompt.

Dozens of smart, personalized results. Powered by generative AI, machine learning, and computer vision.

In just two months, Julie raised $50M.

No pitch deck needed.

Just relationships, credibility, and a vision that resonated with the smartest investors in tech.

Backers? Google Ventures, Index, Forerunner, and True.

Her co-founders? Veterans from Microsoft, Amazon, Farfetch, and her former team at THE YES.

Julie’s secret weapon? Pattern recognition.

Not just in data but in people, problems, and what actually works.

“I’ve seen it all,” she says. “And now, I get to build it right from day one.”