587: She Built a $1 Billion Brand Selling Other Peoples Clothes | Julie Wainwright

Sep 12, 2025

Julie Wainwright, the founder of The RealReal, a billion-dollar luxury resale marketplace, shares her entrepreneurial journey from Pets.com to transforming the fashion industry. She discusses how she built a marketplace that Amazon couldn't replicate and the innovative strategies behind scaling to over $1B in revenue. Julie also reflects on the challenges of taking a company public, the impact of COVID on her business, and the importance of values-driven hiring. Her insights on resilience, execution, and integrity provide lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.

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INSIGHT

Pick Markets Amazon Can’t Own

Julie Wainwright identified luxury resale as a space Amazon could never dominate.
She targeted an area where human curation and trust beat scale-driven competitors.

ANECDOTE

Lightbulb In A Boutique

Julie noticed a VC friend buying high-end consignment in a boutique and wasn't bothered by prior ownership.
That conversation triggered her realization to build a trusted online luxury resale marketplace.

ADVICE

Prove Traction Before Big Fundraising

Build initial traction before raising big venture rounds to prove product-market fit.
Julie reached $10M on seed funding before seeking VC to make fundraising easier.

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Julie Wainwright, founder of The RealReal, reveals how she built a billion-dollar resale marketplace that transformed luxury fashion. In this exclusive Foundr Podcast interview, Julie shares how she scaled The RealReal to over $1B in revenue, reached 38 million members, and took the company public on the Nasdaq.

From her early lessons at Pets.com to reinventing resale as “cool” and breaking into the luxury market, Julie unpacks the strategies, risks, and mindset shifts that fuelled her success. Whether you’re building an eCommerce brand, launching a marketplace, or navigating setbacks as a founder, this interview delivers invaluable lessons on execution, resilience, and scaling big ideas.

What you’ll learn from this interview: • How Julie identified an opportunity Amazon couldn’t replicate and turned it into The RealReal • The strategies she used to seed supply and build a two-sided marketplace • Why values-driven hiring and culture were critical to scaling past $1B in revenue • Lessons from shutting down Pets.com and how it shaped her next venture • How she navigated taking The RealReal public and the realities of IPO wealth • The impact of COVID on The RealReal and what it taught her about resilience • Why values alignment and integrity are the most important traits in your team and board

By the end of this interview, you’ll walk away with proven insights from one of the most experienced entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley—so you can build, scale, and sustain your own eCommerce or marketplace business with clarity and confidence.

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HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER

Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+

Start your $1 trial → ⁠https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial⁠

PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?

→ Starting from scratch? Apply here → ⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application⁠

→ Already have a store? Apply here → ⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application⁠

CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN

Instagram → ⁠https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan⁠

LinkedIn → ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/⁠

CONNECT WITH JULIE WAINWRIGHT

Website → https://www.therealreal.com/

Instagram → ⁠https://www.instagram.com/realrealjulie/