Chris Dixon wraps his Founder Stories interview with Gilt Groupe’s CEO and Founder, Kevin Ryan by discussing the early sales strategy of Gilt – a strategy that was designed to build customer and brand loyalty, but not the bottom line, at least initially.
Revisiting the launch period around four years ago, Ryan says, “we were going to make $4,000 for us on a sale and I spent $7,000 on the photo shoot, and you would say that is not a good business model, but what happened was the brands loved it, the customers loved it … and so now we sell $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 …. on a sale.”
The benefit was clear. Businesses liked selling excess items online in a classy environment and customers liked buying them at discount.
While the idea was gold, Ryan was quick to point out it was probably the least important part of the equation. He goes on to say, the key to success is “execution, and execution is hiring great people, managing them well and moving quickly.”
If you missed any part of Dixon’s interview with Ryan make sure to watch the entire clip below, or Part 1 and Part II separately.
Prior episodes of Founder Stories including Foursquare, GroupMe, and Tumblr are here.
Kevin P. Ryan is the Founder and CEO of Gilt Groupe, an innovative e-commerce company offering highly coveted products and experiences at insider prices. In 2007, Kevin along with a founding team created Gilt Groupe as an invitation-only site for coveted women’s apparel and accessories. Today, Gilt Groupe has over three million members and has added business lines in home; children; men’s apparel and gear (GiltMAN); vacation travel (Jetsetter); local services and experiences (Gilt City), and has launched the leading...
Headquartered in New York, Gilt Groupe is a privately held company dedicated to providing its members with access to coveted fashion and luxury lifestyle brands at sample sale prices. Gilt Groupe includes sales for men, women, and home as well as Gilt City (geo-specific), Gilt Taste (food), and Jetsetter (travel). Gilt Groupe hand selects both established and up and coming brands relevant to its membership base. Each Gilt Groupe Shopping Event is designer-specific and held over a one day...
Chris Dixon is a Partner at and co-founder of Founder Collective. He is also a contributing writer for TechCrunch. He previously was the CEO and Co-founder of SiteAdvisor, which was acquired by McAfee, and Hunch, which was acquired by eBay. In addition to his work with Founder’s Collective, Chris is a personal investor in early-stage technology companies, including Skype, TrialPay, DocVerse, Invite Media, Gerson Lehrman Group, ScanScout, OMGPOP, BillShrink, Oddcast, Panjiva, Knewton, and a handful of other startups that...
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