Susan Feldman (One Kings Lane) - Bootstrapping with Flair

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders (ETL)

Stanford eCorner

Journey, Startups, Education, Stanford, Culture, Strategy, Stanford University, Entrepreneurship, Business, Life Lessons, Thought Leadership, Creativity, Etl, Challenges, Leadership, Innovation, Founders

4.4 • 739 Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2017

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

E-commerce entrepreneur Susan Feldman describes how she and her co-founder went from bootstrapping One Kings Lane in the midst of the Great Recession, standing out from competitors in the home-decor industry by carefully curating product and focusing on creative flair, and ultimately being acquired by Bed, Bath & Beyond in 2016. Feldman speaks with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to the DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series, brought you weekly by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program.
0:10.3	You can find podcasts and videos of these lectures online at eChorner.standford.edu.
0:18.3	Today's guest is Susan Feldman, the co-founder of One King's Lane, a home furnishing platform.
0:24.5	In the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, she and her co-founder bootstrapped the business before raising venture capital.
0:31.6	The business was ultimately sold to Bed Bath and Beyond in 2016, and the eight-year journey was filled with many ups and downs.
0:39.9	Here's Susan Felt.
0:44.0	So let's dive in.
0:46.4	After years of working in these large companies with really senior and important roles,
0:52.3	why did you decide to go off and start your own venture?
0:55.2	Yeah.
0:56.1	Well, I think I always had that entrepreneurial mind. I think we talked about this mindset or spirit.
1:01.2	I know maybe I was talking somebody else about this, but I think, you know, even working in
1:04.8	large corporations, I always felt I was entrepreneurial. And I had spent most of my adult life in Manhattan, moved to Los Angeles about 11 years ago,
1:15.6	and we bought a house.
1:17.6	I know it sounds like it's a big deal, buying a house.
1:20.6	But I realized it was the first time I'd actually lived in a house since I left to go to Stanford.
1:25.6	And I became somewhat of a lunatic about designing and entertaining and became so obsessed
1:32.3	with it that, like I think a lot of, you know, businesses, I was looking for something
1:39.3	and I couldn't find it.
1:40.3	And I was looking to find unique product for my house online. And this was back in 2007.
1:47.7	And it was pretty dismal as far as, you know, interesting unique products.
1:52.1	So, you know, Amazon was there.
	...

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