Julie Wainwright, Founder of The RealReal: Reinventing at 52, Building a Billion-Dollar Business, Turning Failure Into Fuel, & More
The Dream Bigger Podcast
Siffat Haider
4.8 • 625 Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2025
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today’s episode I am speaking with Julie Wainwright, founder of The Real Real. At 52, after the public collapse of Pets.com and a personal reset, Julie Wainwright launched The RealReal—an idea that would redefine luxury resale and grow into a billion-dollar business. In this episode, Julie shares how failure made her fearless, why she never let age define her ambitions, and the behind-the-scenes story of how The RealReal got off the ground. From clearing out celebrity closets in LA and building a brand rooted in trust and authenticity, Julie opens up about entrepreneurship, resilience, and what she wishes she’d done differently. Plus, she discusses the challenges of leadership, getting fired from her own company, and what’s next. Enjoy!
To connect with Julie on Instagram, click HERE.
To check out The Real Real, click HERE.
To check out Julie’s book Time to Get Real: How I Built a Billion-Dollar Business That Rocked the Fashion Industry, click HERE.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast is a dear media production. |
| 0:05.0 | Hi, I'm Sif Heider, the founder of Hire. |
| 0:08.1 | I'm a wellness entrepreneur and digital creator, and this is my show, The Dream Bigger |
| 0:12.4 | podcast. Listen, I love dreaming big, but you know what I love more? |
| 0:17.3 | Actually having the resources to make those big dreams happen. |
| 0:22.7 | And hey, dreams can sometimes be private jets, but other times, they can look a little something like having the best |
| 0:27.4 | skin of your damn life, or starting a successful business, or delving into spirituality. So on this |
| 0:34.4 | podcast, I chat with experts and thought leaders from different fields about their |
| 0:38.5 | tips and tricks on doing exactly that. So let's get right into it. |
| 0:46.3 | Hello, hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Dream Bigger podcast. |
| 0:50.7 | Today, I have Julie Wainwright, who is the former CEO of The Real Real. |
| 0:56.8 | Now, she built a billion dollar business with The Real Real, which is incredible. |
| 1:03.0 | It is actually, she is probably one of the few entrepreneurs I've spoken to who has achieved |
| 1:08.3 | this feat, because let me tell you you as a founder myself, building a |
| 1:12.5 | billion dollar business is so hard. It is at a level that I don't think most people can |
| 1:18.2 | comprehend. So this was an incredible conversation. And what I think is so inspiring about her is |
| 1:23.4 | that she didn't launch the real real until her 50s. And why that's so interesting is because I think all of us put all of these pressures on |
| 1:32.1 | ourselves about timelines and, oh, you know, I'm already 30 or I'm already 40 or whatever, |
| 1:37.7 | you know, number you've put in your own brain. |
| 1:39.5 | Like if I've not done it, it means I'm never meant to do it. |
| 1:41.5 | And I think Julie is a really good example of someone who |
| 1:45.2 | was able to start this incredibly successful business in her 50s after having a failure in another |
... |
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