 Greetings everybody did I do it did I give you greetings audibly here we're working great Thank you all for coming. I know you're as excited as I am. We've looked forward to this evening for a very long time We have with us tonight not just a superstar of American business, but a Purdue graduate super star and as She will undoubtedly Make playing during the next hour the life of a CEO one of the few People of either gender but certainly one of the very few women at this point who both who found it and then led to a successful public offering a Now a public company That that that's a busy life and so it took a while to get her here, but it's going to be I know worth the wait You I'm sure are pretty well acquainted with the facts and figures I hope we've given you something that reminds you if not But thank you for being here and thank you for helping me welcome our friend and alum Julie Wainwright So I got a start in the obvious place house business Well We're public company now, so you're gonna have to wait for the quarterly results Well, you can tell us a little something like what's hot? What's selling? Well, let me just say I'm we really did suffer during COVID because we don't make anything We pick up things from other we recirculate goods, so we couldn't go into people's homes and pick up things And people weren't willing to come to our stores and drop them off So we had a rough time, but we are back and I would say everything sells within 90 days and there's some I mean there's some old favorites and those are things like Louis Vuitton and Chanel and Hermes and and if these names are like sound expensive. We are a value play so So at the top brands continue to perform jewelry fine jewelry and watches are on fire right now But people are buying dresses and men are buying ties again. Believe it or not. We can't keep ties in stock I knew I should have worn one tonight It's the last bad decision I made today, so I'm sure many you probably have many customers or certain students who have studied the innovation that is your company, but For the benefit of those who might not be completely clear just talk about the business model I mean you you invented a better mousetrap, right? I mean Yeah, so what I did about 2010 I had sort of mapped out where I thought e-commerce was going and what position Amazon would play And I wanted to get back in that business So it was clear to me that if another person made it and it wasn't high end because Amazon isn't a luxury destination Amazon would resell it. All right, so you really had to compete at a different level and and then the luxury Space was interesting, but I knew I wasn't going to start a new luxury brand And there were other brands that I thought were going to start happening. I really thought clean cleaning products were to be on the rise and Also Organic makeup, which was on the which is really hard to do but more natural products in every category It's beauty being a low barrier to entry a fragment and market not a high cost or tip run tests And the same thing cleaning products not pretty low barrier to entry at the beginning Because there's always people to actually be your manufacturer, but I hadn't but I had no ideas And then I'm shopping with a friend Who is in a boutique who buys everything in the back of the store, which the woman called the vault which was consignment and I had never seen her buy a consignment before when we walked out. I'm like I wanted to know what just happened And I said what would you ever walk into a consignment store? She said no, they're dirty and it's too hard to find things and I said would you ever shop on eBay? She said no too many fakes and I don't want to go back and forth with someone. I said, but you will buy previously on things She goes, oh, of course. Why not? That's a great deal. By the way, this is one of the most successful venture capitalists in the Valley So she wasn't doing it to save money. She was doing it because she loves a deal and everybody loves a deal and So that was it. I researched the luxury market. I researched the Value trapped in people's homes. I Tested all the competition and I decided the only way this is going to win and it's a huge untapped market There's about two hundred billion dollars worth of trapped products in people's homes value now across the US That's just a US number products that are five years or older That people have in their home that they are not recirculating the two hundred billion dollar Opportunity right there and I thought okay. How are we going to do this? How am I going to get it and I thought well, I'm gonna have I'm gonna have to go get the product I'm gonna have to operationalize it So we authenticate it because there's too many fakes in the market and that'll ruin the business So I'm gonna have to provide a full service both on authentication and taking pictures and then pick back and ship and customer service and a full sales team that goes to your house and and gets it and That's how we got started. We're still doing that and almost the model is almost exactly What I laid out at the beginning What's different and it's it's really changed the business. We are using AI and machine learning in a way that I couldn't have imagined in 2010 the business launched in 2011 but I couldn't couldn't imagine and then the other thing which I didn't know about The fashion industry is the second or largest polluter in the world and Every second we get a truckload going into a landfill with pet with unused with fashion that's being discarded Mostly fast fashion. So it's a really dirty industry Recirculating goods is one of the easiest ways to do something good for the planet I learned that about two years in and I would say we really understood the power of