00:04Jen, welcome to Stanford.
00:05>> Hi, I'm so excited to be here.
00:07>> We're excited to have you.
00:08>> I spent the last day watching
00:09all of these view from the tops.
00:11>> [LAUGH] Well, great,
00:14So you have a lot of fans here at
00:17In fact, at our annual GSB show
00:19that we had this past Friday,
00:21many of my classmates wearing Rent
00:23the Runway that we decided to have
00:25an impromptu fashion show.
00:27So let me show you the video.
00:47>> [APPLAUSE] >> Just one thing,
00:52I think as evidenced by this video,
00:54to all the men in the room,
00:56you are never going to meet a crop
00:58of women, ever again in your life,
01:01who are as awesome, beautiful,
01:03smart, ambitious as the women
01:05who are sitting here.
01:08if that's your preference, if you
01:11are into women, spend more of your
01:13time thinking about dating when
01:16you're at school as one of the key
01:18elements of success of business
01:22>> [LAUGH] >> That's a great piece
01:25of advice, I feel like we can end
01:27>> [LAUGH] >> I'm so excited to
01:30talk about the innovative business
01:32But let's rewind and start at
01:33the beginning of your story.
01:35You grew up in New Rochelle,
01:37New York as one of four siblings.
01:38Tell me a bit about your upbringing
01:40and how it shaped you.
01:41>> Yeah, so I grew up in a very
01:44close knit, super loving family,
01:48which I'm very fortunate for.
01:53>> I have a sister who is autistic
01:56and she's severely disabled.
02:02she can't live independently, it's
02:06very hard to understand her, and
02:09it's been a 24/7 job for my family
02:12and my parents to care for her.
02:15And it's been both a job in
02:17terms of the heart and
02:18the actual labor that it takes,
02:21but it's also a financially kind of
02:23crippling situation to have someone
02:25in your life that you love,
02:27that you are effectively
02:29supporting for their entire lives.
02:32And I really feel in many ways that
02:35my family dynamic and the team
02:38dynamic that I saw when I was
02:41a little kid actually has made my
02:44life really about building teams.
02:48So I very early kind of recognized
02:52that number one, there's a lot to
02:55do when you have someone in your
02:58family who has a severe disability.
03:02And your parents are humans, and
03:04they're going to get tired.
03:06And there were often times that
03:08other siblings had to just step up
03:11and lead, and act like the mom or
03:13the dad would have acted,
03:14that we had to actually be flexible
03:17in what is our role in the family.
03:20And the second thing that I
03:21recognized is when I was growing up
03:23in the 80s, if you had someone in
03:24your family that was disabled,
03:26most families would try to hide
03:29And a lot of people were being
03:31institutionalized or
03:32at the worst and at the best,
03:33people were embarrassed, and
03:35they wouldn't bring that family
03:36member to a restaurant with them or
03:38to a vacation with them.
03:40And my parents had this point of
03:43view that we love Cherry.
03:46Yes, she does crazy things, but
03:48it's better to laugh than to cry.
03:50And she's going to come
03:52We're going to go to fancy hotels,
03:54we're going to go to
03:55we're going to live our life.
03:57anyone thinks about us?
03:59And that mentality of just really
04:02turning things that could provoke
04:07that was a crazy night,
04:09that's a crazy story, that was fun.
04:13As opposed to thinking about
04:14the negative with it, and
04:16also just having this point of view
04:18of we are going to appreciate and
04:20enjoy who we are in our life.
04:22And so I think that when I really
04:25was reflecting back,
04:27that family dynamic really gave me
04:30the confidence to think about
04:33building teams, that I love
04:36being around lots of people.
04:38Also, the environment was so, one
04:41way to describe my house growing up
04:44is energetic but another way it's
04:47just total chaos all the time.
04:49Four kids, an autistic sibling
04:51who's kind of the equivalent of 15
04:53kids, my parents have an almost
04:55open door policy on their life, so
04:56they're always friends and family
04:58kind of streaming out of the house.
05:01I actually loved that environment.
05:03Recognizing about myself, that's
05:06what brings me the greatest joy.
05:08It's being constantly surrounded by
05:10other people that I love.
05:12And I wanted to almost create that
05:14environment for myself,
05:16not only in my job but create
05:18that environment in my social life.
05:21Create that environment in
05:24that almost peak happiness for me
05:26is being surrounded by a community.
05:29And I think that that recognition
05:31is what's really driven my career.
05:34>> It also sounds like your
05:35upbringing made you quite
05:36an empathetic leader as well.
05:38So you leave New York and
05:40you graduate from Harvard
05:41as an undergrad, and you begin your
05:43career at Starwood Hotels where you
05:44soon find yourself as a 22 year
05:46old influencing hundreds of people
05:48in the organization.
05:50How did this come about and
05:51what were some of your biggest
05:54So I graduated college right after
05:56September 11th, and the travel
05:58industry was in shambles because
06:00people were scared to travel.
06:02And I actually thought that it
06:03would be pretty interesting to go
06:04work for a travel company
06:05at the time, because I thought that
06:07they're going to have to innovate
06:08or they're going to die.
06:10And so it might be an interesting
06:12environment to be entrepreneurial.
06:15And I got there and the company was
06:17run by an entrepreneurial founder.
06:20And about a year into working
06:22there, I kind of recognized that
06:24people were getting married later,
06:27people had different values, and
06:29as a result, leisure travel had
06:32fundamentally changed.
06:34And one of the aspects that I
06:35thought could be an opportunity
06:37was couples, who now
06:38wanted to potentially register for
06:42have their friends and family kind
06:44of gift them room nights or
06:45scuba diving or massages, instead
06:47of buying them pots and pans.
06:49because if you're getting married
06:50when you're 30 years old, you
06:51probably have a frying pan already.
