EPISODE · May 3, 2023 · 43 MIN
BEST OF: Founder of The Laundress: Revolutionizing the Home Cleaning Industry
from The POZCAST: Decoding Success with Adam Posner · host Adam Posner
2:05 – Gwen’s starting point3:32 – High School/ Childhood Interest in Crafts4:55 – Fashion Illustration Classes5:40 – Start of Neck-tie Business6:50 – Internship with Ralph Lauren7:44 – Experience with Big Designers9:14 – Thread of Culture9:55 – Hands on Experience16:01- Origin of the name17:20 – The Audience17:44 – Raising Capital21:28 – The Moment of Truth23:15 – Most Challenging Element26:36 – Critical Mistake28:30 – Being Transparent28:48 – The Business Model32:14 – Element of Control33:54 – Post Acquisition by Unilever34:30 – What is in for Future?35:34 – Putting Learning into Practice35:55 – Advice to Young Fashion Entrepreneur38:38 – Best Piece of Advice39:32 – Gwen’s Super Power40:54 – Silver Linings42:40 – Gwen’s North Star
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What this episode covers
FIRST AIRED: 1/19/21 In this episode, Gwen Whiting, the founder of The Laundress and I talk about what it’s like to go through the full life cycle of a business from an idea to exit. All Gwen had, in the beginning, was a passion for the fashion industry, and she recalls not being particularly skilled in design when she started out. What she did from that point though, was what led her to be able to eventually get The Foundress acquired by Unilever. Gwen time and time again put herself in positions where she was uncomfortable, and was able to attain tremendous growth and experience as a result. Gwen refers to her main stint in the fashion industry as “Ralph Lauren University” and even says that she didn’t leave, she graduated. She is admirably gracious for her time at Ralph Lauren, where she was fortunate to have a ton of great experience in the industry that would eventually become the inspiration for The Foundress. After witnessing how much time, money, and attention that her colleagues were spending just to maintain their wardrobe, she enrolled in a course in laundering clothes at the recommendation of one of her mentors. Gwen’s story from here echoes that of many other entrepreneurs; including hosting a party to raise money to start the business, and then grinding her way into getting people to adopt what she and her partner had built. This is a great episode if you’re interested in hearing more about the story of a business being built from start to finish, so make sure to check this one out! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review/rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/thepozcast The POZCast is brought to you by our friends at Interseller – the prospecting + outreach platform of recruiters and sellers. Whether you’re doubling down on business development or recruiting talent, Interseller does all the heavy lifting of finding contact data, automating the email and follow-up process, and syncs all that rich data into 20+ CRMs and ATSs. Reach out and get going in a 2-week *free* trial today and let them know you heard about them from Adam on the POZCast. Check out a free demo today! https://bit.ly/2Fbm/BZ For more shows, please visit www.thePOZcast.com
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BEST OF: Founder of The Laundress: Revolutionizing the Home Cleaning Industry
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