Jay Reno's guest appearances

Jay Reno

Y Combinator

Business of Home Podcast

BiggerPockets Business Podcast

Who's Saving the Planet?

Reid Hoffman

Elon Musk

J Scott

Casey Neistat

Jerry Maguire

David Sutherland

Barbara Corcoran

Herman Miller

Tim Urban

Brent Underwood

Emily Weiss

Gino Wickman

John Ruhlin

Alan Donegan

Cody Berman

OwlTail

9.8 million tons of furniture end up in landfills every year, and most of it was pretty crappy to begin with. Jay  is here to change that, and along the way, our conception of how we use, enjoy and own our stuff.  To be clear, the CEO and founder of Feather, Jay Reno, would never claim to be the anti-anything, he's focused on creating forward looking solutions rather than dragging the Swedes (neither are we, great people). That said, the business model of furniture built out of particle boards relies on the assumption that many of us would rather trash it then schlep it when it's time to move. In today's increasingly transient and urban lifestyle where people are moving more frequently and buying homes later in life deciding whether a couch is worth the haul happens every 2 or three years rather than decades, and if that couch wan't that great to begin with, hello curb. Feather has built a rental model that offers high-quality furniture at a monthly rate that doesn't crush your wallet, and when it's time to go, they'll gladly come collect the couch and you can start fresh in the new pad. The furniture is built so that component parts can be exchanged or repaired instead of trashed and replaced. This makes it easier for the customer to keep their stuff in good condition and incentivizes the company to build things to last, all while lightening the burden on the planet. Win win win, our favorite.  On a more personal note, Jay didn't saunter into this multi-million dollar VC backed hyper-success over night. Feather is his third start up, and he's learned many a lesson. We talk about the tumultuous path every entrepreneur walks, what it takes to stick it out, and advice that gets you through along the way. 

9.8 million tons of furniture end up in landfills every year, and most of it was pretty crappy to begin with. Jay  is here to change that, and along the way, our conception of how we use, enjoy and own our stuff.  To be clear, the CEO and founder of <a href="//livefeather.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Feather</a>, Jay Reno, would never claim to be the anti-anything, he's focused on creating forward looking solutions rather than dragging the Swedes (neither are we, great people). That said, the business model of furniture built out of particle boards relies on the assumption that many of us would rather trash it then schlep it when it's time to move. In today's increasingly transient and urban lifestyle where people are moving more frequently and buying homes later in life deciding whether a couch is worth the haul happens every 2 or three years rather than decades, and if that couch wan't that great to begin with, hello curb. Feather has built a rental model that offers high-quality furniture at a monthly rate that doesn't crush your wallet, and when it's time to go, they'll gladly come collect the couch and you can start fresh in the new pad. The furniture is built so that component parts can be exchanged or repaired instead of trashed and replaced. This makes it easier for the customer to keep their stuff in good condition and incentivizes the company to build things to last, all while lightening the burden on the planet. Win win win, our favorite.  On a more personal note, Jay didn't saunter into this multi-million dollar VC backed hyper-success over night. Feather is his third start up, and he's learned many a lesson. We talk about the tumultuous path every entrepreneur walks, what it takes to stick it out, and advice that gets you through along the way.