06:53I went to the president of Starwood
06:55at the time, and at the time I
06:56think Starwood had a few hundred
06:58thousand people that worked there.
07:00So creating a meeting with
07:02the president as a 22 year old was
07:03kind of crazy, but I thought,
07:05maybe he'll give me 10 minutes of
07:08And I pitched him on this idea of
07:10starting the first honeymoon
07:11registry in the world, and
07:13kind of an associated wedding
07:14business around it that could kind
07:16of capture a leisure customer and
07:18create loyalty with that leisure
07:21And he listened to me.
07:24He was positive, and
07:25then after the meeting my boss,
07:27I went downstairs and
07:28my boss was like, how'd it go?
07:31And I was like, it was awesome,
07:36I just started to work on it.
07:38I basically took this guy's,
07:41he didn't quite say yes,
07:43but he also didn't say no.
07:46I took that as yeah,
07:47he really likes this idea,
07:48he wants me to pursue it.
07:50So I started actually building out
07:52this wedding business within
07:54And again, I was 22,
07:56no one reported to me and
07:57I had to influence hundreds of
07:58people around the world.
08:00In different divisions to help me
08:02build a new website, to help me
08:04build a new piece of technology,
08:06to help me build a new reservation
08:09To tell me take totally different
08:11photographs of all of the hotels
08:13that emphasize the pool and
08:15the leisure assets as opposed to
08:17the conference rooms.
08:19And you realize that that time
08:21that I realized that I was doing
08:24something that was entrepreneurial,
08:28I was starting something,
08:30I had to inspire all of these
08:32people who Jen's honeymoon business
08:34was certainly not in their OKRs.
08:36But I had to have them want
08:38to spend their time on building
08:40And so the first aspect of this was
08:46No one is going to do anything for
08:47you if you're not likable.
08:49And number two is inspire them with
08:51what we're trying to create,
08:53what is the vision of this?
08:55And what is this new customer
08:57And how is the world changing?
08:59And why is this relevant and kind
09:00of getting people excited about it?
09:02And that was what was really
09:04amazing about this experience.
09:06I spent the next kind of three
09:07years building this,
09:08it became a $50 million a year
09:10profit center for the company,
09:12was recognized on Oprah as one of
09:13her innovative ideas of the year.
09:15And it was just an exercise for
09:17me in like, you do not need to have
09:20authority to actually be a leader,
09:22you can lead via influence.
09:24You probably see that in your
09:26own sections here at school,
09:28that there are people that kind
09:30of influence the climate and
09:32the culture of that environment.
09:34That kind of leadership,
09:36influential leadership,
09:37especially when it's positive
09:39influential leadership, is the most
09:41powerful thing you can do.
09:43because within any company,
09:45like in most cases, you're
09:47not going to have full authority.
09:49You're going to have authority over
09:52some portion of the organization,
09:54but what you really need in order
09:56to kind of build something and
09:58get an idea from idea to actually
10:00execution is you need influence.
10:03And so that's what I really picked
10:07>> You learned to influence people
10:09as a 22 year old, and
10:10I also love that story,
10:11because it highlights that you've
10:12always had your pulse on predicting
10:14societal shifts and trends.
10:15Whether that be the experience
10:17economy or the sharing economy.
10:20you go back to Harvard for
10:21business school, and
10:22that's when your idea for
10:23a closet in the cloud was born.
10:25This idea was also revolutionary at
10:28just to give a bit of context.
10:29The first iPhone had only been
10:31invented a year prior, and
10:32it would be years before the likes
10:34of sharing economy companies like
10:36Airbnb and Uber took off.
10:38Jen, how did you come up with such
10:41>> I think that all great ideas
10:43come out of sometimes
10:45personal experiences,
10:47which is what this did.
10:49The first inception of the idea was
10:51I was home for thanksgiving break
10:54my sister had just bought a really
10:56expensive dress at a department
10:58store called Bergdorf,
10:59it put her into credit card debt.
11:01I'm her older sister, I'm staring
11:03at a closet that's filled with
11:04designer dresses, and I'm like,
11:06Becky, return the effing dress.
11:08>> [LAUGH] >> Wear something you
11:11And she said, I can't,
11:12my closet's dead to me,
11:13I've been photographed,
11:15the photos are up on Facebook,
11:16I need to wear something new.
11:18And that was really a lightbulb
11:20that, number one, what she cared
11:22about was the experience of walking
11:25into the room and feeling awesome.
11:28She didn't actually care about this
11:30physical asset of the dress.
11:32she thought this closet that was
11:34probably her biggest investment at
11:37that time was all dead.
11:38And I started thinking about like,
11:40the closet actually is dead.
11:42It's this thing that's a historical
11:44museum of who you were in the past.
11:48what if the closet were alive, and
11:49it could actually change with you
11:51as your life changed, and your size
11:53changed, and your mood changed.
11:55And you had the freedom to actually
11:57express yourself based on how you
12:01who you wanted to be today.
12:03And that was really the idea for
12:05the closet in the cloud, and
12:06this idea of having access to
12:08whatever you wanted to wear without
12:11But then I started to think about,
12:14this could be a good idea, it could
12:17not, does this already exist?
12:19Because often, even disruptive
12:22ideas, they already exist, it's
12:25just takes a change of how you're
12:27thinking about the situation to
12:30understand, does this exist?
12:32And I started thinking about, does
12:35this idea of renting clothes or
12:37not having clothes forever,
12:42not only does it exist, but
12:44this is 85% of how we already shop,
12:47its called fast fashion.
12:49Whenever you walk into a store and
12:52buy something, knowing that you're
12:54going to wear it once,
12:56twice, three times, and then push
12:59it to the back of your closet,
13:04all over the last 40 years,
13:06kind of grown up on this idea that
13:08it's okay to buy things that you're
13:11not going to use forever.
