Part of being a successful entrepreneur is having the right idea at the right time. Rent the Runway is the concept whose time had come. Everyone would like to flaunt their DVFs and Louboutins but can never afford them. Rent the Runway offers access to these high priced designer stuff at a fraction of the retail price. One of the founders, Jennifer Hyman often watched her sister fret about having nothing to wear when she had a closet full of clothes. She and Jenny Fleiss, who met at on their first day at Harvard Business School in 2008 came up with the idea of luxury on rent and launched in late 2009 a rental service for luxurious designer dress.
They started the service on the campus itself and it was so successful that it expanded rapidly and it already has an inventory of 24,000 dresses and over 12,000 accessories. And this is just the beginning for the hot startup as it aims to become a full service experience company. When the founders of the company thought about the idea the recession was at its peak and they realized that it was great market timing. The idea behind this entire business is about giving people access to the life they dream today.
Organizing the investment for the business wasn’t that easy. It required a lot of convincing and highlighted the emotional value a customer would receive by renting the runway. The founders had no background in technology or logistics but learnt it on the way. They initially outsources some of the technical aspect of the business but slowly built a tem in house. Today the company has an employee strength of 62 out of which 70% are female. They are successful entrepreneurs today because they went for it and just decided to do it. They didn’t really have a business plan but were willing to make mistakes and learn from them. No wonder, they are on the top of the situation.
Via: mashable
