Billion Dollar Moves™ with Sarah Chen-Spellings | Global Venture Capital

CEO Series: Julie Wainwright, The RealReal

Oct 3, 2024

In this engaging discussion, Julie Wainwright, a resilient entrepreneur known for pivoting from the infamous Pets.com to founding The RealReal, shares her inspiring journey. She talks about the critical lessons learned from failure and how innovation can transform industries. Julie emphasizes the importance of a customer-centric approach and encourages listeners to embrace setbacks as steps toward success. At age 67, she dives into her latest venture, Ahara, highlighting personalized nutrition and the need to stay adaptable in a changing market.

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ANECDOTE

Early Career and International Experience

Julie Wainwright's career began at Clorox, then Software Publishing, before entering the tech world at 25.
She gained valuable international experience setting up distribution, which prepared her for entrepreneurship.

ANECDOTE

Pets.com and Chewy.com

Julie Wainwright was brought in to run Pets.com when it was a small startup.
She highlights the importance of timing in business, comparing Pets.com's failure to Chewy.com's later success.

INSIGHT

The Benefit of Public Failure

Public failure can remove the fear of future failure.
Julie Wainwright found that her experience with Pets.com made her stronger and more resilient.

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In today’s episode, we are amplifying the story of a resilient and visionary entrepreneur, Julie Wainwright. Known for her dramatic turnaround from overseeing the epic failure of Pets.com during the dot-com bust to creating the billion-dollar luxury consignment powerhouse, The RealReal, Julie’s journey is an inspiring tale of innovation, resilience, and strategic brilliance.

And while we'll also talk about her departure from the reveal and the challenges reported today – it is unquestionable that her journey from absolute failure to growing and scaling is a testament to her resilience and innovation. This is why she's next in the Billion Dollar Moves CEO series.

This conversation explores the valuable lessons from Julie’s storied career, her fearless approach to failure, and her bold steps in founding Ahara, her latest venture in personalized nutrition at age 67.

Get ready to uncover actionable insights on turning setbacks into comebacks, understanding untapped markets, and always putting the customer first. Let’s get started!

Timestamps / Key Takeaways

00:00 - Intro

02:30 - Key Takeaway 1: Failure is just the cost of success— be one with it

07:27 - Key Takeaway 2: Just because it’s never been done before, doesn’t mean it can’t be done

11:56 - Key Takeaway 3: Just get started. Do the damn thing, expand and stay focused.

14:50 - Key Takeaway 4: “Your customers vote everyday with their purchases. Pay attention”. Customer-Centric Approach

18:35 - Key Takeaway 5: “Your business is an opportunity for you to make an impact.”

23:06 - Post-note: Initially successful, The RealReal's market cap dropped significantly - why?

About Julie Wainwright

Julie Wainwright began her illustrious career at Clorox as one of their first undergraduate hires in brand management, providing her with a solid foundation in profit and loss management and data analysis. Transitioning to the tech industry at the young age of 25, she joined Software Publishing amid the competitive landscape of Microsoft and Visicalc. Demonstrating remarkable initiative, Julie volunteered to handle international operations, leading efforts to establish international distribution from London by the age of 27. Her early experiences laid the groundwork for a dynamic career characterized by innovation and leadership.

Sources:

#80 - Julie Wainwright - Founder & CEO of The RealReal and Former Founder of Pets.com

How Julie Wainwright Built The RealReal To Be A Billion-Dollar Business | Forbes

Greycroft Co-Founder Ian Sigalow on Investing $1 Billion Right Now | StrictlyVC Download

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