13:13And you end up just discarding
13:15them at some point or pushing them,
13:18storing them at some point,
13:21that is a very new concept.
13:23No matter where you are from around
13:26think about your own parents and
13:28how insane it would have been,
13:30regardless of their economic class,
13:33to have purchased 85% of
13:34the wardrobe that they have.
13:36Knowing that that stuff was
13:38actually going to disintegrate
13:39after they put it in a washing
13:41machine two or three times,
13:42which is what happens when you
13:44buy things at Shein or Zara or H&M.
13:46And so I thought, we're already
13:48primed to rent clothes.
13:50And now all I have to do is come
13:52up with a more tech forward,
13:54personalized, easier, more
13:56luxurious way to do it at the same
13:58price point as fast fashion, but
14:00give access to the real thing.
14:02So that was also what gave me
14:04confidence that the market already
14:07exists, and we could just create
14:09a better kind of solution for
14:11how people are already accessing
14:14variety in their wardrobe.
14:16>> You have this innovative idea
14:17and you've mentioned that there
14:19are a lot of steps that you have to
14:20tackle in order to actually get
14:22And one of the biggest questions
14:24you have is how to get designer
14:26I'm curious of what steps you took
14:28in those early days to convince
14:30brands, especially given you had no
14:32previous background working
14:33in the fashion industry?
14:34>> So I had this idea on a Saturday
14:37night, I got back to campus on
14:39Monday, I had lunch with my friend,
14:41and I always was sharing kind of my
14:44hair brained ideas with her.
14:46She listened to this one and
14:48she was like, that sounds like fun.
14:51Who do you think we should ask
14:53whether this is a good idea?
14:54And I said, I think that we should
14:56ask Diane von Furstenberg and
14:58my co-founder was like,
15:00do you know Diane von Furstenberg?
15:03>> [LAUGH] >> I was like,
15:04no, obviously I don't, but
15:06we could probably figure
15:07out how to get in touch with her.
15:09And that afternoon, we wrote
15:11an email to a million different
15:13iterations of dvf@dvf.com.
15:15>> [LAUGH] >> And we figured one of
15:17those email addresses would work.
15:19And someone in her office wrote
15:21back, I'll see you tomorrow at 5PM.
15:24And so at Tuesday, I had the idea
15:27Saturday night, Tuesday at 5PM, I
15:29was with DVF introducing myself as
15:31the co-founder of Rent the Runway.
15:34And I was kind of pitching her on
15:36this new idea where we would get
15:39her inventory, current season,
15:43rent it out to customers, and
15:45what did she think about it?
15:48And she hated this idea.
15:49>> [LAUGH] >> Hated the idea.
15:53why would I ever do this?
15:56You're going to cannibalize my
15:59Who would ever buy when they could
16:03And as opposed to what most people
16:05do in that situation, which is
16:08someone who's very powerful, and
16:10very cool, and very famous,
16:12telling you your idea sucks, and
16:14why are you even here?
16:17Most people would kind of be
16:18stopped in their tracks,
16:20I was like, okay, let me figure out
16:23all the reasons why she hates this
16:25idea, and then I can use that to
16:27actually modify the idea and
16:29change the business.
16:31I mean, the business was three
16:33it wasn't really a business.
16:34>> [LAUGH] >> But I learned from
16:37her that her number one challenge,
16:40and it was the challenge of
16:43was customer acquisition.
16:46That because of fast fashion,
16:50men were not trying designer brands
16:52in the same way they were before.
16:55Couple that with the fact that
16:56younger people were not entering
16:58physical retail stores in the same
16:59way they were before.
17:00So it was harder for her, and
17:02paid marketing costs were extremely
17:04high, so it was really hard for
17:06her to acquire new customers.
17:08And so, by the end of what became,
17:10she wanted to end the meeting after
17:13we ended up spending an hour and
17:15a half with her in her office.
17:17At the end of this hour and a half,
17:19she was laying down on a couch
17:21eating grapes, tossing her hair and
17:23I was like, is this a date or
17:25>> [LAUGH] >> I don't know what was
17:27happening but it was amazing.
17:29And I also learned that if I could
17:32create a business that helped her
17:36reach and develop brand affinity
17:39with the next generation of
17:41consumers, that we might have
17:44something that she would want to
17:49And that's kind of what she said.
17:51She said, come back to me and
17:53I will meet with you again and
17:56Now also in that meeting, I asked
17:58her, hey, could you introduce me to
18:00a few of your friends and
18:01I'd love to meet with them and
18:03talk about this idea?
18:05Because every meeting has to get
18:07you to three other meetings, and so
18:09never leave a meeting with
18:11someone without asking them for
18:15Now, those other meetings led us to
18:17the fashion industry,
18:19some of which were designers,
18:20some of which were publicists.
18:22But people that actually could give
18:24us real feedback on this idea,
18:26and people that could see that we
18:28were interested in listening.
18:30It was helping to build trust
18:32in an industry where we had no
18:35experience, where you go in and you
18:38actually allow someone else to give
18:40you feedback, how does that work?
18:43What ends up happening in
18:44a situation where I sit with you
18:46and I ask you questions and
18:47I ask you for your advice?
18:49You end up walking out of that
18:50conversation feeling awesome.
18:52You end up liking me in that
18:56Whenever you make someone else into
18:58the expert, that builds
19:00a relationship right away.
19:02And we needed desperately
19:04at the beginning of the business,
19:06to build trust so that anyone would
19:07actually trust us to take
19:09their currencies and inventory and
19:11not cannibalize their business.
19:13So, that was just a really
19:15incredible experience.
19:17DVF continues to be an amazing
19:21of the business today.
19:23A huge supporter is someone who,
19:25while the initial reaction was
19:27like, this is not going to work.
19:29She was actually one of the first
19:32brands who signed on and, has just
19:34been incredible along the way.
