Wisdom in fragments

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Founder and CEO of Farfetch, luxury fashion e-commerce platform

Technology should be leveraged to enhance the physical and human experience, not replace it.

Founder and CEO of Farfetch, luxury fashion e-commerce platform

The distinction between offline and online retail will vanish, as consumers will not be able to tell where one started and the other finished. This is what we call at Farfetch 'Augmented Retail'.

Founder and CEO of Farfetch, luxury fashion e-commerce platform

Slowly, over the course of a decade, we built relationships by proving we weren't there to destroy luxury's heritage and its 'unspoken codes of conduct,' but actually to protect them and enable this industry to thrive. We were fashion insiders, and we just happened to be coders too!

Founder and CEO of Farfetch, luxury fashion e-commerce platform

I dreamt of Farfetch for the love of fashion. I was absolutely determined to create something in the intersection of both fashion and tech – my two passions.

Founder and CEO of Farfetch, luxury fashion e-commerce platform

We have been interested in celebrities since the dawn of time. Jesus was the first celebrity, then the royal families. Celebrity culture exists even at a micro-level... It's human nature to be interested in the captain of the football team, the head cheerleader or who is doing what with who.

Celebrity gossip blogger and media personality known for celebrity news website

For the most part, there are more average celebrities than superstars. When most people think of celebrities, they think of A-listers, but there's also B-list, C-list, D-list, F-list and even Z-list. The vast majority of people couldn't name who they are, but they're living the dream!

Celebrity gossip blogger and media personality known for celebrity news website

I just hope that those who become influencers make smart choices; it's the kind of attention that comes quickly and is very hard to maintain. There are a few people that remain, and who have maintained longevity, but for the most part, influencer culture is extremely short lived.

Celebrity gossip blogger and media personality known for celebrity news website

Social media has been a wonderful thing; it allows celebrities to bypass the middle-man. Many celebrities have also been able to monetise their social-media and make extra money, often very serious amounts. Crucially, social media gives celebrities the opportunities to speak for themselves and set the record straight.

Celebrity gossip blogger and media personality known for celebrity news website

The world of celebrity offers an escape from the real world, and offers different things to different people. To many, the celebrity world is aspirational, they imagine themselves living that lifestyle and dream of how it would be to go to that premiere, have that fancy house, or that expensive vacation. For others, the world of celebrity is like watching a car-wreck.

Celebrity gossip blogger and media personality known for celebrity news website

What Silicon Valley needs right now is some realism. It needs people who are watching-out and identifying what's real and what's myth. There's a lot of genius and brilliance here, but also a lot of salesmanship.

Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine & Cybersecurity Expert

Capital has poured into San Francisco and the Bay Area but the growth hasn't distributed itself beyond the top percentile of the community. If you are in one of these companies, you may have a stable and survivable life in the Bay Area, but if you're not? You're going to have to make some incredible trade-offs.

In Silicon Valley there's a sense that there are 30 individuals who are 10x more capable than most people, it's like a power law scaling of talent... founders get immense leeway, capital rushes toward them... it also creates biases and situations where founders have more power than they should in their company.

Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine & Cybersecurity Expert

People think these founders are all brilliant and can't make mistakes, we've found that; there's a sense that they can fix everything or have the answers for everything… they don't, and they can't.

Tech Journalist & Co-Founder of Recode Media

We have to constantly evolve how we make an impact, and make sure that we're doing what the communities we work in want us to support rather than enforcing some kind of model. Our work has to be led by the leaders of communities telling us what will work.

British Film Director & Screenwriter of Romantic Comedies

The moment you send Billy Connolly, Lenny Henry and Victoria Wood out somewhere to make an appeal – they are representatives of 'normal people' perhaps in some ways more than pop stars.... Comedians are a kind of humdrum kind of celebrity, and as such I think they're very good at evoking empathy.

British Film Director & Screenwriter of Romantic Comedies