Rent The Runway: Jenn Hyman

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2017

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jenn Hyman got the idea for Rent the Runway in 2008, after she watched her sister overspend on a new dress rather than wear an old one to a party. Jenn and her business partner built a web site where women could rent designer dresses for a fraction of the retail price. As the company grew, they dealt with problems that many female entrepreneurs face, including patronizing investors and sexual harassment. Despite these challenges, Rent The Runway now rents dresses to nearly six million women and has an annual revenue of $100 million. PLUS in our postscript "How You Built That," how Dustin Hogard and his business partner designed a survival belt that's full of tiny gadgets and thin enough to wear every day. 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 years 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.
0:29.0	I said, you know, we should really call Dan Van Firstenberg, the famous fashion designer.
0:34.0	Fast forward a few weeks and we're driving to the second meeting.
0:38.0	And her assistant calls and says, Dan, no longer wants to see you.
0:41.0	She's not interested in this idea.
0:43.0	And I said, oh yeah, we're just around the corner.
0:46.0	Like, we'll just drop by for a second.
0:49.0	And again, her assistant very firmly said, she doesn't want to see you.
0:54.0	What do you not understand?
0:56.0	And I said, oh, we're cutting off. We're cutting off and I hung up.
1:00.0	And then I sped down the west side highway.
1:03.0	And we were at her office and we just showed up.
1:07.0	From NPR, it's how I built this.
1:15.0	A show of innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built.
1:24.0	I'm Guy Raaz and on today's show, how two women who wanted high fashion
1:28.0	but couldn't afford the price tag decided to make it possible to rent the runway.
1:40.0	So, rent the runway is now one of the hottest fashion companies in the US.
	...

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