From failed e-commerce startup to global auto parts platform

Executive overview

Partly's founders built and shut down a previous startup before pivoting into automotive parts — a $1.9 trillion global market hiding behind a deceptively "niche" label. The core problem: car parts are vehicle-specific, and finding the right part online is nearly impossible without structured fitment data at scale.

Solving the right data problem — fitment at scale — unlocks a market everyone participates in.

Pivoting from All Goods to Partly

• All Goods helped SMBs sell online; grew to 1,000 customers and 400k monthly users
• Margins were too thin; competing with marketplaces is fundamentally flawed due to network effects
• ~20% of All Goods customers sold parts; 85% of parts orders came from outside New Zealand — a signal the problem was global
• Founders spent two months resisting the pivot because All Goods wasn't failing, just plateauing
• Shut it down in two weeks once the decision was made

Why automotive parts is not a niche

• Everyone buys parts multiple times in their lifetime
• ~$1.9 trillion spent on parts globally
• A single Toyota Corolla has 300 variants — each needing a different door handle
• Buyers need to input their exact vehicle and see only compatible parts; the data problem is enormous
• Partly's customers now power ~40% of all parts orders done online

Surviving near-failure during COVID

• Came extremely close to running out of money during COVID
• Estimated ~10% chance of solving the problem at their lowest point
• Pressure wasn't the money itself — it was the weight of three years of work and customer relationships
• Levi had gone three years without a salary
• Response: work seven days a week, 16 hours a day; solve each problem as it comes
• eBay Australia was the breakthrough — launch showed dramatically improved conversion rates, validating the buyer experience

Founder lessons

• Surround yourself with people who raise your standard — it compounds over time
• Never give up: persistence is the primary separator between successful founders
• Be brutally honest about whether you're solving a genuinely painful customer problem
• "Free until we figure out monetisation" is not a plan
• Don't fear the global problem — it's roughly the same difficulty as a local one, with far more upside
• On hiring: take longer to find the right person than lower the team's bar (advice from Dylan Field of Figma)
• Investors include Dylan Field (Figma) and Akshay (Notion)

What Partly is building toward

• Offices in London; powering eBay; expanding into Europe
• Three goals: create value for the whole industry, build a commercially sustainable business, drive broad positive impact
• Growth is accelerating — momentum increases with scale