19:37>> That's a pretty amazing lesson
19:39on the power of listening and
19:40its ability to transform someone
19:42who wants to viewed you as
19:44a competitor into what sounds like
19:46a powerful teammate today.
19:48Now that you brands on board, how
19:50did you go about consumer behavior-
19:52>> Well, getting brands on board
19:54took years, let me be clear.
19:56>> [LAUGH] >> We launched this
19:57company with 20 brands,
19:59most of those brands were on
20:00the verge of bankruptcy and that's
20:02the only reason why they wanted to
20:03meet with me, why they wanted to
20:04work with us, because we wrote them
20:06a check with our VC dollars.
20:07And then it took me years to amass
20:10the close to a thousand brands
20:13that we work with today.
20:16Now, over this kind of period of
20:18time, I have a 100% retention of
20:21those brand relationships.
20:24So even though it might have taken
20:26me eight years in some cases or ten
20:28years in some cases to sign on a
20:30brand, once they start working with
20:32me they see the value that we're
20:34bringing to them as a partner.
20:37really important and that
20:38creates positive word-of-mouth,
20:41positive net promoter score in your
20:42brand value proposition, in
20:44addition to net promoter score and
20:46your consumer value proposition.
20:48But I think that if you're
20:51an entrepreneur effectively you are
20:54a salesperson, that's your number
20:57one skill that you need to have.
21:00And when I was going to certain
21:04brands, they would be way harsher
21:11The head of one of the biggest
21:13luxury brands in the world, in the
21:15US, told me, hell will burn over
21:17before I work with Rent the Runway.
21:19He said this to me, he was sitting
21:21closer than you are to me,
21:23he was screaming, his face was red.
21:25And my reaction was, thank you so
21:27much for the feedback,
21:28I'll come back in three months and
21:30update you on our progress.
21:32>> [LAUGH] >> And by the way, he's
21:34one of our biggest partners today
21:36and he forgot that this happened.
21:38>> [LAUGH] >> If you ask him about
21:40he thinks I'm making it up.
21:42I'm like, no, there were eight
21:44other people in the room,
21:45you actually said this.
21:46Another head of another luxury
21:48brand threw his cell phone at me.
21:50He was so angry with me that he
21:52threw his phone at me.
21:54we're never going to do this.
21:55I mean, so you have to just almost
21:57also delight in the craziness
22:00of the experience that most
22:01people are not going to love
22:03your idea initially.
22:05And sometimes they're not loving
22:08your idea for the right reasons.
22:10You can use what they object to as
22:12ways that you can actually
22:13innovate and modify.
22:15Don't use their negative reaction
22:17as saying, well, they're wrong.
22:18Had we not listened to DVF and
22:20actually modified what the value
22:22proposition was going to be for
22:23brands, we never would have gotten
22:25the business off the ground.
22:28>> Did your pitch to brands and
22:29all the lessons learned through
22:31that inform how you decided to
22:32pitch to customers and
22:34convince them to join the platform?
22:38>> No, I don't think that the brand
22:40value proposition in our business
22:42was really related to the consumer
22:45I think that we have always been
22:48focused on trying to create an
22:50incredible experience, that women
22:53would feel comfortable sharing with
22:56their friends or anyone who
22:59complimented them on their outfit.
23:02They would say, thanks,
23:04I've rented the runway.
23:05As opposed to saying, yeah, thanks,
23:08I'm wearing Tory Burch or
23:09thank you I'm wearing Philip Lim.
23:12Imagine how impossible and
23:14expensive it would have been for
23:16me had someone only said I'm
23:18wearing Tory Burch, or
23:20I'm wearing Philip Lim.
23:22So I needed someone to be so
23:24enamored with the experience,
23:26having felt so great by the kind of
23:28Cinderella moment that Rent the
23:30Runway was offering them, that they
23:33wanted to share the experience.
23:3680% of our customers come to us via
23:40Our business is one that has never
23:43really had to rely on paid
23:46And my belief says that the only
23:48way that you can grow a business
23:50over time is by improving the value
23:53that you deliver to the customer
23:55quarter over quarter.
23:57The customer has to feel.
24:00That the experience is getting
24:02better and better and
24:03that you were investing in her.
24:05>> In those early days too,
24:06I can imagine that some customers
24:08were maybe hesitant to rent clothes
24:09that others hadn't worn before.
24:11So how did you go about
24:12transforming consumer behavior to
24:14enable customers to not only accept
24:17but desire wearing clothes that
24:20>> Yeah, so in 2008 and 2009,
24:22when we launched it was actually
24:25considered absolutely disgusting to
24:27wear clothes that other people had
24:31And so it was really only kind of
24:33a first adopter sort of community
24:35that would even give us a chance.
24:37And the fact that we had really
24:39aspirational brands that people
24:40couldn't otherwise afford was
24:42something that even if they thought
24:44it was a little disgusting they're
24:45like, but I'm getting this $2,000
24:48dress for like $100 rental,
24:51part of what enabled us to kind of
24:53get consumers on board was one,
24:56remember the initial idea was for
24:59this closet in the cloud and having
25:02a wardrobe that was on rotation.
25:05And I recognized early on that,
25:08that idea was too big for
25:09where we were in 2008, 2009.
25:12That if I pitched this idea of
25:14renting clothes a hundred days of
25:16which is kind of how the consumer
25:18uses the product today, people
25:20would think that that was insane
25:22and the business would have failed.
25:24So we started with a consumer value
25:26proposition that was really easy
25:28for people to get their arms
25:29around, which is rent a dress for
25:32You know that you're going to be
25:34asked to be a bridesmaid,
25:35or to go to a black tie party, or
25:36to go to a wedding, and you're
25:38going to buy something that you're
25:40only going to wear once or twice.
25:41So it doesn't make sense for
25:42you to buy that dress.
