Interview: Go Try It On CEO Marissa Evans Talks Mobile, Style and Social Networking

Like many women, entrepreneur Marissa Evans knew first-hand the hassles and frustration associated with figuring out what to wear. So, Evans decided to create Go Try It On, a social networking site devoted to answering the age-old question: “What should I wear?”

Go Try It On, a free fashion and style social networking application, allows users to share style inspiration and advice with other users, including famous bloggers and fashion brands. Users can also browse trends, “heart” their favorite looks and products and add them to their personal Shopping List.

“Whether you live in a city or very rural area you can access this whole world of fashion and style. It’s on your mobile device; while you’re waiting in line at Starbucks or waiting on the bus [you can] be inspired and hopefully bring a little bit of what is fun and magical about fashion to your life every day,” said Evans.

Learn how Marissa Evans developed a social networking app to solve everyday style problems faced by women and why you shouldn’t count out the small things that make up the bigger picture.

How I Got Started:

I was working with a digital agency and consulting with big names like Delta, Samsung, and IBM… In [the process I was] learning a lot more about the mobile space and how brands were thinking about mobile [space]. I was also paying a lot of attention to the different startups that were starting to innovate in the mobile space like Foursquare… and I was thinking about all of the functional elements of what the mobile device was doing and how it was changing behavior.

[Around the same time, as a woman] a personal challenge I would deal with [regularly] was the idea of getting ready alone. I would notice that when I was with my girlfriends whenever we would get ready together everyone would ask each other: “What do you think?” or, “Do you like this?”, and give this [sic] second opinion. And when I was home alone, I wouldn’t have anyone to ask.

I would often take a picture with my iPhone and text my sister and ask her for her opinion and she would be driving or busy and not able to answer me. So I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if you could somehow leverage this idea of a mobile social network where you could create a marketplace where people come and go and get real-time opinions and help each other out?