Identifying a market ripe for disruption
Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2025 3:40 am
Tell us about the idea behind the business, and how it started.
Alex: When we got started the online home furnishing space was just getting off the ground and was very much undiscovered territory. My business partner, Matt Herman and I, were in the furniture industry. Growing up his dad was in the industry, and he just fell into it. I found my way through other means. We had realized at the time that there weren’t too many places to go and buy furniture, let alone online. You have your big box stores like Bed Bath & Beyond and IKEA. You have your big mall stores like Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, et cetera. Then you have your mom and pop furniture stores, your Bob’s Discount and out in California, Living Spaces, Jerome’s Furniture etc. There weren’t any places that were targeting what would now be considered the modern millennial.
There was a big gap in the marketplace. We said at the beginning that we wanted to bridge the gap between IKEA and Crate and Barrel. We also wanted to address some of the inefficiencies of selling to younger people paraguay phone data through the mom and pop furniture store model, which relies heavily on salespeople, who would make others feel uncomfortable at times. The market was just really ripe for disruption and modernization.
A set of white sofa in a loft setting with a coffee table and rug.
Back in 2010 Matt Herman and Alex Back saw a gap in the market between bigbox furniture stores and shopping online for homeware and furniture. Apt2B
Felix: How did you know that this would be the future of the industry? Now we know it made sense, but how did you know back then?
Alex: We already understood that there were some definitive gaps in the furniture space to begin with regarding furniture retail, and how it didn’t cater to the younger demographic. There was a gap between the IKEAs and Crate and Barrels of the world. There were a few things that happened, the biggest of which was the fact that my business partner was a wholesale representative for a furniture manufacturer based out in Mississippi. It was an old school manufacturer that he represented on the West Coast selling to various furniture stores. He got an email from somebody asking to open up an online account. The manufacturer had not ever opened up an online account or sold to an online retailer. It was a little bit uncomfortable, but it was also, “Well, sure. Let’s see where it goes.”
Alex: When we got started the online home furnishing space was just getting off the ground and was very much undiscovered territory. My business partner, Matt Herman and I, were in the furniture industry. Growing up his dad was in the industry, and he just fell into it. I found my way through other means. We had realized at the time that there weren’t too many places to go and buy furniture, let alone online. You have your big box stores like Bed Bath & Beyond and IKEA. You have your big mall stores like Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, et cetera. Then you have your mom and pop furniture stores, your Bob’s Discount and out in California, Living Spaces, Jerome’s Furniture etc. There weren’t any places that were targeting what would now be considered the modern millennial.
There was a big gap in the marketplace. We said at the beginning that we wanted to bridge the gap between IKEA and Crate and Barrel. We also wanted to address some of the inefficiencies of selling to younger people paraguay phone data through the mom and pop furniture store model, which relies heavily on salespeople, who would make others feel uncomfortable at times. The market was just really ripe for disruption and modernization.
A set of white sofa in a loft setting with a coffee table and rug.
Back in 2010 Matt Herman and Alex Back saw a gap in the market between bigbox furniture stores and shopping online for homeware and furniture. Apt2B
Felix: How did you know that this would be the future of the industry? Now we know it made sense, but how did you know back then?
Alex: We already understood that there were some definitive gaps in the furniture space to begin with regarding furniture retail, and how it didn’t cater to the younger demographic. There was a gap between the IKEAs and Crate and Barrels of the world. There were a few things that happened, the biggest of which was the fact that my business partner was a wholesale representative for a furniture manufacturer based out in Mississippi. It was an old school manufacturer that he represented on the West Coast selling to various furniture stores. He got an email from somebody asking to open up an online account. The manufacturer had not ever opened up an online account or sold to an online retailer. It was a little bit uncomfortable, but it was also, “Well, sure. Let’s see where it goes.”