How To Build a Luxury Brand with No Outside Funding

Most people think bootstrapping means working harder or putting your own money into a business. That is part of it, but it misses the deeper question of financial sustainability and self-reliance.In the inaugural episode of What to Do Next, I sit down with Maurice Mosseri, co-founder of Still Here NYC, to talk about what bootstrapping really looks like without outside funding. Maurice and his wife used their wedding gifts to fund the first production run, only to lose everything when Barneys, their first major wholesale partner, went bankrupt. What they still had was proof that the product was selling.Maurice explains how that proof became leverage, from cold calling retailers to structuring the business around cash flow instead of optimism. We also talk about how the COVID pandemic disrupted the company just as it was gaining traction, with retailers canceling orders and plans forced to change, while quietly opening the door to unexpected opportunities.We also talk about some of the harder parts of scaling, including outgrowing suppliers and team members, why building a durable brand means not jumping on every opportunity, and what’s next for Still Here.—Brought to you by:Highbeam—Grow your brand with Highbeam’s cash management platform: https://www.highbeam.com/—Where to find Maurice Mosseri: • X: https://x.com/MauriceMosseri• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauricemosseri• Website: https://mauricemosseri.com Where to find David Segal: • Website: https://www.highbeam.com/ • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wtdn.podcast • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-segal-80b6079 —Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(02:44) Finding balance in life with a startup(04:17) The origins of Still Here (06:36) How the first production run was funded(08:23) What came next after losing everything in the Barneys bankruptcy(11:10) Why Still Here avoided a direct-to-consumer strategy(12:54) How Still Here funded the next production run with retailer deposits(16:55) Why Still Here chose bootstrapping(20:36) The challenge of outgrowing early suppliers(24:03) When loyal team members no longer scale with the business(29:04) Why Still Here can afford a longer ROI runway now (30:31) Why the retail stores became the key unlock(32:07) How COVID made early store openings cheaper(33:53) What pushed Still Here to open its own stores(37:47) The tradeoffs between direct-to-consumer and wholesale(40:03) Why Still Here pulled back from most retailers(44:16) What keeps Maurice up at night (45:10) Why Still Here is focused on sustainable growth—Referenced: • Still Here: https://www.stillhere.nyc• Sonia Mosseri on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-mosseri-608558b4• Barneys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barneys_New_York• Frame: https://frame-store.com • Agolde: https://agolde.com • Re/Done: https://shopredone.com • Net-a-Porter: https://www.net-a-porter.com• Farfetch: https://www.farfetch.com• Revolve: https://www.revolve.com• Bergdorf Goodman: https://www.bergdorfgoodman.com• Neiman Marcus: https://www.neimanmarcus.com • Browns: https://www.brownsfashion.com• Saks Fifth Avenue: https://www.saks.com• Harvey Nichols: https://www.harveynichols.com • Fred Segal: https://www.fredsegal.com