14 | AUGUST 2019
I
n November 2000, successful CEO
of Pets.com, Julie Wainwright, was
forced to pull the plug with the pet
e-commerce superstore she helped catapult
to IPO status just hours after her husband
unceremoniously asked for a divorce. And,
you thought you were having a bad day!
Following the untimely demise of both her
professional and personal lives, Wainwright
took solace in much-needed self-care,
spending her days and nights focused on
getting fit and painting to quell the pain.
During the next few years, Wainwright found
herself dodging a slew of uninteresting and
equally uninspiring CEO gigs, but eventually
settled for a position in venture capital.
Growing increasingly unfulfilled and bored
by her new endeavor, she knew she had to
take charge of her own fate. “I had to finally
say nobody is going to give me my dream
job, so I better figure it out myself.”
As Pets.com CEO, Wainwright was not
a founder of the collapsed e-commerce
enterprise, and never owned or operated her
own business. She was always the whiz kid
hired to get a company into financial high gear.After some soul-searching and deep,
personal introspection, the proverbial
lightbulb lit up.She had recalled being intrigued by a close
girlfriend who absolutely loved to shop for
secondhand designer duds from a trusted
boutique owner who specialized in high-
end, luxury brands. With her long-held
career as a CEO and e-commerce expert,
Wainwright began rigorously researching
the online fashion market and discovered
the market for luxury items in the United
States was bringing in a whopping $
billion annually with speculative future
growth AND an opportunity for disruption.
BINGO!So, Wainwright found herself rummaging
through her closet, finding 80 luxury items
she could easily re-sell. And, in 2011, the
RealReal was born – an e-commerce-
based marketplace for luxury, secondhand
goods. The RealReal deals with legendary,
luxury-based brands, such as Hermes,
Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Cartier, and more.
Consignors can earn up to 70% off the
items they sell, while the RealReal takes
care of in-home authentication, pick-up,
and shipping costs. With an impressive $
million in revenue within its first year, the
RealReal pulled more than $500 million in
sales in 2017. The RealReal currently staffs
over 950 people.