Assertion Supported
Andy Dunn was arrested for assault during a 2016 manic episode
“And I was arrested for felony and misdemeanor assault of my now wife and mother-in-law who were Trying to keep me from running into the street naked out of my apartment on ninth street.”
Opinion
Dunn: The venture capital system is fundamentally misogynistically wired
“So we have a mismatch where men who don't understand women or how women shop are trying to decide how to make investments, and only nine percent of VCs are women. So it's a fundamentally misogynistically wired system.”
Opinion
Dunn: Venture capital is a fundamentally misogynistically wired system
“So we have a mismatch where men who don't understand women or how women shop are trying to decide how to make investments, and only nine percent of VCs are women. So it's a fundamentally misogynistically wired system.”
Opinion
Andy Dunn: DTC apparel is an impossible business model due to CAC
“I spent 13 years building something that I think in retrospect is an impossible business model, which is DTC apparel. Like, I don't actually think it works. Like, the math doesn't work on it, because it's too expensive to acquire, acquire customers, right?”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dunn: Investment capital is flowing to profitable wholesale brands, not DTC
“All the money is going into profitable wholesale led brands now, not into DTC brands.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bonobos' retail stores and Nordstrom wholesale profits funded its e-commerce losses
“And our second most profitable were our retail stores, and those two businesses' profits were funding losses from the e-commerce business, which is a wonderful paradox to the way that we conceived of the company.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
E-commerce platforms will vertically integrate proprietary brands just like Netflix
“The future of e-commerce was gonna look a little bit like the history of Netflix. That a platform that was streaming other people's content and distributing other people's content would vertically integrate and start to develop their own proprietary content.”
Insight
Dunn: Founding a business with friends destroys the friendship's emotional support
“Once you get into a business partnership with a friend, the friendship gets totally sublimated to the business partnership. So a lot of the stuff that you used to talk about or do, you don't have time to do because you've got to work on this little growing bab…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dunn: Bonobos' physical retail and wholesale channels ultimately funded e-commerce losses
“Our most profitable business became Nordstrom. And our second most profitable were our retail stores, and those two businesses' profits were funding losses from the e-commerce business, which is a wonderful paradox to the way that we conceived of the company.”
Insight
Dunn: Zero-inventory clothing stores generate higher retail sales per square foot
“You create a clothing store that has no clothing. And that was the insight, which is the customer doesn't need it right away, and that flew in the face of everything everyone in retail told me from the traditional industry. Instant gratification. And it turns …”
What-if
Andy Dunn: Giving equity to celebrity influencers beats Instagram ads
“And if I could go back and do bonobos again, I wish I understood how much better it is to dilute your brand by giving the equity to someone like that than running Instagram ads.”
Insight
Being an employee is often harder than being a startup CEO
“And I have to say, it is such a profoundly humbling, meaningful, good, And challenging, sometimes maddening experience to realize that all these years you were, you know, woe is me, being a CEO is so hard, and it actually turns out that being an employee in a …”
Opinion
Marc Lore is the best entrepreneur on the East Coast
“Was Mark Laurie, who I think is the best entrepreneur on the East Coast.”
Insight
Hypomania is nearly indistinguishable from an entrepreneur who is 'on'
“I think that hypomanic state is almost indistinguishable from an entrepreneur who is quote unquote on, right?”
Insight
Startup volatility often masks clinical bipolar mood swings in founders
“It's easy to explain away The mood swings you might experience as a person with bipolar disorder, if you're also an entrepreneur, as being due to the fact that you're an entrepreneur, when there's something else that you need to be dealing with as well, that i…”
Insight
Dunn: Going into business with friends completely sublimates the friendship
“What I realized is once you get into a business partnership with a friend, the friendship gets totally sublimated to the business partnership.”
Opinion
Dunn: Opening a Bonobos engineering office in Palo Alto was catastrophic
“You know, we opened an office in Palo Alto, and it turned out to be a catastrophic error.”
Insight
Dunn: E-commerce platforms will vertically integrate proprietary brands just like Netflix
“The future of e-commerce was going to look a little bit like the history of Netflix. That a platform that was streaming other people's content and distributing other people's content would vertically integrate and start to develop their own proprietary content…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dunn: Warby Parker and Harry's succeeded by price-disrupting incumbents
“If you think about why, why did something like Warby Parker work or Harry's work? It's because they price disrupted Luxottica and Gillette respectively.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dunn: Curved waistbands had not been meaningfully used in men's pants
“And that was this genius insight that actually the way to do this is to make pants with a curved waistband, which would bring in the pant around to your waist in a way where the overall shape looks, looks great. And that hadn't really been done in a meaningful…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dunn: Bonobos was a 50-50 partnership, creating decision-making gridlock
“Because we were fifty-fifty partners. You know, I had the title of CEO, but Brian had a ton of business acumen, and so it really was a partnership of equals, and it becomes difficult to figure out who makes the call.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bonobos was eight days away from missing payroll in early 2009
“We had enough cash in the bank, I thought, to make payroll, but then we had, I guess, promised a supplier through a letter of credit, and we were about Eight days away from not making payroll, which is not an inspiring moment for your employees.”
Disclosure
Lead investor Joel Peterson walked away after Dunn sent a condescending email
“The second angel round that we raised. We raised it too high of a price, and actually, Joel was pretty upset about this. I, actually, I think I wrote the email to Joel that Was a condescending email in some regard around supporting the company, and it was the …”
Opinion
Andy Dunn: Opening Bonobos' Palo Alto office was a catastrophic error
“You know, we opened an office in Palo Alto, and it turned out to be a catastrophic error.”
