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Nov 15, 2018 · 15m · how-i-built-this

Rent The Runway's Jenn Hyman At The HIBT Summit

Jenn Hyman · 9m spoken Guy Raz · 3m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Recorded live at the How I Built This Summit, Rent the Runway co-founder Jennifer Hyman joins Guy Raz to share how she strategically phased her 'closet in the cloud' vision, built collaborative fashion partnerships, and developed the leadership required to scale a disruptive brand.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 25.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Guy as informed peer 3.0 Guest teaching 3.2 Guest disagreement 0.6 Guy pushing back 0.2
05100:0010:001:28–3:28 · Guy as informed peer 3/10 The Grand Vision of the Closet in the Cloud Raz sets up the conversation by asking about Hyman's long-term vision from day one. Hyman details how she had to start with a digestible use-case like special occasion dresses before launching a broader wardrobe rotation service.3:29–6:15 · Guy as informed peer 3/10 Evolving to Everyday Wardrobes and Subscription Models Raz asks how Hyman determined the timing for launching everyday subscriptions. Hyman explains how customer demand evolved alongside the broader sharing economy and highlights the professional wardrobe demands placed on women.6:15–8:48 · Guy as informed peer 2/10 Industry Buy-in and the Department Store Dilemma Hyman shares insider conversations with department store executives, educating Raz on how luxury retailers tolerate high return rates from wealthy customers. Raz listens with genuine surprise and amusement.8:49–11:28 · Guy as informed peer 4/10 Strategic Partnership Versus Aggressive Market Disruption Raz brings up operational details about dry cleaning scale and asks about fallback plans. Hyman gently corrects Raz's dry cleaner scope to global and rejects the premise of needing a plan B.11:29–14:32 · Guy as informed peer 3/10 Essential Qualities for Founders and Scaling Leadership Raz asks Hyman to share advice for aspiring founders and discuss her long-term ambition. Hyman speaks on the importance of humility in scaling leadership and outlines her target of building a hundred billion dollar company.1:28–3:28 · Guest teaching 2/10 The Grand Vision of the Closet in the Cloud Raz sets up the conversation by asking about Hyman's long-term vision from day one. Hyman details how she had to start with a digestible use-case like special occasion dresses before launching a broader wardrobe rotation service.3:29–6:15 · Guest teaching 3/10 Evolving to Everyday Wardrobes and Subscription Models Raz asks how Hyman determined the timing for launching everyday subscriptions. Hyman explains how customer demand evolved alongside the broader sharing economy and highlights the professional wardrobe demands placed on women.6:15–8:48 · Guest teaching 5/10 Industry Buy-in and the Department Store Dilemma Hyman shares insider conversations with department store executives, educating Raz on how luxury retailers tolerate high return rates from wealthy customers. Raz listens with genuine surprise and amusement.8:49–11:28 · Guest teaching 4/10 Strategic Partnership Versus Aggressive Market Disruption Raz brings up operational details about dry cleaning scale and asks about fallback plans. Hyman gently corrects Raz's dry cleaner scope to global and rejects the premise of needing a plan B.11:29–14:32 · Guest teaching 2/10 Essential Qualities for Founders and Scaling Leadership Raz asks Hyman to share advice for aspiring founders and discuss her long-term ambition. Hyman speaks on the importance of humility in scaling leadership and outlines her target of building a hundred billion dollar company.1:28–3:28 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Grand Vision of the Closet in the Cloud Raz sets up the conversation by asking about Hyman's long-term vision from day one. Hyman details how she had to start with a digestible use-case like special occasion dresses before launching a broader wardrobe rotation service.3:29–6:15 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Evolving to Everyday Wardrobes and Subscription Models Raz asks how Hyman determined the timing for launching everyday subscriptions. Hyman explains how customer demand evolved alongside the broader sharing economy and highlights the professional wardrobe demands placed on women.6:15–8:48 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Industry Buy-in and the Department Store Dilemma Hyman shares insider conversations with department store executives, educating Raz on how luxury retailers tolerate high return rates from wealthy customers. Raz listens with genuine surprise and amusement.8:49–11:28 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Strategic Partnership Versus Aggressive Market Disruption Raz brings up operational details about dry cleaning scale and asks about fallback plans. Hyman gently corrects Raz's dry cleaner scope to global and rejects the premise of needing a plan B.11:29–14:32 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Essential Qualities for Founders and Scaling Leadership Raz asks Hyman to share advice for aspiring founders and discuss her long-term ambition. Hyman speaks on the importance of humility in scaling leadership and outlines her target of building a hundred billion dollar company.1:28–3:28 · Guy pushing back 0/10 The Grand Vision of the Closet in the Cloud Raz sets up the conversation by asking about Hyman's long-term vision from day one. Hyman details how she had to start with a digestible use-case like special occasion dresses before launching a broader wardrobe rotation service.3:29–6:15 · Guy pushing back 0/10 Evolving to Everyday Wardrobes and Subscription Models Raz asks how Hyman determined the timing for launching everyday subscriptions. Hyman explains how customer demand evolved alongside the broader sharing economy and highlights the professional wardrobe demands placed on women.6:15–8:48 · Guy pushing back 0/10 Industry Buy-in and the Department Store Dilemma Hyman shares insider conversations with department store executives, educating Raz on how luxury retailers tolerate high return rates from wealthy customers. Raz listens with genuine surprise and amusement.8:49–11:28 · Guy pushing back 1/10 Strategic Partnership Versus Aggressive Market Disruption Raz brings up operational details about dry cleaning scale and asks about fallback plans. Hyman gently corrects Raz's dry cleaner scope to global and rejects the premise of needing a plan B.11:29–14:32 · Guy pushing back 0/10 Essential Qualities for Founders and Scaling Leadership Raz asks Hyman to share advice for aspiring founders and discuss her long-term ambition. Hyman speaks on the importance of humility in scaling leadership and outlines her target of building a hundred billion dollar company.

speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Guy 60.6% · guest 39.4%0:00 · Guy 60.6% · guest 39.4%3:00 · Guy 15.6% · guest 84.4%3:00 · Guy 15.6% · guest 84.4%6:00 · Guy 8.1% · guest 91.9%6:00 · Guy 8.1% · guest 91.9%9:00 · Guy 19.9% · guest 80.1%9:00 · Guy 19.9% · guest 80.1%12:00 · Guy 24.7% · guest 75.3%12:00 · Guy 24.7% · guest 75.3%15:00 · Guy 27.5% · guest 72.5%15:00 · Guy 27.5% · guest 72.5%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:44 Rejecting the Plan B premise

Hyman firmly dismisses Raz's question about pivot strategies by stating she did not even have a plan A when starting out.

 Hardest push from Guy ▶ 10:32 Inquiring about pivot strategies

Raz pushes on whether Hyman had a fallback plan or contingency if the core business model ran into failure.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:49 Luxury retail theft dynamics

Hyman surprises Raz by explaining how high-end department stores allow wealthy shoppers to wear and return designer dresses because they spend heavily elsewhere in the store.

 Guy holds their own ▶ 10:22 Citing operational dry cleaner milestone

Raz demonstrates his knowledge of Rent the Runway's massive logistical scale by citing their status as the largest dry cleaner.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicGuy as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementGuy pushing backWhy
The Grand Vision of the Closet in the Cloud 3200 Raz sets up the conversation by asking about Hyman's long-term vision from day one. Hyman details how she had to start with a digestible use-case like special occasion dresses before launching a broader wardrobe rotation service.
Evolving to Everyday Wardrobes and Subscription Models 3300 Raz asks how Hyman determined the timing for launching everyday subscriptions. Hyman explains how customer demand evolved alongside the broader sharing economy and highlights the professional wardrobe demands placed on women.
Industry Buy-in and the Department Store Dilemma 2510 Hyman shares insider conversations with department store executives, educating Raz on how luxury retailers tolerate high return rates from wealthy customers. Raz listens with genuine surprise and amusement.
Strategic Partnership Versus Aggressive Market Disruption 4421 Raz brings up operational details about dry cleaning scale and asks about fallback plans. Hyman gently corrects Raz's dry cleaner scope to global and rejects the premise of needing a plan B.
Essential Qualities for Founders and Scaling Leadership 3200 Raz asks Hyman to share advice for aspiring founders and discuss her long-term ambition. Hyman speaks on the importance of humility in scaling leadership and outlines her target of building a hundred billion dollar company.

Statements from this episode (10)

Disclosure
Hyman: Rent the Runway was conceived around renting daily wardrobes, not just gowns
“The closet would move into the cloud because people were valuing experiences over ownership, and that there would be a time where a portion of what we wore every single day would be comprised of things that we don't own forever.”
Jenn Hyman Nov 15, 2018 ▶ 1:57
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Male investors understood Rent the Runway by comparing to tuxedo rentals
“And because most investors are men, They were able to compare it to something they did, which was rent a tuxedo.”
Jenn Hyman Nov 15, 2018 ▶ 3:00
Disclosure
Rent the Runway rented current-season inventory at 5-10% of retail
“You can imagine we were renting current season designer inventory for five to 10% of the price at the exact same time that it was at Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus and Saks and Net-a-Porter for sale.”
Jenn Hyman Nov 15, 2018 ▶ 6:37
Disclosure
Hyman: Neiman Marcus president was my second pitch cold call
“The second person I cold called was the president of Neiman Marcus. And I decided that I would go straight into kind of the belly of the beast, the person who was most likely to destroy me. I cold called him, and I shared the idea for Rent the Runway with him.”
Jenn Hyman Nov 15, 2018 ▶ 7:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hyman: Wardrobing return rate was 70% at Neiman Marcus, 35% at Macy's
“The theft rate, so the rent the runway rate at Macy's is only 35%, whereas at Neiman Marcus it's 70%, proving once and for all rich people steal more than poor people.”
Jenn Hyman Nov 15, 2018 ▶ 8:36
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hyman: Rent the Runway subscribers use the service 120 days yearly
“Our average subscriber is using us a 120 days of the year.”
Jenn Hyman Nov 15, 2018 ▶ 9:59
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hyman: Rent the Runway is the world's largest dry cleaner
“We believe it's in the world, but that, that's certainly a business that I never thought I would be in.”
Jenn Hyman Nov 15, 2018 ▶ 10:27
Prediction Partly held up
Hyman predicted Rent the Runway would reach 3,000 employees by 2019
“And before Rent the Runway, I had managed all of 10 people. And now my company has 1500 people and will likely have 3000 people by the end of next year.”
Jenn Hyman Nov 15, 2018 ▶ 12:38
Prediction Open · timeframe Nov 2023
Hyman aimed to build Rent the Runway into a $100 billion company
“Yeah, so I'm here to build a hundred billion dollar company, and To change the way we get dressed every single day all over the world, and to democratize what I think is one of the most elite industries on earth, and one of the most wasteful industries on eart…”
Jenn Hyman Nov 15, 2018 ▶ 13:16
Assertion Contradicted
Hyman: 80% of closet items are worn under three times
“And 80% of that stuff is worn three times or less and ends up in a landfill.”
Jenn Hyman Nov 15, 2018 ▶ 13:45
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