machine learning and AI about Probably three years ago and it's it's revolutionizing our business and also providing a competitive mode As has been our practice we have some students with us who are gonna ask questions toward the end of the hour And I know they're gonna ask a number of the more personal and career oriented questions So I'm gonna stick to the the fascinating business which you have invented and a business as you're disrupting and and Some of your past business experience now. I learned some new terms. This may shock you, but I don't know a lot about fashion Maybe doesn't shock you and But I like fast fashion was a new term to me. I'm pretty sure I'm a slow fashion type But I mean I get it. I don't know I thought was Was you know army surplus but At least that would be something that would recirculate now fast fashion tends to be Products that sell usually way under $50 and it's discarded regularly. It's following the trends They don't tend to make they don't have innovation. They're copiers There's a company called shine that sort of done out of China that Exploded during COVID and they went there. I think they're about 19 billion dollars You can probably wash their things twice or three times and they break down So if you just think of the economics if you buy an item at you know in the store or online for $20 and Then let's say they have to all the distribution costs shipping costs And you know they love when they throw in free shipping So if you just run the economics that item probably costs less than a dollar to make Now think of the workforce. This is not an automated item It's not like machines are making and think of what the workforce is making and then think about the products and think about the materials those things are made with and they are They're just it's disposable fashion. It's meant for you to throw it away So you keep giving them $20 every other month and it's a blight. It is absolutely a blight to the planet and and it is That company in particular doesn't isn't under any pressure right to change their Manufacturing standards or to embrace any kind of climate change the ones out of Europe with Zara is one Is under pressure because there's European laws to conform and do you know be a better actor? They have a long way to go H&M is another one. So there are other companies, but It's it's a pretty tough. It's really really hard If the US doesn't regulate it because it just it throw people throw it away literally three wears you throw it away So one more terminology question the name of the company the real real. Yeah, you want to know the origin or what it why? Yeah, I mean what's it? What's it? I know it's telling me something, but I'm too dense to get it Well, so what so what's the origin and what it's obviously working. So what is it? Well, I'm good at setting objectives. I'm mad at naming So I wanted to make sure that we people felt comfortable that everything was authentic and Then it came down to three people sitting in a bar looking for what URLs we could name that actually Match that objective and we couldn't get real, but we could get the real real I think for $39 and we're like sold. Yeah Love that The wait funny there was no squatter on that URL, I don't know why There with her is now it was it was fate, you know So you I now that I know what fast fashion means good for you You've disrupted or made life more difficult for some what making I don't know if we're doing enough against them I'll tell you the brands are threatened that that luxury brands That was gonna be my question one of their executives said you're his or his or her worst nightmare. Yeah, that was Chanel. Yeah, so What's it like to be a nightmare? well just to continue that meeting it got the next thing was the question was to me Would you like some coffee? I said I'd love some they said get it yourself and And it got worse the meeting actually got worse so that this is So, you know what happens is we actually are giving people value from the goods that they've already bought it Is a value play in many cases the brands feel like we're democratizing their luxury brand They don't infection. I'll actively try to stop us multiple times. It's all in a lawsuit They found one against us we found one against them. It's that's about all I can say about that, but the brands are until their force to come up with more Green solutions and they have to reinvent their supply chains. They're not gonna do it the European laws are starting to force them This is a quick one for them. They think if they sold you a product They own you they own that forever, but in fact the laws on our side once you buy it you own it You have the right to do with what you want with it So brands are very very uncomfortable with us and with us and any business doing this, but we're the leader They weren't as They don't like mom-and-pop Consignment stores Chanel in particular has sued little like consignments individual owners But when you have the you know, we have the world's largest Luxury reseller where they feel were a threat now if they were if they understood economics They would understand that the resale value is always checked before the primary sale on the smart shopper and most of shoppers are smart So if you bought an item if you had a choice, let's say each thing was a thousand dollars So one had a resale of nine hundred dollars and one had a resale of thirty dollars You might change your perspective on what you were you're gonna spend your money Resale the secondary market always supports the primary market, but they don't see it that way. They're the worst Lvmh is begrudgingly they acknowledge us, but they're not great and caring is Great, but they're everyone's probably gonna try and do it themselves and