Who this is
Leon Szeli co-founded Presize in Munich, an AI sizing assistant for fashion e-commerce that grew out of a student project at CDTM. Instead of an elaborate body scan via smartphone video, the team later switched to a simple questionnaire and a pricing model in which Presize earned 10 percent of the provably incremental revenue. At the time of the exit, Presize had around 1.5 million euros in annual recurring revenue. Meta acquired the company in 2022; Leon then spent four years as a product manager in Meta's ads business in Munich. Today he invests as a business angel, mostly in B2B software, and is building Valorian Circle, a community for founders after their exit.
Episodes
Numbers from the episode
FAQ
What was Presize?
Presize was a sizing assistant for fashion e-commerce from Munich. Initially an AI calculated body measurements from a smartphone video and derived the right clothing size; later the team switched to a simple questionnaire that ten times as many users completed. The idea came out of a student project at CDTM with the workwear supplier Hoffmann. Meta acquired the company in 2022 and integrated the product into Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping. To the episode →
How did Presize make money?
After trying classic SaaS models, Presize moved to outcome-based pricing. A permanent A/B test showed how much incremental revenue the feature provably generated, adjusted for returns. Presize took 10 percent of that. The pitch to the shops: a guaranteed tenfold return on investment. At the exit, Presize had around 1.5 million euros in annual recurring revenue, a good 100,000 euros a month. To the episode →
How much did Meta pay for Presize?
In the episode Leon mentions an original purchase price of around 40 million, roughly half in cash and half in Meta stock. Because the shares were paid out quarterly and Meta's share price rose sharply afterwards, the deal ended up worth considerably more; Feliks puts it at around 100 million, which Leon mostly attributes to luck, since he wouldn't have bought a Meta share himself at the time. To the episode →
Why did Meta buy Presize?
Leon still doesn't know exactly. On Meta's internal network he later found a post looking for acquisition targets in fashion e-commerce; a product manager named Presize because he read Leon's LinkedIn posts. The likely reasons: Munich as Meta's first tech office in Germany, an engineering team that passed the regular Meta interviews, and commercial traction as proof that the product worked. To the episode →
What is Valorian Circle?
Valorian Circle is Leon's new project: a community for founders who have sold their company or made money in the startup ecosystem and are now figuring out what comes next. The formal proxy for admission is a relevant exit, roughly one million in liquid assets or five million illiquid, with fellowships for impact founders and others. The community grows through member referrals and had 60 members after two months. To the episode →
Quotes
„… wenn du halt einmal mit Kontext dich ernsthaft mit der Person beschäftigst, dann geht was.““Once you seriously engage with the person, with real context, something happens.”
„… es war so top secret, warum wir gekauft wurden, dass wir es selbst nie erfahren haben …““It was so top secret why we were bought that we never found out ourselves.”
„Also generell denke ich, man sollte seine Stärken stärken und damit kommt man deutlich weiter, als so versuchen, seine Schwächen auszumerzen.““In general I think you should build on your strengths; that gets you much further than trying to eliminate your weaknesses.”
„… Die Insolvenz sich genauso nah angefühlt hat wie der Exit. Darüber spricht keiner.““Insolvency felt just as close as the exit. Nobody talks about that.”
„Ich dachte halt, das ist dann so eine ganz einfache Gleichung, Geld rein, Glück raus. Funktioniert gerade überhaupt nicht so.““I thought it would be a very simple equation: money in, happiness out. It doesn't work like that at all.”