Today we’d like to introduce you to Loren Mount-O’Brien
Hi Loren, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I never planned to work in tech. My background is in comedy, production, and advertising. At my core, I’ve always been fascinated by people. What makes us tick, what influences us, what connects us. I spent years studying those questions through storytelling – first on stage, then in campaigns – and I came to realize something big: the things we buy aren’t just transactions, they’re reflections. Every purchase tells a story about who we are and who we’re becoming.
But somewhere along the way, something shifted. Influencers replaced friends. Algorithms replaced intuition. Trends moved faster than we could keep up. And we were left feeling exhausted, confused, and frankly, a little lost.
I didn’t set out to start a company. I just kept asking: why is no one solving this? Why, in a world full of connection and tech, is it still so hard to find what we actually want, from people we actually trust?
And I realized, someone had to step up.
That’s why I built Mirour. It’s not just a product, it’s a platform for reclaiming our everyday influence. A place where we can share, save, and discover things through people who get us, not through ads that target us. Because real recommendations don’t come from strangers on the internet. They come from your sister, your group chat, your best friend who always finds the perfect thing.
Giving a TEDx talk recently gave me the chance to share this deeper belief: that you don’t need to be an influencer to have influence. And that community is what really drives us forward.
My journey hasn’t been linear, but it’s always been rooted in the same thing: understanding people, and helping us see our power in a world that often makes us feel small. That’s what I’m building with Mirour. Not just a shopping tool, but a movement toward shared trust, everyday joy, and intentional influence.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not. But I’ve learned that sometimes the best ideas come when finding a solution is your only option.
The hardest part of building in tech has been accepting that big visions are built step by step, not all at once. And that the only way forward is to keep moving, even when you’re unsure, under-resourced, or starting from scratch. I come from a background in comedy and advertising, not engineering. So I couldn’t just code the solution myself. I didn’t have a built-in network of resources in this industry or capital to lean on. I had to get creative, or not move forward at all.
That meant building relationships out of nothing, learning what I didn’t know (which was a lot), and constantly adapting. Every feature, every hire, every decision required resourcefulness. And it still does.
2024 was one of those years that tests your character. Bootstrapped everything. Built a product with no technical team. Heard “no” more times than I can count. People either really don’t get it – or they really do.
Those who saw knew the value of sharing recs in group chats, sending links to friends, swapping ideas in comments and DMs – what they were missing wasn’t the motivation, it was the infrastructure. That’s what we’re building with Mirour.
2025 is about growth, but more than that, it’s about staying close to the people we’re building for. Because at its core, Mirour is about helping people find what’s right for them, and giving them a place where that kind of discovery finally makes sense.
We’ve been impressed with Lutely, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At Mirour, we’re reimagining how we shop, by bringing people back into the process.
We all want to shop more intentionally. We want to make decisions that feel personal, aligned with our values, and right for our lives. But the current system makes that really hard. Shopping has become an overwhelming solo experience – scrolling alone, researching alone, second-guessing alone – despite the fact that so many of us are out there doing the exact same work.
Here’s the truth: the conversations we need are already happening. People are texting links, swapping screenshots, asking in group chats, and sharing product recs every day. We’re just doing it across a million platforms with no real home for that discovery.
Mirour changes that. We’re a recommendation network that makes it easy to find what’s right for you, powered by people who get you. It’s your shopping universe, built from the voices and opinions you trust.
We’re proud to be building a brand that doesn’t just ask people to shop, it invites them to connect. To discover what they love through trusted voices, and to pass that influence forward.
Mirour isn’t trying to invent new behavior, we’re just giving a home to something people are already doing. Because finding the right product shouldn’t feel like a guessing game. It should feel like a conversation.
Join us at mirourmirour.co. Your people-powered shopping universe is waiting.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Resilience – with a heavy dose of optimistic action – has been the most important part of my journey.
Building something new is incredibly challenging. But I’ve learned that success doesn’t come from avoiding hard moments, it comes from how you respond to them. It’s easy to spiral into self-pity when things go wrong (and trust me, I’ve cried in my car like every good founder). But what separates the people who keep going from those who stop isn’t the failure, it’s the next move.
Whenever we hit a wall, I shift into, “Okay, that sucked. What’s the next step?” That mindset has kept Mirour moving forward, especially as someone without a tech background. Every challenge could’ve been a reason to quit. Instead, each one became an invitation to figure it out. Whether that meant learning something new, finding another door to knock on, or completely rethinking the approach – it was never “if,” it was “how.”
I think of it as failing forward – every single day. That’s the real reason we’re still here. Not because it’s been smooth, but because we never stopped asking what’s next.
At the end of the day, life is hard no matter what path you take. The only thing we really get to control is how we respond. And choosing optimism, choosing action, choosing to move – that’s what keeps us building.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lutely.app
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lutelyapp
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/getmirour/