that's okay, too because it's hard and We'll win I Know where my money is who my money's on but now you're growing fast Again, we weren't we weren't we weren't during COVID. We went We were I always talking GMV which is the term for gross material value of the things we sell But we pay our revenue the the business model for our revenue as we take a percent of sale on Average we get 35 points. So that's our real revenue number but I think in terms of GMV and GMV we're a billion before COVID and We were growing this is like this anyone that runs a business or aspires to this is a shocking number We were growing 40 percent in February of 2020 in March The second half of March with the shutdowns. We were declining 45 percent we had an 85 point swing in the business and We ended the year Down I think was down about 6% versus previous year But that's really a 46 point swing from where we started it and then last year We were up again 40% and now we're growing at a healthy club I want to come back to COVID in a different connection in a little bit But business is full of things you can't control and but then there are things that that you can or that are At least are more foreseeable. So you are you've been labeled fairly accurately as a disruptor Disruptors really make the world go around. That's the that's how the Hope the system eventually turns up innovation and new new opportunities and new growth and so forth, but Who might disrupt you you all good business people look over their shoulders sure I mean, of course, I think my goal is to get resale to be one of the options I think at least for the time being there's so much product trapped in people's homes that We're gonna have a really long run. So for example, I do expect Different maybe one or two brands to try to do it themselves. That's fine When you have that much product hanging out that all that does is Legitimize the space. So I'd say we probably have a 20-year run and by then I'll be really old and someone else will be Smarter and they can figure it out but I do believe this is a brand that's gonna stay for a long time because we've got a huge moat and it's really really hard to do and Consumers are waking up that resale is a good thing for the planet. That's number one to value play number three every item is unique So we have a single skew Technology which means if you're a shopper and you buy something on the rail rail There's a good chance. You won't see it on someone else, which is also a nice thing So you can find beautiful unique things at a great deal I think 20 years from now You'll be working on the second or third new company that you invented a few more ideas. Yeah, but we'll see What was the IPO process like? Well, it wasn't Here's the interesting thing in case for anyone whoever takes their company public or has our is considering it At least in the tech world. There are two bankers that everyone loves One of them is Morgan Stanley and the other one is Goldman Sachs and they are first rate. There is no doubt about it but that's not who we chose and So who we chose was a voice the people that tried the hardest and in the pitch and That really got deep in our category and understood the space and didn't dial it in so we went Contrary to the gold standard banker. So as a CEO That's not really what your board wants you to do just so you know They want you to go with like, you know the people that But it really in this case, it really worked out for us. So that was you know, you choose your bankers based on the pitch and And then you just get on the road and you sell and you sell and you sell and there's certain things I you know, you forget like you forget What and we're doing it in the summer you forget how hot New York can be how fast it can rain on you and how over can air conditioned every room is so we would walk in there and I'd be like shivering because I went from being you know rained on to like ice-cold, but honestly Explaining the business while it's complicated got a very good reception So it was good and it's and then and then we had a party Which you know was that not a bad thing to do and then that was interesting with my management team because I wanted 80s bands and they wanted cool bands and I won But I don't win a lot of these things. I'm like, let me just have this one Well, you win the important ones, you know just to pursue that one step further I mean, I've known a number of people to me You were doing one of the most challenging things any IPO is challenging a bunch of beady-eyed The people who want who are paid to be skeptical and so forth Oh, I'm gonna talk about what happened after because that's actually harrowing, but we'll talk about that Well, then just one quick question But you were also explaining to them a category that they knew nothing about and I've known a couple people That's a double hurdle to To they to get over it seems to me because especially since the buyers Now and the buyers the buyers of the stock who you're selling to are men Yeah, our audience is primarily women. Mm-hmm. So a couple things you mentioned that I was one of the only female founders There's only been about 20. I think there's 25 of us now ever That took a company public ever so if you think about that so they're not used to seeing women a women's business When you're selling to men, they don't really get however We do sell amazing men's watches. Mm-hmm. So we made sure those were always in visually and the men's Used watch market is well established. It is it's always been the aftermarket for watches It's always been a vibrant market for a long long time They go to auction and you know certain brands like a Rolex Appreciate so if someone ever gives you a Rolex or you buy one hold on to it I guarantee you in five to