4 minute readWhen Phoebe Gates was a student at Stanford University, she told her parents, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, that she had an idea for a startup. “They were like, ‘Okay, you can do it on the side, but we want you to stay in school.’ To be honest, I don’t think people would expect that from my family,” she says. (After all, her father famously dropped out of Harvard in 1975 and co-founded Microsoft.)
Gates followed their advice, moving to New York during his junior year and enrolling in night school at Stanford University in the city. After graduating in 2024 with a degree in human biology, she began devoting all her time to her startup, Phia, an AI shopping tool that launched in April of this year.
Coats, dresses, Miu Miu. necklace, ring, tiffany
“We want this to be your shopping assistant,” the 23-year-old said from her sun-drenched office near Manhattan’s Union Square. She is surrounded by touches of pink, her favorite color. There is a book of matches on Fia’s desk. Her dark hair is pulled back and she’s wearing gold Tiffany earrings and a cozy navy and white knit top. Though he has the air of a recent college graduate, Gates is a social media powerhouse with more than 500,000 followers on Instagram and 271,000 followers on TikTok, and he’s leveraging that audience for his budding business.
Fear says it allows users to seamlessly source used items. Let’s say you’re looking for a new wallet. Options come from sites like The RealReal, eBay, and Poshmark. Phia also offers a browser extension that allows you to receive real-time recommendations while shopping online.
Dress, Jason Wu Collection. bracelet, tiffany
This fashion technology startup is the brainchild of Gates and her close friend Sofia Chianni. (Fia is a portmanteau of their first names.) The former roommates “wanted it to be really easy to shop and find cute items,” Gates says. They started working on the concept in their dormitory. “There is enough clothing on Earth to last six generations,” Gates said. “We don’t need to buy new clothes. The rise of second-hand fashion is really exciting. We just need to make it easier for consumers to do that.” Fire has attracted the attention of investors such as Hailey Bieber and Kris Jenner, and secured $8 million in seed funding in September.
Tops, skirts, shorts, boots, Chanel. necklaces, bracelets, rings, tiffany
Gates also really loves clothes. “I love feminine things,” she says. “Vintage Miu Miu is one of my favorites. I love Reformation. I’m really into Veronica Beard.” She also peruses several of Fear’s partner brands, including Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and The RealReal. And as a friend of Tiffany, she often wears Tiffany jewelry. She’s your go-to source for fashion and business tips. “Substack is like the fashion girly version of Twitter,” she says. Some of her favorites include Emily Sandberg’s Feed Me, Emma Rose Thatcher’s Overdressed, and Rex Woodbury’s Digital Native.
Gates and Kiani also host the podcast “The Burnouts,” produced by Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network. In each episode, we interview entrepreneurs like Sarah Blakely (founder of Spanx) and Whitney Wolfe Herd (founder and CEO of Bumble and co-founder of Tinder). Gates’ dream guests would be Amal Clooney and Melody Hobson. “Honestly, this podcast is something I wish I had in college when I was wondering, ‘How do people start a business?'” Gates’ mother listens to it every week and then sends me lots of questions.
Sweaters, dresses, belts, shoes, Prada. necklace, ring, tiffany
Gates often turns to his parents for advice when it comes to his business. “My dad is not a fashion queen, so there are some things I never talk to him about, but when I have a decision to make like, ‘Should I hire this person? How should I think about expanding the business?’ I call my parents.” Both are very helpful in different ways, but I make calls about high-level strategy. ”
Gates’ goal is to be successful enough to invest in things that are important to him. “It’s crazy that there are so few women leaders,” she says. “2% of VC funding goes to women, which is a crime. I want to create the world I want to live in. So my hope is that Phia is incredibly successful so I can pivot and invest more in female founders. That’s what really drives me to invest 20% of my VC capital in women’s companies before they have children. Then she better have reproductive rights.”
Lead image: blazer, top, Isabel Marant. Loro Piana turtleneck. bracelet, ring, tiffany
Styling by Anya Giorova. Kevin Murphy hair by Riyad Azar. Makeup by Eric Polito of Dior Beauty. Manicure by Roseann Singleton in the art department.
A version of this story appears in the November 2025 issue of ELLE.
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