#370: “I Never Planned to Be an Entrepreneur”: How a Third-Grade Teacher & Mom of Three Built a $200M+ Brand That Redefined the Bedding Industry with Missy Tannen, Co-Founder of Boll & Branch

Nov 3, 2025

01:03:51

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Missy Tannen is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Boll & Branch, the luxury bedding brand that made organic, ethically made sheets a household staple.

Missy’s path to entrepreneurship began far from business. After eight years as a third-grade teacher, she stepped away to raise her three daughters, never imagining she would one day build one of the most successful bedding brands in the country. What started as a simple search for better sheets led Missy and her husband, Scott, to uncover an industry lacking transparency. Determined to do better, they learned everything from cotton to supply chains from scratch and launched Boll & Branch in 2014 with a mission to create beautiful, responsibly made bedding at an honest price. What began at their kitchen table has since grown into a $200 million brand, sold at Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, with stores expanding nationwide.

In this week’s episode, Missy shares her transformation from teacher to entrepreneur, the pivotal moments that shaped Boll & Branch’s early years, and how one unexpected newspaper story changed everything. We get into the scrappy stuff—wiring their savings to a factory they had never visited, making tech packs in PowerPoint, washing fabric samples in her laundry room, and missing a holiday launch after a production disaster. Missy reflects on building their supply chain from the ground up, facing zero-sales days before the brand took off overnight, and learning to balance growth, motherhood, and self-doubt while staying true to her purpose. This conversation is your reminder that you do not need experience or a roadmap to build something extraordinary, only grit, heart, and the courage to keep going.

*Note from Yasmin: After five amazing years of weekly episodes, I’m shifting Behind Her Empire to an every-other-week schedule. This new rhythm gives me a bit more space to focus on building my own empire and to bring you even deeper, more intentional episodes. I’m so grateful to have you on this journey and can’t wait to keep sharing powerful stories every other week.

In this episode, we’ll talk to Missy about:

* Missy’s upbringing and early teaching career. [03:31]

* How the idea for Boll & Branch came about. [07:30]

* Sourcing ethical cotton and building fair trade supply chains. [15:48]

* The process of finding the right partners. [18:22]

* The process behind their first PO. [22:44]

* Navigating early challenges with her husband and co-founder. [24:24]

* The Wall Street Journal feature that changed everything. [33:25]

* Balancing rapid growth with personal values. [39:36]

* The evolution of Boll & Branch and leading with authenticity. [46:31]

* Managing moments of overwhelm while building a business. [49:31]

* Overcoming perfectionism in leadership. [53:50]