Monday, August 01, 2022

Flagship - bringing data to bricks and mortar retail - another Unicorn 🦄 in the family




Simon Molnar (brother of Afterpay Nick ) has got big shoes to fill …. And he’s filling them fast …. Founding FLAGSHIP with a bunch of smart cofounders and friends  - building “the smart store of tomorrow” from the basement of his mum’s house! 


Flagship is a retail-tech company, providing data to  retailers! 


  • Imagine if you can track how many times a product is touched, tried on, or looked at 
  • Imagine if you can track inventory levels and conversion rates in real time 

This can be done by FLAGSHIP with tags (powered by beacons around the store tracking items (currently apparel) around the store !


Is Bricks and Mortar retail here to stay ?


The question that is asked - isn’t everything going online !!!! There is something intuitive happenning says the “All-In”  industry veterans, degenerate gamblers & besties Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks & David Friedberg who cover all things economic, tech, political, social & poker. (Google them) 




As a result of people working from home - and the covid fear of isolating wanes  - bricks and mortar retail is set to boom… 


People need people - the feeling of face to face is important - the feeling of being part of a village and seeing each other …. being able to touch other people …. The feeling of chatting to your neighbour …. The feeling of being part of a community and not being invisible .

Bricks and mortar still represent 70% of retail sales 


The Pain 

Simon diagnoses the pain 


“The goal was: how do we bring more of that e-commerce world into brick-and-mortar; the visibility, the data points, the control?”


“How do we bring that into this world and give more visibility into what’s happening before the item actually sells?”


Stacy Young talks to Paul Greenberg’s Nora network about the power of data in retail 




How Flagship Works 




A tag is attached to each SKU and, when moved throughout the store, sensors pick up its location, allowing for the tracking of their whereabouts and usage in real-time.


This data can then show when an item has been tried on and subsequently purchased, which items have been left in the change rooms, and how much inventory of a certain item remains. (Could this tech morph into a cheap rfid chip - that is tracked out the store using 4G or 5G technology - Maybe Laava on Steroids (Tony Surtees??? ) 


Imagine placing your basket on a counter, and every item is billed immediately by a sensor tracking all items in the basket ! 


Imagine tracking items that haven’t been “paid for”  at the counter !! Could this reduce pilferage? 


“Flagship will provide data - real-time - that will  improve efficiency, improve processes, and save retailers cost by not having to spend too much on manpower.” Simon Says 


Family Support 

Simon and a group of his mates have been working in the basement of Nick and Simon’s mum’s house - creating battery powered illusory beacons, which helped “prove the concept” - with Nick and his advisers backing mentoring and advising


The founding Team - each one a legend 


  • Simon Molnar 
  • Marcel ninio 
  • Ben rohald
  • Ryan lonstein 
  • Adam Goldberg
  • Deena Metz 
  • Roger Q
  • Mark Lazarus 
  • Fabio De Carvalho 
  • Luke brooks  
Inspired by smartcompany 


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