Armoire CEO and founder Ambika Singh and her team built a women's clothing subscription service with their "bosslady" members in mind, providing an on-demand wardrobe of apparel primarily for work and events.

Two years ago, the Seattle-based startup was on a roll, posting a record month in February 2020 after growing nearly 400% in 2019. But then came the pandemic. Armoire's members no longer needed to dress up for the office or to go out.

So close the door on Armoire, right? Not so fast.

Ambika Singh talks with GeekWire's John Cook and Todd Bishop about Armoire's survival story, how the startup's underlying business works, competition with Rent the Runway and others, its return to the office, and what's next in its startup journey.

Read more:Startup survival story: Armoire’s remarkable journey from sequins to sweatpants and back again

Armoire CEO and founder Ambika Singh and her team built a women's clothing subscription service with their "bosslady" members in mind, providing an on-demand wardrobe of apparel primarily for work and events.
Two years ago, the Seattle-based startup was on a roll, posting a record month in February 2020 after growing nearly 400% in 2019. But then came the pandemic. Armoire's members no longer needed to dress up for the office or to go out.
So close the door on Armoire, right? Not so fast.
Ambika Singh talks with GeekWire's John Cook and Todd Bishop about Armoire's survival story, how the startup's underlying business works, competition with Rent the Runway and others, its return to the office, and what's next in its startup journey.
Read more: <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2022/startup-survival-story-armoires-remarkable-journey-from-sequins-to-sweatpants-and-back-again/">Startup survival story: Armoire&rsquo;s remarkable journey from sequins to sweatpants and back again</a>

GeekWire brings you the week's latest technology news, trends and insights, covering the world of technology from our home base in Seattle. Our regular news podcast features commentary and analysis from our editors and reporters, plus interviews with special guests.

GeekWire reporters John Cook, Todd Bishop and guests talk about the latest tech news and trends.

GeekWire

Armoire's startup survival story

It was a big week for cybersecurity for Seattle's tech giants. Microsoft President Brad Smith was in Washington D.C., testifying before the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee about the Redmond company's security challenges. Listen for highlights at the end of the show. 

Meanwhile, Amazon held its annual AWS re:Inforce cloud security conference in Philadelphia.The rise of AI has added some big new wrinkles to the issue of cybersecurity, and AI was one of the main topics in a conversation that I had a few weeks ago with one of the people who keynoted the AWS event this week, Steve Schmidt, Amazon's chief security officer.

Hosted by Todd Bishop; edited by Curt Milton.

It was a big week for cybersecurity for Seattle's tech giants. Microsoft President Brad Smith was in Washington D.C., <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/kB2GCmasH4c?si=A1o4FjSHpCuR0rdY">testifying before the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee</a> about <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2024/congressional-hearing-will-pit-microsofts-actions-vs-words-in-public-grilling-over-security-failures/">the Redmond company's security challenges</a>. Listen for highlights at the end of the show. 
Meanwhile, Amazon <a href="https://reinforce.awsevents.com/">held its annual AWS re:Inforce cloud security conference</a> in Philadelphia.The rise of AI has added some big new wrinkles to the issue of cybersecurity, and AI was one of the main topics in a conversation that I had a few weeks ago with one of the people who <a href="https://youtu.be/skH3Q90llss?si=9b19EFgngezU80H6">keynoted the AWS event this week</a>, Steve Schmidt, Amazon's chief security officer.
Hosted by Todd Bishop; edited by Curt Milton.

Cybersecurity in the age of AI, with Steve Schmidt, Amazon's chief security officer

Our guest this week on the GeekWire Podcast is Léonard Boussioux, an assistant professor in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business, and adjunct assistant professor at the UW Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering.

Boussioux received his doctorate in operations research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research combines areas including machine learning and AI with a focus on healthcare and sustainability. Last year he launched a class called "Generative AI in the Era of Cloud Computing" at the Foster School.
Foster School: A New Era Of AI And Human Ingenuity In The Classroom
Boussioux's website, including photography and AI art: www.leobix.us
TEDxMIT Salon presentation: Let Art Be Your Superpower
TEDxBoston: How to Solve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in 5 mins.

Related Story: How a photo of OpenAI’s Sam Altman, enhanced by AI, sparked a journalistic debate at GeekWire

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop; Edited by Curt Milton.

Our guest this week on the GeekWire Podcast is <a href="https://www.leobix.us/">Léonard Boussioux</a>, an <a href="https://foster.uw.edu/faculty-research/directory/leonard-boussioux/">assistant professor</a> in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business, and adjunct assistant professor at the UW Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering.
Boussioux received his doctorate in operations research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research combines areas including machine learning and AI with a focus on healthcare and sustainability. Last year he launched a class called "Generative AI in the Era of Cloud Computing" at the Foster School.
<ul>
<li>Foster School: <a href="https://magazine.foster.uw.edu/features/teaching-ai-business-school/">A New Era Of AI And Human Ingenuity In The Classroom</a></li>
<li>Boussioux's website, including photography and AI art: <a href="https://www.leobix.us/">www.leobix.us</a></li>
<li>TEDxMIT Salon presentation: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap5HMhnYUVc">Let Art Be Your Superpower</a></li>
<li>TEDxBoston: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0vCXMfXl0k">How to Solve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in 5 mins.</a></li>
</ul>
Related Story: <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2024/how-a-photo-of-openais-sam-altman-enhanced-by-ai-sparked-a-journalistic-debate-at-geekwire/">How a photo of OpenAI’s Sam Altman, enhanced by AI, sparked a journalistic debate at GeekWire</a>
With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop; Edited by Curt Milton.

How this professor teaches AI and thinks about human creativity

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we explore the frontier of crowd-augmented cognition, the concept of humans working together with the help of technology, including new ways that artificial intelligence is changing the field.

Our guest is Aniket (Niki) Kittur, a professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where his research focuses on new methods of augmenting human intellect using crowds and computation.

We also talk about a related project that Kittur and his colleagues developed called Skeema, a browser tab manager that helped users organize their work, projects, and ultimately their brains in the process. 

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we explore the frontier of crowd-augmented cognition, the concept of humans working together with the help of technology, including new ways that artificial intelligence is changing the field.
Our guest is <a href="https://hcii.cmu.edu/people/aniket-kittur">Aniket (Niki) Kittur</a>, a professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where his research focuses on new methods of augmenting human intellect using crowds and computation.
We also talk about a related project that Kittur and his colleagues developed called <a href="https://www.skeema.com/">Skeema</a>, a browser tab manager that helped users organize their work, projects, and ultimately their brains in the process. 
With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.

Armoire's startup survival story

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