Sarah LaFleur
22 statements across 4 episodes · 5 bullish · 4 bearish · 2 people on the record · first statement Feb 3, 2020 by Sarah LaFleur · said 4 times in 4 episodes since 2020 · across every show →
On the record as a speaker too: Sarah LaFleur's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.
Mentions by year
brought up most by Guy Raz (4)
tap a year for its mentions
2025 1 mention in 1 episode
2024 1 mention in 1 episode
2020 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
Everything said about Sarah LaFleur, oldest first
Feb 3, 2020 neutral
LaFleur: Garment factories reject unknown designers because most fail within a year
“Most factories are not willing to work with a no-name because I mean, small designers come and go, and so I didn't realize, like, I was like, well, I'm willing to pay you money, and they were like, it doesn't matter if you're willing to pay us money, like, we …”
Feb 3, 2020
LaFleur: M.M.LaFleur's bank account reached negative $2,000 in 2014
“Not only did we run out, it actually went into the negatives. Our bank account, I think, at one point said, like, -2000 or something, and I didn't know you could draw down beyond zero, so that was a wake-up call, and I had to go out and fundraise again.”
Feb 3, 2020 neutral
Feb 3, 2020
LaFleur: Advising cash-strapped founders to be picky about investors is unhelpful
“Telling other entrepreneurs, like, don't just take anyone's money, or be really careful who you take money from. That's all well and good when you've got cash in the bank. When you don't it's really unhelpful advice, because it's true, you really want to make …”
Feb 3, 2020
LaFleur bought and returned $20,000 in dresses to show target aesthetic
“I'm embarrassed to say that I once bought twenty-some-what-odd thousand dollars of clothing from a luxury department store, which really only amounted to, like, seven pieces because each one was so expensive. Because I wanted to show Miyako the kind of clothes…”
Feb 3, 2020 positive
Feb 3, 2020 positive
LaFleur: Women discover workwear through peer word-of-mouth, not fashion magazines
“And I think one thing I didn't quite realize, you know, women, they're not looking to fashion magazines to
Tell them what to wear to work.
They're turning to each other.
They're asking each other, where'd you get that?
Where'd you shop for that?”
Feb 3, 2020
Feb 3, 2020
LaFleur uses referral outs in investor pitches to ease early-stage asks
“One phrase that I developed, which I started using in all of my emails, is, if you or anyone you know might be interested, please let me know. I think the you or anyone else you know gave the other person an elegant out if they weren't interested.”
Feb 3, 2020
Feb 3, 2020
Feb 3, 2020
Jan 10, 2022 bullish
First Bento Box email drove record revenue in a single week
“18% of customers responded to that email saying, sure, send me something. I don't have time, it would be so great if you chose it for me. And we ended up sending those 180 boxes out, and making more money in that one week. Than we ever had in any month leading…”
Jan 10, 2022 negative
LaFleur: Publicizing funding amounts creates an unhealthy startup culture identity
“We don't disclose it, and it's so funny because I think there's a real dark side to talking about how much money you've raised, and I think what happens often in startup culture is that, that is what you become known for.”
Jan 10, 2022
LaFleur: M.M.LaFleur raised zero venture capital in its first four years
“Four years into it, to around 2017, a VC investor approached us and he said, hey, we're just interested in learning more about you. Could you tell us? And I think at that point I had a big, big chip on my shoulder because we had had total failure trying to rai…”
Jan 10, 2022 negative
LaFleur: Advising cash-strapped founders to avoid certain investors is unhelpful
“Telling other entrepreneurs, like, don't just take anyone's money, or be really careful who you take money from. That's all well and good when you've got cash in the bank. When you don't it's really unhelpful advice, because it's true, you really want to make …”
Jan 10, 2022 positive
Jan 10, 2022 positive
LaFleur: Professional women's apparel is a $100B–$120B market
“There are thirty million women, age 25 to 45, who work in some sort of corporate environment, and these women spend, on average, for women making 75 K and up, 4000 dollars a year on clothes to wear to work, and so that's roughly a hundred to a hundred twenty b…”
Jan 10, 2022
May 21, 2026 negative
May 21, 2026
LaFleur: M.M. LaFleur nearly failed after lender collapse and SVB crisis
“In 2023, we had Silicon Valley Bank, which we banked with. That was the scariest 72 hours. But then in 2024, my lender went under, and we had, like, an urgent capital call, essentially, and that actually was probably the closest I've ever come to losing my bus…”
Aug 6, 2026 bearish
Sarah LaFleur: Email is a declining channel due to inbox saturation
“Email, first of all, I think is just a declining channel. And that's like just the hard truth. It's not that people don't read emails anymore, but it's people get so many of them every single day that it's impossible to keep in track.”