25:44So every woman understood that
25:46about the value proposition, and
25:49therefore we were able to kind of
25:54Second was make it a luxury
25:57So every aspect of the experience
26:01From the photography,
26:02to the way that the site looked,
26:05to the customer service experience.
26:07Because the trick of what created
26:09so much brand love is you were
26:11getting a luxury experience, you
26:13were getting thousands of dollars
26:15in value, but you were getting it
26:17at a fast fashion price point.
26:19So that was really the magic of
26:21So invest in every aspect of
26:23the end-to-end experience and
26:25make it feel luxurious.
26:27And the third aspect was kind
26:30of hustle and utilize our own
26:32story as founders, kind of put
26:35ourself front and center to try
26:38to get as much earned media as
26:41humanly possible around this
26:43concept to get people on board.
26:46And one of the craziest things that
26:50we did that really exemplifies Rent
26:53the Runway culture is we were like,
26:57in The New York Times,
26:59because they have a lot of traffic.
27:03The New York Times, then they'll
27:05find out about Rent the Runway.
27:06And we literally had not launched
27:09And I thought about, okay, how do
27:11we get into The New York Times?
27:13And I thought, okay, well,
27:16And we're kind of starting
27:19So at the time there were no women
27:21starting tech companies, let's
27:24try to find a technology reporter,
27:26because we're going to be
27:28interesting to them.
27:30We then scoured this whole list of
27:32email addresses that we had kind of
27:34created over the summer trolling
27:36through people's alumni databases.
27:39And we saw that there was
27:41someone who was a 22 year old tech
27:43reporter at The New York Times.
27:46She had an @NewYorkTimes email
27:47address, and I was like,
27:48let's get a meeting with her.
27:49Let's invite her to this office for
27:52And so we invited her,
27:53we kind of shared this whole vision
27:55of what we were doing.
27:56We were going to revolutionize
27:57the fashion industry etc.
27:58She needed a story because she
28:00She wanted to write her own piece.
28:03And she's like, okay,
28:05I'm going to write an article.
28:06And then the second challenge was,
28:08okay, well, I didn't want it to be
28:10buried in the technology section,
28:11because then no one was
28:13So, I was can you come take photos
28:18want to take photos of us?
28:20And she was, we'll take photos of
28:23But no, you don't need to be
28:25I was well, when's the photographer
28:28And she told me when the
28:29photographer was going to show up.
28:30I told my co-founder, I was like,
28:32let's put on our sexiest dresses
28:34Let's go to the warehouse.
28:35Let's stand on ladders.
28:36Let's be in front of the warehouse.
28:38And we did it, and we
28:39posed in these ridiculous dresses,
28:42in this ridiculous fashion in
28:44front of a row of dresses.
28:45And that photo ended up on the
28:47front page of The New York Times,
28:49A1 section on NewYorkTimes.com.
28:50We had 100,000 people sign up day
28:53one of Rent the Runway and we met
28:55our first year sales projections in
28:57the first three weeks.
28:58And so press begets press,
29:00number one, but number two is,
29:03create your own luck.
29:05This woman was effectively,
29:06no way you're not going to be in
29:07the photo, and who knows if they're
29:09even going to use the photo.
29:11I'm going to create the story.
29:13And so that sort of creating
29:15the story and hustling for it is,
29:19what makes entrepreneurship fun.
29:22But second, something that I hope
29:24is still embedded in our culture
29:29I'm definitely hearing theme and
29:31all of your experiences of you
29:33being the ultimate hustler, which I
29:35think is a good lesson for all the
29:36aspiring entrepreneurs out there.
29:38I want to pivot now and
29:39talk a bit about your experience
29:42So you're obviously operating
29:43a very inventory heavy business,
29:45which requires a lot of capital.
29:47Can you talk a bit about your
29:48journey raising money from
29:49a predominantly male VC industry,
29:51convincing them to invest
29:52in the business catering
29:54exclusively to women.
29:57>> So raising money was something
30:01that I found to be very fun,
30:04because I love painting the picture
30:08of what we were doing, how we
30:11were going to disrupt the industry.
30:15What the trends were, that were
30:17kind of leading to this point,
30:19where Rent the Runway could be
30:21And it didn't dawn on me until like
30:24many years into the business,
30:27how bleak it was for
30:28female entrepreneurs to be able to
30:32So a lot of the early experiences
30:34that we had where people were kind
30:37of rejecting us, I just thought
30:39they were rejecting us because
30:41the idea wasn't right for them or
30:43they just didn't like the idea.
30:46I didn't actually think that it had
30:48anything to do with gender.
30:50Now if you look at the data,
30:52there's a lot that has to do with
30:54gender, in that the metrics around
30:56dollars going to women have been
30:58around 2% for the past 25 years,
31:00and they've only gotten worse.
31:02And those metrics are even worse as
31:05it relates to people of color,
31:08women of color, anyone who comes
31:11from a different background.
31:13So, I think that we had some
31:16interesting experiences at
31:18the beginning where I remember
31:21an early kind of seed round pitch
31:24we did, where we were pitching to
31:27two partners of a very kind of
31:29prestigious VC firm, and I know
31:32that I'm a great salesperson,
31:36I had gotten great feedback on this
31:40And at the end of the presentation
31:42he took my hand in his one of
31:43the partners, and he was like,
31:45you're going to have such a fun
31:47closet of dresses to dress up with.
31:49This is going to be so fun for you.
31:52And kind of treating me in this
31:56way of That he thought that this
31:59was just some cute girl and
32:03And I think that that really has
32:06driven me to want to just prove
32:09people like that wrong and that
32:11the only recipe is just continuing
32:16There's going to be people like
32:17that there's nothing that I can
32:19do to change that guy.
