On October 8th, Dave Gilboa joined Startup Grind NYC at AOL in Manhattan along with a diverse crowd to discuss his vision and the future of Warby Parker. Warby Parker has made a huge impact on eyewear, fashion, and technology. What other tech company has been featured in GQ and TechCrunch? By identifying a market inefficiency in the high cost of eyeglasses and finding their niche in online sales, Warby Parker literally took off right from its inception; they hit their first year sales targets in three weeks! Warby Parker is now a vertically integrated brand with physical locations and is reportedly valued at $300 million. Dave sat down with Brian Park and spoke about everything from running a marathon in a flamingo costume to launching a company with three co-founders.
“Our Biggest Mistake Was Not Planning for Extreme Situations”
VISION As an MBA student at Wharton, Dave couldn’t fathom paying several hundred dollars for a pair of glasses. For centuries lens technology has changed very little, yet the prices have remained high. Dave and his co-founders saw an opportunity by selling low cost, high quality eyeglasses online. When Warby Parker launched, less than one percent of glasses were sold online. The eyeglass market was dominated by Luxottica, which generates close to $10 billion in sales annually. Dave and his co-founders wanted to have a positive impact on the world and were excited about changing a multi-billion dollar a year industry. By targeting customers who wanted the convenience of shopping online and the twenty percent of eyeglass suppliers who wanted an alternative to Luxottica, Warby Parker disrupted the industry. In hindsight, Dave says his biggest mistake was not planning for overwhelming immediate demand. A problem most businesses would be very lucky to have.
“We Had a Business Plan. It Was 40 Pages Long and We Haven't Looked at it Since We Launched.”
EXECUTION Warby Parker was able to operate for almost a year and a half before their first round of fundraising. Along the way, some missteps were made, but Dave maintains, “You can screw up as an early stage company as long as you go out of your way to make your customers happy.” A commitment to customer satisfaction, a stylish and affordable product, and convenience are what have made Warby Parker a success. So what does the future hold? In five to ten years, Warby Parker is aiming to be a global lifestyle brand with hundreds of stores and selling more than eyeglasses.
The full video of Dave’s interview is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSzVA9lU8ek&feature=youtu.be and full-length write ups can be found here: http://alleywat.ch/173SUS5 and here: http://www.officeleasecenter.com/articles/october-8th-2013-the-story-behind-the-success-of-warby-parker.html.
Thanks to AOL for hosting us and to all of the attendees for a wonderful night!