Wayfair co-founder Steve Conine reflects on selling his first web consultancy, Spinners, for equity that skyrocketed during the dot-com boom before collapsing.
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“I remember I had this Merrill statement that says I was worth twenty seven million when I was probably like a 24 year old. And I remember thinking I'm all set. And then, you know, six months later it was basically back down to zero.”
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More from Steve Conine
Disclosure
Conine: Wayfair created an ethics group for orders after employee walkouts
“Coming out of that, I mean, we created an orders perspective group and we've really did a lot of soul searching as a company to really think about, okay, how do we think about who do we sell to?”
Steve ConineAug 29, 2020▶ 17:55How I Built Resilience: Niraj Shah and Steve Conine of Wayfair
Insight
Conine: If an entrepreneur cannot sell, they lack a viable idea
“You got to start with a sale, and if you can't sell anything, you don't have an idea, and so, you know, after kind of validating that, I guess, we sort of said it's time to walk away from this one.”
Steve ConineApr 16, 2018▶ 12:32Wayfair: Niraj Shah & Steve Conine
Insight
Conine: Consumer brands must prepare for social media narrative hijacking
“Anyone who's building a big brand is going to have to be aware that their brand can be used to amplify messages. And that is going to be something they have to contend with and think about and learn how to navigate.”
Steve ConineAug 29, 2020▶ 16:42How I Built Resilience: Niraj Shah and Steve Conine of Wayfair
Disclosure
Conine: Wayfair launched Racksandstands.com with zero inventory risk via drop-shipping
“So we'd buy out of their inventory, so we had no inventory risk, so it was all drop-shipped out of distributors.”
Steve ConineApr 16, 2018▶ 18:18Wayfair: Niraj Shah & Steve Conine
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Steve Conine: 30-to-45-day supplier terms enabled Wayfair to self-fund
“It's been, from that day, early years on, it runs a positive cash cycle, so, you know, customers would pay us right away, and we didn't have to pay suppliers for 30 to 45 days, and so you had this kind of natural cash cushion and so, yes, it was, you know, it …”
Steve ConineApr 16, 2018▶ 24:46Wayfair: Niraj Shah & Steve Conine
AssertionSupported
Conine: CSN Stores expanded to operate 250 niche e-commerce websites
“We got up to where we had 250 of these.”
Steve ConineApr 16, 2018▶ 29:44Wayfair: Niraj Shah & Steve Conine
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