Jose Neves started out as a boy from a family of shoemakers. His grandfather owned a shoe factory in Porto, the Portuguese city where Neves was born in June 1974.
He studied economics at the University of Porto, but he was not waiting for a degree. While still at university he founded Grey Matter, software for clothing manufacturers. He knew the factory floor from the family, and he saw how clumsily it connected to the world.
Running a physical shop, Neves learned how a small boutique has the best taste in the world and no reach beyond its street.
That double life, software and shoes, shaped what came next. He also set up Platforme, software for small fashion brands, and around 1996 launched a footwear label called Swear and opened a shop in London. In 2001 he opened bstore on Savile Row, a boutique that put him on the other side of the counter.
What almost nobody noticed was that this was the education. Running a physical shop, Neves learned how a small boutique has the best taste in the world and no reach beyond its street. In 2008 he launched Farfetch to fix exactly that.
The idea took off. In June 2017 JD.com took a minority stake for $397m, before Farfetch had even launched in China. In September 2018 it listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Neves's stake was valued at $1.4bn.
Then the ground gave way. In January 2024 Farfetch went through a pre-pack administration and was bought by Coupang of South Korea for $500m. The deal wiped out existing shareholders, and Neves stepped down. Investors criticised the sale and sued. He has since moved to Brazil, with a wife and five children.
For a first-time founder the quiet insight sits in the start. Neves built Farfetch on two things he had earned before the idea: a factory family's feel for product, and a software maker's patience with systems. His early businesses were not detours, they were the raw material.