Jenn Hyman - cofounder and CEO of Rent the Runway - on how to foster an entrepreneur's mindset
“I'm here to assure you that you can have it all,” says Jenn Hyman, co-founder and CEO of the disruptive fashion technology startup Rent the Runway. Hyman remains one of the few female founders to helm a billion-dollar empire, and the first to attain elusive unicorn status while also nine months pregnant. “You can have the life that you've always dreamed of having.
Since co-founding Rent the Runway in 2009 after attending Harvard Business School, Hyman has gone on to raise over $500 million in funding, growing the business to over 11 million members and revolutionizing the $2.4 trillion fashion industry along the way. Change has extended far beyond her professional life too, and Hyman stresses the importance of this in her evolution and success as a leader. “My whole life has changed.
“There is a myth that the more successful a woman becomes, the less a man is going to find her desirable. That's ridiculous.”Hyman admits to past fears that her career ambitions would make her current life out of reach. “I really had this thought that if Rent the Runway was successful that I would lose any ability to meet someone and get married,” she says. “There is a myth that the more successful a woman becomes, the less a man is going to find her desirable. That’s ridiculous.
I recently sat down with Jenn to discuss what she calls the “fun roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship,” her unapologetic confidence, and how she’s proving that success doesn’t have to be singular. Highlights of our conversation below.“I think that the story of Rent the Runway as it relates to getting investors interested in what we were doing and getting brands on board, is a story of proof through action.
“We were in the trenches together as a team in ensuring that we could get back to business as quickly as humanly possible. I saw in that moment that I had built a team in that moment that was as in love with our company, felt as responsible to our customers, wanted to do everything going above and beyond on behalf of our customers as I felt as the founder.”“As a company scales, the problems and the opportunities don't scale linearly, they scale exponentially.
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