How She Built a $1 Billion Business that Revolutionized Luxury Consignment, with Julie Wainwright, Founder of The RealReal
Dear FoundHer...Real Founder Stories for Women Small Business Owners
Lindsay Pinchuk
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 June 2025
⏱️ 54 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
If you’re a woman business owner over 40, join the Dear FoundHer... Forum to find support, advice, resources and mentorship—JUST FOR YOU. It’s all inside, without the gatekeeping and without the overwhelm.
Julie Wainwright knows what it’s like to be underestimated, and to prove people wrong. She built The RealReal into a billion-dollar luxury consignment business, then watched from the sidelines as a board she no longer trusted forced her out. But that’s only part of the story.
In this episode, Julie sits down with Lindsay to talk about what it really means to lead. From the ashes of Pets.com to the early days of The RealReal, Julie explains how she saw an opening in the e-commerce space and moved fast, testing, iterating, and winning customers city by city. She didn’t wait for investor buy-in. She mailed postcards. She knocked on doors. She made it work.
What convinced early customers to trust her with their Chanel and Prada? What does it take to scale a business from $10 million to $500 million when most investors don’t even understand your category? And what do you do when the company you built is no longer yours?
Julie shares how strategic partnerships, like an early collaboration with Neiman Marcus, helped put The RealReal on the map. She reflects on the power of in-person experiences, like pop-up stores, and why human connection can drive business in a way digital never fully replaces.
Now leading her second venture, Ahara, Julie is focused on precision nutrition and on helping other entrepreneurs find their footing. Her new book, Time to Get Real, is both a memoir and a playbook for anyone building something that feels personal.
If you’ve ever doubted yourself, or felt like others have doubted you more, Julie’s story will remind you what’s possible when you trust your vision and keep going.
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 Introduction to Julie Wainwright and The RealReal
05:04 From Pets.com to The RealReal: Julie’s Founder Story
11:29 Building Trust in Luxury Consignment
17:43 Raising Capital and Finding the Right Investors
22:37 Scaling E-Commerce Through Strategic Partnerships
28:14 How Resale Impacts Luxury Markets
29:17 Leadership Changes and Boardroom Challenges
32:58 Lessons from Entrepreneurship and Gender Dynamics
36:48 Starting Over: New Ventures and Growth
39:24 Why Nutrition Became Julie’s Next Mission
43:34 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Connect with Julie Wainwright:
http://www.instagram.com/realrealjulie
Grab a copy of Julie's new book:
Get on the Marketing Made Simple Waitlist: https://lindsaypinchuk.myflodesk.com/waitlist
Dear FoundHer Forum: https://www.dearfoundher.com/dear-foundher-forum
Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/dearfoundher
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi guys, it's me, Lindsay Pinchuk, host of Dear Fountain. And in just a few minutes, |
| 0:06.1 | you're going to hear a conversation between me and the amazing Julie Wainwright, an e-commerce |
| 0:11.3 | pioneer who built a company that generated one billion, yes, billion with the B, dollars in revenue. |
| 0:18.6 | But as you'll hear in today's episode, despite being a technology company, |
| 0:22.4 | it was when Julie's company, The Real Real, gave its customers a brick and mortar in real |
| 0:27.8 | life experience that her brand truly started to take off. This was a pivotal moment for the |
| 0:33.9 | real real real. And if you know me, you know how much I believe in events and real life |
| 0:38.6 | connections. So much so that dear founder, what started as a podcast, has now evolved into a |
| 0:45.2 | movement supporting women business owners over 40, complete with in-person events, virtual events, |
| 0:51.6 | workshops, a mentorship, and an amazing online networking community. All of this |
| 0:57.0 | designed to give you that true connection with other women, just like you, who are building |
| 1:01.9 | and growing their own businesses and brands. So, regardless of what stage you're at or where you're |
| 1:07.9 | located, we have something for you. To get the latest scoop on our upcoming events, workshops, classes, and how to get |
| 1:15.2 | inside our networking community, the Deere Found Her Forum, click the link in our show |
| 1:19.8 | notes and sign up to receive our relaunched newsletter coming later this summer, the Found |
| 1:25.3 | Her files. |
| 1:26.5 | No fluff, no gatekeeping, just what's working |
| 1:29.5 | because we're better together. And now on to today's episode. Welcome to Dear Founder, |
| 1:37.2 | the podcast that pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to build and grow a successful |
| 1:42.7 | business. No gatekeeping, no fluff, |
| 1:45.9 | just real talk. I'm your host, Lindsay Pinchuk, award-winning entrepreneur, founder, and proud |
| 1:52.3 | member of the 1% of female founders who led their company to an acquisition. I bootstrapped my |
... |
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