six years. They'll be worth more than you paid for it So certain brands so by tying in products that men did have an affinity and into the presentation And using that instead of just a female focus it helped But it was you know, I would say some of them still don't get it some of the analysts don't don't get it and Well, then you have to say figure out how to talk to them because you're like, yeah, that's not our market, you know Yeah, because Because these guys are really smart, but you they miss it and they miss it because there's no affinity and there's no precedent They're smart and they all think they're smarter than they really are Well, I think if you don't have a One-on-one calm, they can't wrap their head around it and that's the problem. We didn't have a one-on-one calm Well, but you got it done. Did you say you had a story that follow? Oh my gosh. All right, so it's like yay we went public and I Don't know if any of you guys I mean some of you probably sell stocks I think short selling is evil. So I'll just put it out there because you're betting on someone's demise but there is a whole What what started happening? We were attacked either by a brand and we'll never know that we'll never know who Or short sellers are both. All right, and let me tell you what happened the put we have Luxury consignment offices all across the US where people can come in and get their fine jewelry and watches Evaluated for free and their staff by gemologist and you get a quote. You can decide to sell it or not. We'll stand by it Someone or someone's was calling the police on every one of them where they would raid the office and look for the paperwork So can you imagine? Having like employees like these police Russian They're saying they've they've got a tip that this is because we fall under pawn shop rules All right, so this is another thing the rule the laws never catch up with innovation So yes, we had our ability. We were and you and those pawn shops are also zoned in Different areas, so we had to make sure we're in the right zone and we had all the right paperwork But I have and we did but I have to tell you we didn't always have it on site because we had it centralized So literally I think we had 15 offices. They were all The police barge into 12 out of the 15 But I mean by the third one we had their game So we had the paper but it was still harrowing for the employees and then and then Someone just showed up as a fake reporter interviewing people coming out of the store and Trying to push their way into interviewing they weren't real and of course we got the police there then someone who showed up at our op-center and Was handing out their card to our employees having lunch saying if you got stories about horrible the real or real is called us All right, so we were barraged with now I would bet money because I know now I know a lot more than I do at least one or two brands was behind that and I would also bet at short sellers So it was I guess I should have expected it But it was insane because our and from my perspective Are I was horrified that our employees were being threatened? So that happened and then and then COVID happened So that was the first six months Might as well tell the group about the next that had wind was it was police difficulties of a different kind Which one was that well when you're the Rating and trashing of theft from your stores. Oh my god. Well, that's been put that's been during COVID. Yeah, I that's Every one of our stores has either been mob robbed or five to six people and It's there's a thing. I don't want to get too political here but property theft is not high on the list of some of the district attorneys and some key cities and Consequently The police aren't going to arrest people that they can't that are released immediately so and they have limited resources because of Many of the cities have read have reallocated or Defunded some of their police and it's hard to be a cop. All right, so all of that's happening and Every store we have now has been robbed once if not twice and To the point where we've had to invest extra security gates Our we have a store Madison Avenue that was just run in the daytime. We had active duty police Well, not sorry off-duty policemen standing out front They still couldn't stop them because they rush in they do a smash and grab and they rush out They did drop some merchandise and they had blocked their car, but they ran on foot So it's a little harrowing to be a retail owner now and again It's not at least we were talking about this right now. We have insurance so we're covered But that's this year. I don't know about next year and again if you're an employee in the store you're under threat and So it's you know, we're always doing everything we can to make our employees feel safe but I'm on our mission meeting with as many mayors that will talk to me to make sure that they know while it's property crime And you can always say well it can be replaced or who cares no one was hurt It it absolutely hurts everyone including the neighborhood. So that is a real threat And it's it's not Isolated to the blue states at Texas I mean what what we found out we opened our Texas store the cops never showed up. We said oh, we're busy that night They cleaned us out So it's ever it's everywhere. It's a societal problem. It's a community problem and It's a business problem. So I don't know what to do about it could we keep more secure more secure more secure, but It's we aren't the only ones. I mean you read about it every day But one more real real question on a happier note and one that I think will be Relevant to a lot of folks here fascinating the little glimpse you gave me of your increasing use of AI and Authentication and in other ways, but