32:20All I can do is go, pitch more,
32:21raise more money, build my
32:23business, try to make that business
32:25successful and just continue to put
32:27one foot in front of the other.
32:29So I think that there aren't
32:32that many solutions to this problem
32:36except ensure that my business can
32:39be as successful as possible.
32:43So that when other women are trying
32:45to raise money, that they have
32:47the pattern recognition of, well,
32:50there are these other women who
32:52have been able to do it.
32:53>> Well, you did impressively raise
32:55over $400 million in VC funding.
32:57And with that capital, you're able
32:59to grow the business and
33:00in growing the business, you had
33:02the best months and Rent the Runway
33:03history in January and February of
33:052020, up until that point.
33:07And then obviously COVID hits and
33:09women are no longer leaving
33:11How did Rent the Runway change as
33:13And how do you now think about
33:15navigating turbulent times?
33:19>> So I had been building Rent
33:2413 years when COVID hit.
33:28Rent the Runway is my first child,
33:31the love of my life.
33:33If I build this company because I
33:35actually do want to change the way
33:38that people feel about themselves
33:41every day, I love my team.
33:43And there have been 1000s of people
33:45over time that have been
33:47contributing to this big vision in
33:49this big idea that we have and
33:51have put in their blood, sweat, and
33:54tears into taking this from what
33:56was a very crazy disruptive idea to
33:58really pioneering a category.
34:00So we had had this incredible few
34:04months prior to the pandemic, or
34:07many years prior to the pandemic.
34:11We had launched a subscription to
34:13fashion which was growing
34:15So the vision of the closet in
34:17was actually coming to fruition.
34:19People were using this to get
34:21dressed 80 to 100 days of the year.
34:24They were renting the runway for
34:26their everyday life.
34:27And then on March 12th, 2020, we
34:31lost 80% of our revenue overnight.
34:40there's really not a use case for
34:43variety in your wardrobe, which is
34:46what Rent the Runway is about.
34:48If you are on your couch,
34:50there's really nothing that you can
34:53do to kind of drum up demand.
34:58I didn't want to accept that.
35:01And I spent the first few weeks
35:04trying to drum up marketing
35:07ideas with my team of how are we
35:10going to bring customers back,
35:12what are we going to do?
35:14And there was a moment where I was
35:17on Zoom, and my husband kind of
35:19came into the room after I'd like
35:21signed off a Zoom call and he was
35:23like, Jen, you run this company and
35:25you've been in the same pajamas for
35:28the last two months.
35:29No one is going to rent clothes
35:31Stop thinking about this and
35:35And I think that the first lesson
35:38is when you're in any crisis you
35:41have to ground yourself in reality.
35:45And grounding yourself in reality
35:47is often a very difficult and
35:50harsh thing to do and
35:51it's especially a harsh thing to do
35:54when you're leading a team of
35:56thousands of people.
35:58And at the same time that I was
36:00trying to ground the team in the
36:03reality that this is going to be
36:05really bad for us for a long period
36:08of time, I had to inspire the team
36:10with hope that there was a reason
36:13to still believe in our vision.
36:16That our vision actually was
36:18going to serve the post-COVID world
36:20even more, even better.
36:22And that we can use this period of
36:25time when essentially our revenue
36:27had kind of moved away to transform
36:29and innovate the business in ways
36:32that we may not have been able to
36:34when there were all of these orders
36:36kind of coming through the site,
36:38all of these orders coming through
36:42So it was an absolutely
36:45horrific period of time
36:49on one hand because I felt like,
36:55The huge amount of emotional stress
36:58that I needed to save the company,
37:01not just for myself, I needed to
37:04save the company for the thousands
37:07of people who had believed in me.
37:10Who had dedicated their time over
37:14helping to create this company.
37:16And it deserved to exist.
37:19And so I had to basically become
37:24the most decisive version
37:28of myself and every single day
37:32I would make dozens if
37:35not hundreds of decisions.
37:40It's very clarifying to be in that
37:42situation in some senses because
37:45what is your core business?
37:47What do you think it's going to be
37:48when you come out of COVID and
37:50you what can you need to slice away
37:52a lot of the business right now.
37:54We need to let go of hundreds
37:57which was incredibly difficult.
37:59We needed to let go of lots of
38:01different work streams and
38:03divisions of the company.
38:05We had to simplify the business.
38:06And those times of crisis
38:09in a sense, there was deep clarity
38:12around what is the simplest version
38:15of what this product needs to be.
38:18And how do we actually get really
38:21laser-focused on here's the three
38:23things that we're going to do
38:26over this period of time.
38:28That are going to help the business
38:30that when we emerge from COVID,
38:32we can emerge as a fundamentally
38:33different and stronger business
38:35than we were before?
38:36>> That's amazing that you were
38:37able to keep the business
38:38afloat during that time.
38:40And you impressively go public in
38:42Fast forward to today, nearly 15
38:44years after your founding, after
38:46you've pioneered a new way to shop,
38:48the market is now not only full of
38:50other clothing rental platforms but
38:52also retail players.
38:54How do you think about
38:55differentiation given the market?
38:57>> So first of all, I'm really
38:59proud that there is a circular
39:01fashion market right now that we
39:03were a part of pioneering and that
39:05circular fashion market is global
39:07and it's enormous and it's growing.
39:10And I see that the market,
39:13no one consumer is going
39:16to just have one modality for
39:19how they think about clothing, how
39:23they think about their wardrobes.
39:27If you think about most industries
39:29on earth, you're offered a choice
39:32as a consumer for how you want to
39:34consume in that industry based on
39:36what your need or your use case is.
39:38So in the world of transportation,
39:41at the same time, if you're going
39:43from point A to point B, you can
39:45decide you want to take an Uber.
39:46If you are going on a 7 or
39:4814-day business trip, you can rent
39:51a car for that period of time.
39:54There are different options for
39:56you to get from point A to point B.
