On Becoming A Brand: Lovesac Founder Shawn Nelson

Welcome to “On Becoming a Brand”, a RETHINK Retail exclusive where we dive into the stories that shaped the brands we love — and the people behind them. On today’s episode, host Gabriella Bock hears from from Shawn Nelson, Founder and CEO of Lovesac, a publicly traded, high-end furniture retailer with 160+ showrooms across America. As of recent, the company has experienced 16 consecutive quarters of at least 25 percent net sales growth, and for the quarter ending on May 1, sales jumped 56 percent year over year, to about $129 million. You might also remember Shawn from the 2005 prime-time show “The Rebel Billionaire,” where he outlasted a competitive field of entrepreneurs which included Spanx Founder Sara Blakely, and won a 1-million-dollar investment from Virgin’s Richard Branson. But long before he founded the billion dollar furniture company, Shawn was just your average teenager who thought it would be funny and novel idea to construct a supersized bean bag chair at his childhood home in Utah. And that’s where today’s story begins.