How Warby Parker founder built a unicorn

Neil Blumenthal, Warby Parker, Brand (branding), eCommerce, Non-Tech, Physical Product

Today’s guest noticed a problem: no one was selling eyeglasses online.

So what did he do? He said, “There’s probably a better way. We could create our own brand, charge less, and have glasses that are cooler available to be bought online.” By doing that, he built what is considered a unicorn, one of these highly valued companies. I invited him here to talk about how he did it.

His name is Neil Blumenthal. He is the cofounder of Warby Parker. It’s a vertically integrated lifestyle brand that’s working to transform the optical industry.

Neil Blumenthal

Warby Parker

Neil Blumenthal is the cofounder of Warby Parker, a vertically integrated lifestyle brand that’s working to transform the optical industry.

Andrew: Hey, everyone. My name is Andrew Warner. I’m the founder of Mixergy.com, the place where I’ve done interviews with over a thousand entrepreneurs.

My goal is to hear the story of how they built their businesses so that you, you my listener, will continue to build your business not so much based on how they’ve done it, but with the knowledge that comes from understanding their stories. And my vision is that you listen to these interviews, build great companies and then you come back here and do an interview yourself to talk about how you did it.

Well, long before I did all this, I lived in New York, where I grew up. I remember going to Austin Street in Queens to buy glasses back when I wore glasses. I thought that by going into the local store and picking out the different brands and shelling out hundreds of dollars, which frankly for me, I was a high school and then college student doing this, actually a college student, that was a lot of...

Continue reading the transcript...