39:59In fashion, before Rent the Runway,
40:03which was buy something and
40:06And so what I see Rent the Runway
40:08is doing is we're really owning
40:09kind of that last mile.
40:10In the same way that Uber is
40:12helping you get from point A to
40:15Anything that you want to kind of
40:17utilize in your wardrobe for
40:19like three months or
40:20less, you should have it
40:21as part of your subscription.
40:23Like this dress, I might want to
40:25wear it a few times,
40:26and then I'll send it back,
40:27I'll get something new, that should
40:30be part of your rental rotation.
40:34Resale is a leasing model, okay?
40:36Resale is if you want a new bag
40:40you want to keep that bag for
40:42a year and then flip it out.
40:45That makes sense to utilize resale,
40:47because it's a long term leasing
40:51And then ownership should be
40:52something where you invest and
40:54you have those things forever.
40:56They should be very high utility
40:58items that you get a lot of use
41:00So you should own an amazing black
41:03own amazing cashmere sweaters.
41:05The closet should exist with all of
41:09And the consumer, when given
41:11a choice, I think, now can rethink
41:14how she spends her money.
41:15And actually have the freedom to
41:17think about those items that with
41:20rental as an option,
41:21you have the freedom to express
41:23yourself in a way that you
41:24didn't really have before.
41:26And you can kind of wear something
41:28that's a new color or a new trend.
41:30And have fun with it without having
41:32that burden of knowing you
41:33have to own it forever.
41:35So I see resale as being incredibly
41:38complementary to what we do.
41:40I see the fact that there are other
41:42now real competitors that we have
41:44in the rental space and
41:46the subscription space as being
41:50difficult to create an industry,
41:52explain how this whole thing works,
41:54get you to use it as a consumer,
41:57improve, continuously market this
42:00If there are competitors who
42:02are also marketing this idea of
42:04subscribe to fashion,
42:05all we have to be is the best.
42:07All we have to do is own who our
42:09own who our consumer is.
42:11And because I think that
42:12this is such an enormous market,
42:15fashion is a $300 billion
42:17market just in the US, it's a $2.5
42:20trillion market globally.
42:22And I personally think that because
42:2480% of the closet is worn three
42:27times or less, that there is a huge
42:30amount of the closet in the future
42:32that can actually move to this idea
42:35of a closet in the cloud.
42:37>> It also seems to me,
42:38in this crowded market,
42:39one of your main differentiators
42:41too is your reliance on data.
42:43I think many people may view Rent
42:44the Runway as solely
42:46But in reality, you are a massive
42:48tech and logistics operation that
42:50has figured out how to expertly use
42:52data to understand consumer
42:54Can you give us just a few examples
42:56of how you use data?
42:58>> Yeah, but you kind of skipped
42:59over a really crazy part of
43:01the story, which is the business
43:03died, right, we had no revenue.
43:06And we were then innovating, and
43:09I had to raise vulture capital
43:11to keep the business alive,
43:14which was an insane experience.
43:17And then a year and a half later,
43:20we IPOed the business.
43:22And it was the most incredible
43:25experience that I have ever had in
43:27my life to IPO something.
43:30And see thousands of alumni of Rent
43:34the Runway and employees of Rent
43:38the Runway come back to New York
43:43during COVID to celebrate this.
43:47And the number of people who were
43:49able at that point, when you're
43:52kind of a boss or you're a leader,
43:54someone works for you.
43:56And when they leave Rent
43:58the Runway, you don't really know,
44:01or you don't really hear what
44:04impact Rent the Runway has had or
44:06not had on their life.
44:08And the IPO was this unbelievable
44:11experience where I heard from
44:14thousands of employees that
44:16this experience working at Rent
44:19the Runway had transformed who they
44:23And transformed their life, and
44:25had made them dream bigger for
44:29And they had now become their own
44:31entrepreneurs, or they had met
44:32their own co-founders, or they've
44:34taken big jobs somewhere else.
44:36And I think that there are those
44:38moments in a business career that
44:42like managing through crisis and
44:45managing through a pandemic.
44:48And then there are these moments
44:50that are so incredibly special,
44:52where you realize that you're
44:54making even a small impact on how
44:57people feel about themselves and
45:00And you kind of have to treasure
45:02those incredible moments of
45:04celebration is the fuel to kind of
45:07And enable you to kind of keep
45:08on putting one foot in front of
45:11So I just wanted to go back to that
45:13IPO because it was unbelievable
45:15that we were able to do that.
45:18And thank God we IPOed when we did,
45:20because a week later,
45:23And we never would have been able
45:26the business would have gone
45:28bankrupt at that point.
45:30Because we needed that capital that
45:32we raised in the IPO to bring
45:33the business to profitability.
45:35that was just a really miraculous
45:38period of time that I'm extremely
45:43And the team that kind of stayed so
45:45committed to this vision.
45:46It is the most special thing in
45:48life to not only have your own
45:49passion and your own vision and
45:50conviction for something.
45:52But when you see that other people
45:54take that on as their own.
45:55And when other people act like real
45:57founders in your business and
46:00and that we've done this together.
46:02That is the most special experience
46:06That it wasn't about me taking
46:09everyone who was there felt like
46:11they took the company public,
46:13that they built the company.
46:15And that's what I kind of wish for
46:17you, all of you in the room, that
46:19you are able to build something.
46:22And have a career where you feel
46:24like you've done something with
46:27a group, where you are part
46:30of a community that's changed
46:33the world in some way.
46:35Because that feeling of doing
46:37something together is the most
46:40incredible feeling in the world.
46:42>> That's amazing, and thank you so
46:43much for digging in deeper there.
46:44>> But we can go back to data,
46:48>> We can talk about that, but
46:49in the interest of time, I want to
46:51open it up to audience Q&A.
