Startup Stories: Ella d’Amato, Co-Founder and CEO (aka Chief Believer) at i love it

RTIH gets the lowdown on i love it from Ella d’Amato, the former interim CEO of online marketplace notonthehighstreet.

RTIH: Tell us about yourself and i love it.

Ella d’Amato: I grew up in Weymouth with six siblings and left school at 15. I spent time in hospitality, trained at a chiropractic clinic, and worked at a legal firm. At 23, I discovered marketing and joined Omnicom as a team assistant.

By 29, I was Managing Director of DRUM, a content and social business, and at 33, CEO, leading a team of 75 with clients like PlayStation and John Lewis. I also sat on the Omnicom Media Group board with £1.2 billion in billings.

Later, I took my dream role at notonthehighstreet.com as Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer, then interim CEO, helping turn the business around and take it to sale. After that, I joined True, a growth and innovation firm (VC/PE), as MD and CMO, guiding multiple brands to growth and acting as interim CEO of some of our investments during transitions.

Outside work, I’m an Executive Coach, trustee at Future Dreams, passionate about social mobility, women in business, and democratising wealth. I love chocolate, the sun and being by the sea, and I am a mum of two amazing kids that inspire me everyday.

With my e-commerce experience, I wanted to build a better retail future, driven by purpose and community. I believe businesses can do better and use AI for good.

I love it - our new startup - rewards everyday people for their recommendations, with influencer level commissions. Corporate giants profit from people's passion everyday, but we get nothing back. I love it changes that, offering a marketplace curated around what you love, powered by people you trust and admire, where everyone wins.

RTIH: What was the inspiration behind setting the company up?

Ella d’Amato: Shopping socially is the new high street - the problem is who and what we can trust? Paid ads, paid influence, #sponcon, and the rising use of inauthentic product recommendations all make shopping a minefield.

Often the people promoting a product haven't even tried and tested it. Some are even in contracts that mean that they can't actually tell people what they really think about a product or alternatives they like.

It is also incredibly hard for smaller brands, even if they are brilliant at what they do, to get any visibility, because huge giants like Shein or Temu dominate ad spaces. Just getting discovered is so tough.

The number of times I hear from brands, shoppers and friends that they don’t trust social media platforms or influencers, is staggering too. A recent study suggested 77% of us don’t trust influencers.

What we do, however, trust is our friends, family and those with real experience and passion. For me, this was the start of our story. When you know that a person genuinely loves something, what they share matters more - to themselves, brands and others. It is the most valuable thing for all.

We wanted to harness that, and believe people should be rewarded for it, so ultimately they can do more of what they love in life. This was the foundation of i love it.

RTIH: What has been the industry reaction thus far? 

Ella d’Amato: Whenever you have a big dream, you can worry if others will love and embrace it as much as you. To my relief and joy the reaction has been incredible. We don’t charge brands to join our platform, it’s a zero cost, risk free option.

However, it’s our desire to make the platform a fairer space, where anyone can become a sharer, and people are encouraged to stay authentic and true, meaning the best products will always rise up, that has resonated the most.

As a whole team we feel very supported by the industry, everyone seems to be super excited about our purpose and mission and hence willing us on. 

RTIH: What has been your biggest challenge/setback?

Ella d’Amato: Fundraising as a woman is super challenging - only 2% of VC money goes to women founders, so that instantly puts me at a disadvantage when out raising money. It was tough last year but I didn’t let that stop us.

We raised £3 million in January, we are out raising again now, and I honestly think i love it is such a fantastic opportunity for an investor, so it's a pleasure to be out there hearing all the positivity around the business.

Related to my leadership style, I value humbleness and that can sadly be mistaken for a lack of confidence in the investor world, so I have been working on how I stay true to myself, whilst doing justice to the amazing opportunity I believe i love it will bring us all for years to come.

Our vision calls for us to create a fairer and trusted shopping space for all.  As a result, we have had some challenges from some stating that we would make money faster if we let brands determine the commission level, or placed ads on the platform. Whilst that may be true, it would completely destroy our vision.

Therefore, we have had to hold strongly to that, by explaining to them how being firm on authenticity will lead to a much bigger and better company in the long-term. In fact, our early users say the thing they love the most about the experience is the authenticity.

RTIH: What are the biggest challenges facing omnichannel retailers right now?

Ella d’Amato: There will always be challenges.

The ones I find myself talking about the most are how to prioritise investment when there is so much to do. How retailers integrate AI ethically into businesses at speed to win in the right way. How you find the capital, the talent and focus when you’re juggling so much.

Then there’s the more normal dynamics such as your cost base increasing, supply chain issues, CAC and marketing challenges, or a customer base that still hasn’t recovered from the impact of Covid across many markets. 

That said, I believe that the biggest challenge omnichannel businesses face will always be how to best support and delight their customers and communities. That’s where we come in. We want to be the positive, purpose led corner of a social commerce industry set to reach $7.2 trillion by 2030.

RTIH: What's the best question about your company or the market asked of you recently by a.) an investor and b.) a customer?

Ella d’Amato: Investor: Why are you going to win vs your competition?  

Customer: When will you be doing restaurants or hotels too?

RTIH: What can we expect to see from i love it during the rest of 2024 and into 2025?

Ella d’Amato: More and more people being able to share what they love and getting rewarded for it.

We’ve secured some more big global brand partnerships which we’re hoping to announce at the end of 2024/early 2025 too.