Away: Jen Rubio

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2019

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In early 2015, Jen Rubio was racing through an airport to catch a flight when her suitcase broke, leaving a trail of clothing behind her. She tried to replace it with a stylish, durable, affordable suitcase — but she couldn't find one. So she decided to create her own. In less than a year, Jen and her co-founder Steph Korey raised $2.5 million to build their dream travel brand: a line of sleek, direct-to-consumer suitcases simply called Away. Jen's hunch that the brand would emotionally resonate with young, jet-setting customers paid off. Today, Away has become a cult luggage brand that has sold more than one million suitcases. PLUS in our postscript "How You Built That," how Jon Maroney made sledding easier for adults and more dynamic for kids with a pair of sleds that strap to your legs. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:09.0	New Year's is here, and with it brings the possibility of change.
0:13.0	As one behavioral scientist put it, first starts are really powerful.
0:17.0	So as you head into 2023, LifeKit is a great resource to help you plan your life and tackle changes, both big and small.
0:24.0	Listen to the LifeKit podcast from NPR.
0:27.0	So the plan was launch before Christmas, get a lot of press, sell a lot of suitcases.
0:35.0	But we found out when we placed our order that there was no way that our bag would be ready before Christmas.
0:41.0	Which, I don't know why it was so surprising to us, we were like, what do you mean?
0:45.0	Like we have this timeline and the spreadsheet, and it said that if we ordered the bags by August, we would have them for the holidays.
0:51.0	Yeah.
0:52.0	And it was as if someone had said like we had to stop doing the company.
0:55.0	Music
1:01.0	From NPR is how I built this.
1:04.0	A show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built.
1:12.0	I'm Guy Ross and on today's show, I have a broken suitcase inspired Jen Rubio to design a better one.
1:19.0	And in the process, disrupt the multi-billion dollar luggage industry with her Instagramable suitcase away.
1:28.0	In a democracy, change comes from the ballot box.
1:32.0	But sometimes the will of the people is overrode by an assassin's bullet.
1:36.0	From Wondery, American History Tellers is a podcast that explores the events and people who shaped our history.
1:42.0	The newest season explores the assassins who changed our country.
1:45.0	Long before the Secret Service was created, presidents walked freely amongst the people.
	...

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