Feather: How Jay Reno Built the Anti-IKEA

Have you ever thought about starting a BIG business? Ever wondered what the first steps were to raising tens of millions of dollars? Do you unintentionally impose limitations on what you think you can accomplish? Have you ever thought, “If I just had more money, I could take my idea to the next level!”?If so, this episode is for you!Jay Reno, founder of Feather, has thought BIG from the start. His entrepreneurial journey began with an idea a bit ahead of its time. When that venture didn’t work out so well, he took the lessons he learned to bootstrap a whole new concept.Living in New York City and identifying with the trend of a new generation of people defining success through life experiences rather than being tied down to meaningless material possessions, Jay recognized an opportunity to put his degree in Climate &amp; Environmental Sciences to work. With just a few thousand dollars and a ton of hard work and diligence, Jay quickly achieved proof of concept for Feather, a furniture rental company providing a flexible and sustainable alternative to ownership.In this episode, Jay tells us about his amazing experience at Y Combinator, an incubator program where other leading companies like DoorDash, AirBNB, and Dropbox also got their start. He offers insight on the pros and cons of raising money vs. bootstrapping your way to success. (Yes, there actually IS heartache involved, even when investors have pumped 70 MILLION DOLLARS into your company.) And he provides awesome examples of taking risks, making bets, and positioning yourself to be lucky when the time is right.Make sure you pay attention to Jay’s reminders about the common excuses potential entrepreneurs make that hold them back, to make sure you overcome and avoid standing in your own way of greatness.Check him out, and subscribe to the BiggerPockets Business Podcast so you won’t miss our next show!Links from the Show: Zoho CRM Act CRM Salesforce CRM BiggerPockets Pro Memberships Check the full show notes here: http://biggerpockets.com/bizshow67  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever thought about starting a BIG business? Ever wondered what the first steps were to raising tens of millions of dollars? Do you unintentionally impose limitations on what you think you can accomplish? Have you ever thought, “If I just had more money, I could take my idea to the next level!”?If so, this episode is for you!Jay Reno, founder of Feather, has thought BIG from the start. His entrepreneurial journey began with an idea a bit ahead of its time. When that venture didn’t work out so well, he took the lessons he learned to bootstrap a whole new concept.Living in New York City and identifying with the trend of a new generation of people defining success through life experiences rather than being tied down to meaningless material possessions, Jay recognized an opportunity to put his degree in Climate &amp; Environmental Sciences to work. With just a few thousand dollars and a ton of hard work and diligence, Jay quickly achieved proof of concept for Feather, a furniture rental company providing a flexible and sustainable alternative to ownership.In this episode, Jay tells us about his amazing experience at Y Combinator, an incubator program where other leading companies like DoorDash, AirBNB, and Dropbox also got their start. He offers insight on the pros and cons of raising money vs. bootstrapping your way to success. (Yes, there actually IS heartache involved, even when investors have pumped 70 MILLION DOLLARS into your company.) And he provides awesome examples of taking risks, making bets, and positioning yourself to be lucky when the time is right.Make sure you pay attention to Jay’s reminders about the common excuses potential entrepreneurs make that hold them back, to make sure you overcome and avoid standing in your own way of greatness.Check him out, and subscribe to the <a href="https://www.biggerpockets.com/bizshow" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">BiggerPockets Business Podcast</a> so you won’t miss our next show!Links from the Show:<ul> <li><a href="https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/www.zoho.com/crm/?" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Zoho CRM</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.act.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Act CRM</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.salesforce.com/crm/?" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Salesforce CRM</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.biggerpockets.com/pro" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">BiggerPockets Pro Memberships</a></li> </ul> Check the full show notes here: <a href="http://biggerpockets.com/bizshow67" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://biggerpockets.com/bizshow67</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

67: Thinking BIG and Raising $70 Million with Jay Reno

Jay Reno is the CEO and founder of Feather. Feather is a furniture subscription service. They were in the Summer 2017 batch of YC.You can check out their furniture at LiveFeather.com and if you live in LA, SF, or New York you can try out the service.Jay is on Twitter @jayjreno.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/***Topics00:00 - Intro00:49 - Opting out of owning furniture6:29 - Feather's prototype9:19 - How much did he make from his MVP?9:59 - How many products did they have?12:14 - Legacy competitors 14:04 - Changing branding from RentFeather.com to LiveFeather.com15:59 - Customer interviews and learnings18:29 - Scaling a company with physical products21:29 - Why expand to other markets vs focus on one?23:59 - Who to hire and when in a logistics-heavy business26:09 - Unexpected learnings from scaling Feather27:54 - Feeling his role change over time29:44 - Counterintuitive advice35:19 - Advice for YC founders after Demo Day

<a href="https://twitter.com/jayjreno" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jay Reno</a> is the CEO and founder of <a href="https://www.livefeather.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Feather</a>. Feather is a furniture subscription service. They were in the Summer 2017 batch of YC. You can check out their furniture at <a href="https://www.livefeather.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LiveFeather.com</a> and if you live in LA, SF, or New York you can try out the service. Jay is on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/jayjreno" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@jayjreno</a>. The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCannon" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Craig Cannon</a>. Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 00:49 - Opting out of owning furniture 6:29 - Feather's prototype 9:19 - How much did he make from his MVP? 9:59 - How many products did they have? 12:14 - Legacy competitors 14:04 - Changing branding from <a href="http://RentFeather.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RentFeather.com</a> to <a href="http://LiveFeather.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LiveFeather.com</a> 15:59 - Customer interviews and learnings 18:29 - Scaling a company with physical products 21:29 - Why expand to other markets vs focus on one? 23:59 - Who to hire and when in a logistics-heavy business 26:09 - Unexpected learnings from scaling Feather 27:54 - Feeling his role change over time 29:44 - Counterintuitive advice 35:19 - Advice for YC founders after Demo Day

#139 - Jay Reno

It’s a commonly cited statistic: Moving is more stressful than divorce. And—chasing freedom and flexibility—millennials are moving a whole lot. Jay Reno, founder and CEO of Feather, is hoping to make it easier on them with a service that offers furniture on a subscription, pay-as-you-go basis. In the latest episode of the Business of Home podcast, Reno spoke with host Dennis Scully about how the American dream has changed, why the time is right for his innovative concept, and the environmental impact of fast furniture. This episode is sponsored by High Point Market.

It’s a commonly cited statistic: Moving is more stressful than divorce. And—chasing freedom and flexibility—millennials are moving a whole lot. Jay Reno, founder and CEO of Feather, is hoping to make it easier on them with a service that offers furniture on a subscription, pay-as-you-go basis. In the latest episode of the Business of Home podcast, Reno spoke with host Dennis Scully about how the American dream has changed, why the time is right for his innovative concept, and the environmental impact of fast furniture. This episode is sponsored by High Point Market.