46:52There are so many other parts of
46:53your story that are interesting
46:54that we haven't talked about.
46:54>> Wait, no, I want to talk about
46:56one other thing first.
46:57>> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] Okay,
46:57you can also do that too.
46:58>> Okay, I want to talk about this
47:02concept of view from the top.
47:09And how challenged I was to kind of
47:12think about myself, even,
47:15giving this conversation today.
47:19Because by no means do I think that
47:24And I don't even use that as
47:28how I want to think about my life.
47:31What does being at the top mean?
47:35I have achieved incredible career
47:38success, but I still think I'm at
47:41the very beginning of what
47:43I want to build and innovate and
47:45create for Rent the Runway.
47:47I want this business to be really
47:50I view that so much of my life and
47:53what is going to make me happy, and
47:55what does make me happy has nothing
47:58to do with A successful career,
48:01it has to do with the fact that I
48:03have a wonderful marriage, and
48:05I have kids who I love, and
48:06I have incredible friendships, and
48:08I invest in those friendships.
48:10And, sometimes now that I've
48:13watched 12 of these talks over the
48:15past two days, I've seen that there
48:18are a lot of, luminary people and
48:20they come here and they talk about,
48:23their career success and, give this
48:25notion that, what we're trying to
48:28achieve is being at the top.
48:30But it's like if we all think about
48:32our lives that way of trying to get
48:34to some destination,
48:35you're not going to be happy,
48:36the life is about the journey.
48:39The thing that I'm proud of about
48:40Rent the Runway is that,
48:41everyday moments over the past 15
48:43years where I've just had the time
48:47What is being at the top mean?
48:48Does that mean an extra X million
48:50dollars in the bank?
48:52going to bring to me?
48:53So I think that we should just
48:56all think about, the goal is
48:59the journey and enjoying it.
49:02The goal is what is optimized
49:04around making you happy.
49:07And for some of you, that's
49:09going to be very career related,
49:11but for many of you it might not
49:13be, and that is totally okay.
49:16And part of what you should be
49:18doing here, is figuring out
49:20like what fundamentally about you
49:22is going to make you happy?
49:24Like the realization for me going
49:26back to my childhood is that,
49:28it's community that makes me happy.
49:32And so, entrepreneurship is just
49:33my way to like pay people to be
49:35around me all day long, right.
49:36So I've built my own community and
49:38that makes me really happy, and
49:39I've built other communities of my
49:41family and friends, etcetera.
49:42But like, I just don't think that
49:44many of the people that I used to,
49:46when I was in business school and
49:48I looked up and I said, well,
49:49they've created a multi-billion
49:52They're sitting here,
49:53they're a billionaire,
49:55It's like, If you really talk to
49:57a lot of those people,
49:59like that's not how they measure
50:04Like there are so many aspects of,
50:07your life that are, you couldn't
50:09achieve all of this career success
50:11and if you don't have the other
50:13things in your life that you
50:15really care about, it's really not
50:17going to be that meaningful.
50:19So we have to focus on like
50:22saying that because there's so
50:24many in the twos and audience
50:25they're about to graduate and yeah.
50:28>> [APPLAUSE] >> Jen,
50:34thanks so much for being here and
50:36sharing your story, I particularly
50:37loved the elements of hustle that
50:39you shared throughout your story.
50:41A lot of the women in my life love
50:46>> I was curious if Rent the Runway
50:48could work for men and why or
50:52>> I think that there's definitely
50:55more of a market for men today than
50:58when we founded the business.
51:01Men are becoming more and
51:02more interested in fashion.
51:05But, I think that great businesses
51:08stay focused, and we can do so
51:11much more for our female customer
51:17We're just scratching the surface
51:19on the customer experience.
51:22And I think that it would actually
51:24be, detract an enormous amount from
51:26the experience to start to focus on
51:28an entirely different customer set
51:30right now, who has different needs,
51:32who thinks about the product in
51:34a completely different way.
51:35So, even 15 years into
51:37the business, interestingly, I
51:40think that we still have a massive
51:42opportunity ahead of us and
51:45continue to stay focused on it.
51:48>> It's definitely tradition for
51:49us to end with a quick
51:52>> Great. >> Okay, great.
51:54Dream job when you were a kid?
51:57>> Being a pop star.
51:58>> [LAUGH] >> It's not too late
52:01>> I'm working on it.
52:02>> [LAUGH] >> Advice you could tell
52:15Real advice is, do not stress so
52:18much about getting married,
52:23>> [LAUGH] [APPLAUSE].
52:26>> You'll find the love of your
52:29don't let it paralyze you.
52:31>> [LAUGH] >> That's great.
52:34Most fun piece of clothing
52:38>> I rent clothes about 350 days of
52:41the year for the last 14 years, so
52:50Well, I'll just tell you one last
52:52weekend, I dressed up with
52:54my daughter as we were both
52:56Harry Styles, I wore a silver
52:58sequin stripe jumpsuit that
52:59looks exactly like Harry Styles.
53:02She had her own matching one, and
53:04we sang with a band in front of her
53:07So that was just, really fun about
53:09using rental runway to do something
53:11crazy and wear something that's
53:14certainly a one time thing.
53:16>> [LAUGH] >> It's amazing.
53:17And finally, an atypical view from
53:20the top lightning round question,
53:22that is there any discount you can
53:25give to your GSB fans out there?
53:27>> [LAUGH] >> I think we have
53:28something for all of you guys.
53:30>> Thank you so much.
53:32>> Well, hopefully a promo code.
53:34>> It is. >> [LAUGH] >> We have
53:36a promo code, we want everyone
53:37here to have a subscription.
53:40And, we're giving it to all the men
53:42too, so give it to any woman
53:44in your life that you want, and
53:46thank you guys so much for
53:47having me here today.
53:49>> Thank you so much Jen.
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