Building a $150MM Empire from Scratch, with Ariel Kaye, Founder of Parachute

“I’m really passionate about creating beautiful spaces,” says Ariel Kaye, founder of home and lifestyle brand Parachute, which she founded in 2014 after realizing that she and her peers were having trouble finding cozy, quality sheets to furnish their post-college apartments. Since then, Parachute has become an industry disruptor in the home and textile space, evolving into a lifestyle brand which provides essentials for all rooms in the home. In nine years, Parachute has earned $150 million, added 20 brick-and-mortar locations across the U.S. to its direct-to-consumer model, and expanded into the Canadian market with the Hudson’s Bay Company. The brand is dedicated to sustainability and climate neutral certification as well as to cultivating wellness and kindness. Come on in and meet Ariel, the founder who is spearheading a comfort movement across North America.

Top takeaways from today’s episode:

• You know you have a good idea when you can’t think of anything else
• Asking for help isn’t a weakness–people are happy to give you their time
• PR is important
• Look for consumer feedback when making decisions–especially about product extensions
• Being a founder can be chaotic and lonely. Keep a community around you to stay focused

Quotes

• “I was 100% positive that this was a great idea. I felt it in my bones. I could not shake it.” (10:54-11:00 | Ariel)

• “The response that we got from the customer was the indicator for me that we were onto something…It was just this, “ I see you,’ moment.” (24:51-25:09 | Ariel)

• “As someone who has a background in building relationships with the customer, the whole idea around Parachute was, ‘How do you build a relationship with the customer so that they keep coming back?’... I knew that retail had to be a big part of it.” (28:12-28:46 | Ariel)

Connect with Ariel Kaye:

Instagram Ariel | https://www.instagram.com/arielkaye/

Instagram Parachute | http://www.instagram.com/parachute

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