Key Takeaways Bill Gates worked Phia support on July 29, getting a front-row seat to real user headaches. Phia scans 40,000+ sites, pushing second-hand fashion into shoppers’ everyday routines. Gates says leaders should stay close to users, giving Phia a playbook for what comes next. Bill Gates has spent his retirement talking vaccines and philanthropy, not troubleshooting checkout glitches. But on 07/29/2026, he logged on to Phia, the sustainable fashion startup co-founded by his daughter Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, and took a turn answering customers as a “luxury customer advisor.” The cameo doubled as savvy promotion for an app …