Reno: Most users choose subscription services to avoid being tied down by ownership
Jay Reno · Jay Reno of Feather, a Furniture Subscription Startup · Y Combinator · Aug 14, 2019 · at 5:19
Jay Reno, founder and CEO of Feather, argues that cultural preferences for mobility drive subscription services more than financial constraints.
0:00 / 0:16exact quote · 16.1s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“The reality is most people are using Feather and companies like us whether it's, you know, Rent the Runway or Uber or Lyft or Spotify, et cetera, because they don't necessarily want to own things and have things tying them to a physical space.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Jay Reno
Reno: No off-the-shelf software supports furniture subscription reverse logistics
“The software that our business needs doesn't exist off the shelf.”
Reno: IKEA and Wayfair furniture is not meant to be moved
“Buying, you know, Ikea, Wayfair, what you might consider disposable furniture that can be assembled once and set up once in someone's home and doesn't really transport very well. It's not meant to be disassembled or moved.”
Reno: Furniture subscription MVPs require visual merchandising and aesthetic appeal
“For this to work, you kind of need to have a little bit of merchandising. You need to have a little bit of a visual aesthetic and appeal to see what furniture is with the prices, et cetera.”
Reno: Furniture buyers actually want the flexibility of subscriptions
“They're not addressing the massive opportunity, which are people who are currently buying furniture, thinking they want to buy furniture, but in fact, what they actually want is the flexibility to be able to subscribe to furniture.”
Reno: Delivering products in person beats phone interviews for customer discovery
“It's not enough. Typically to just do user interviews over the phone. Video is helpful. You can meet people in person or like I did do the deliveries and see the people who are using your products, see the living situation they're in and see the furniture that…”
Reno: High-demand startups often fail by disrespecting logistics complexity
“You have to respect logistics and respect operationally intensive businesses. And, you know, I think there've been a lot of venture backed companies that have very that have very high demand that should exist today, but they maybe ran too quickly and didn't ne…”