Wayfair co-founder Niraj Shah clarifies the facts surrounding a 2019 employee walkout protesting sales to migrant detention facilities along the US border.
Insight
Shah: Winning commodity retail does not guarantee success in home goods
“If you're in any of these other categories, certainly there's a big business there, but that's effectively the business that the Walmarts and the Amazons and the Targets and the Costcos, they're all in that business, selling the same exact items to everybody. …”
Disclosure
Shah: Wayfair avoids corporate stances on issues lacking broad employee consensus
“There are other opinions that I have personally that I don't know that the company should take a stand on because frankly, there's two sides to a lot of topics that in our mind, there is not just one side that reflects everyone's reasonable views. And so one o…”
Insight
Shah: Fashion and home retail are uniquely driven by massive selection
“There's only a couple categories where a huge selection, ah, is really a key piece, where visual and aesthetic considerations are very paramount, where people want unique items, and the two are really fashion and home.”
Insight
Shah: Novel products require literal marketing before creative branding
“One thing we've seen over the years, sometimes when something is novel, the best way to communicate it is to be literal. You know, on the front of it, just saying, you know, add 16 ounces of water, and, you know, your chicken stock's ready to go, or add 32 oun…”
Insight
Shah: Founders should avoid raising VC if bootstrapping can work
“There's a lot of prestige in raising money, but the truth is you'd rather not raise money if you can get to the next level without it.
And so even if that means you might move a little slower, often that's a better decision.
And when the time is right to raise…”
Disclosure
Shah: Wayfair bootstrapped for 10 years via drop-shipping before raising equity
“The big use of money that we were able to avoid in our case is we didn't buy the inventory, and instead we drop ship the orders from suppliers using their open stock inventory.
So we didn't buy the item until we had already sold it.
That's what let us kind of …”