An interview with Jennifer Hyman| Co-Founder of Rent the Runway
Jennifer Hyman is perhaps one of the most well known and respected women entrepreneurs of the past decade. Along with her co-founder Jenny Fleiss she has built what has been dubbed “one of the most disruptive businesses of our time”. The proclamation is well warranted. Rent the Runway created a new business model that merged the worlds of fashion and technology. In fact, on their website Rent the Runway describes their business as,
Rent the Runway is a fashion company with a technology soul. Powered by a transformative business model, proprietary technology, a unique reverse-logistics operation and some of the smartest people on earth, we’re in a position to challenge old systems and rewrite new rules. By giving people access to remarkable luxury experiences, we’re changing the meaning of ownership — and revolutionizing retail in the process.
Growing a business of this nature and size (Rent the Runway employees over 1,000 people!) doesn’t come without it’s share of learnings. That’s what inspired Jennifer and Jenny to found their second venture, Project Entrepreneur. They sought a way to mentor and financially support the next generation of women entrepreneurs. Rock on ladies, rock on.
In this interview, Jennifer talks about the founding of Rent the Runway and passes along some of the advice she wishes she’d known when she was just getting started. To learn her startup story you’ll just gave to go ahead and watch our interview!
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A toast to you and Jennifer Hyman too,
Jen
