Success Story with Scott D. Clary Julie Wainwright - The RealReal Founder | How She Rebuilt After Pets.com Failed and Built a Billion-Dollar Empire
Aug 8, 2025
Julie Wainwright, founder of The RealReal and former CEO of Pets.com, shares her incredible journey from failure to triumph. She discusses overcoming age bias and self-doubt, offering insights on resilience and self-empowerment. Wainwright reveals key strategies for navigating the luxury e-commerce landscape, emphasizing swift execution and product authentication. She also highlights the unique challenges female entrepreneurs face and the importance of integrity and self-awareness in achieving lasting success.
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Structured Writing Trains Strategic Thinking
- Clorox taught Julie a structured, written approach that trained her thinking and prioritized key findings.
- Writing clearly forced her to distill analysis, improving decision speed and leadership clarity.
Train People To Direct AI, Not Replace Them
- Prepare juniors with structured training because AI will replace many entry-level tasks.
- Direct and upskill senior people to interpret outputs and guide AI effectively.
Buying Into The Failure Narrative
- After Pets.com failed, Julie was labeled unemployable and bought into that narrative for a while.
- She eventually slapped herself out of it, reviewed her past successes, and decided to bet on herself again.