it's alright. So this is remarkable a little bit I honestly we do take summer interns by the way So if anyone wants to work for us in the summer in our in all of our ops centers So we get goods and let's just say we get we get hundreds of thousands of goods and spread across three centers But mostly in Perth Amboy and Phoenix And when you what happens then is someone has to receive those goods Once they are received. That's a very physical job. They literally check it in they they create barcodes every consigner Has a bar has barcodes assigned and every items unique So every skews unique assigned to one person then the next step is routed through AI and Terms of is it a high-risk consigner with high-risk goods? Is it a good that we've seen? Count counterfeited on a regular basis it anyway. We have a bunch of algorithms that work in the background They go to different locations in the ops centers For handbags high-value handbags We are working on different algorithms where we can identify the first pass of a fake through high-risk images that then say fake or not pass on So we are really using machine learning and AI to automate in a way and take the risk out of our handling of materials So everything moves faster. They all have different swim lanes and even we're even this is a different kind of Automation, but it's still so cool We have a huge huge huge gym labs and gemologists have a lot of tools to measure Different things they can they can we have a tool that actually you put a stone under it We'll tell you what the stone most likely is and what it's where its origin is That's pretty common, but you know not inexpensive We have a lot of refracted machines so we can get every stone throws off its unique Refraction so we can capture that we measure the alloys that we can tell you When Cartier changed their love bracelets and their aloe mix and we that's another how do you determine fakes are real? But right every single person that is a gemologist measuring a stone does it by hand and They have to do it twice and we worked with a different University University of Arizona And we have a machine that measures right now only round diamonds more accurately than anyone else in the setting and That actually gives us higher confidence So it actually allows us to have techs with Gemologists oversight and it's super cool So that whole center while we employ quite a few people has a lot of underlying technology that keeps it moving along really quickly It's it's really exciting. It is exciting So you're embarking you're a national success now with a company that I'm convinced is on its way to greater success and all those hit all those marks that you're aiming at. Yeah but it was not always that way and Let me let me you you were part of a Several companies before you led several before one in particular got a lot of notoriety So I was the CEO of pets.com right everyone knows that I Maybe some of you guys weren't born then so if you don't know it, it's okay It was 20 years ago, but tell us that story Look at the beginning of I I've been in tech So I started let me give you a little two seconds I started my career at Clorox in a brand management and left Purdue and went right into that because Because of the great and this is true because of the great education I got Purdue I was the second undergraduate they ever hired But when I looked above me, I didn't this for the women in the audience I didn't see any women above me that were in brands still it's a while ago. So the world's changed They all went after they got promoted a couple times. They went into HR and I thought oh man I don't want to do that and then I started a guys that could literally smuggled in Apple too and ran a spreadsheet Software we were hand calculating. This is really dating myself But I then I moved into tech in 82 and I really never looked back So early in tech personal computer tech and there's a lot of wins a lot of losses And so I would say I would profile myself as more of a risk-taker in these things and I was asked to run pets.com, which was the first entry into the pet category in 1998 after I had been running EL.com which was sold to Hollywood video that killed it because they thought they're gonna kill the internet And which Netflix then like Reed gave me a call and said how long do I have I said? Oh, I don't know 20 years before anyone's gonna come after you but so pets.com and Let's just say I was about 20 years too early and Chewy.com is public now Chewy.com is You know the current version of what pets.com wanted to be but it was harrowing because We raised a lot of money not by today's standards raised a lot of money went public and then I shut it down And we got a lot of negative press including from Jeff Bezos himself who pets company had put 60 million in so it was a tough tough time and I There were other companies collapsing. It was the dot-com Explosion it was all too early one of them was web-van who burned through about 1.7 billion No one was talking about that everyone was talking about pets.com and The little puppet became the really the symbol of dot-com Excess and we really weren't overspending, but it didn't let's just say it did not help my career Well, I well now I want to ask you about that in a minute, but you know, I couldn't help Thinking you talked about how COVID came at just the wrong time for the kind of business that you've built now, but Pets.com would have would I suspect would have prospered In in the COVID era. Oh, what if I'm sure, you know People bought more pets and they couldn't go out the shop. That's right. So anything but I Haven't looked at their numbers with chewy, but I'm sure they did well I can tell you the vets are all stressed out so and I know Purdue has an excellent vet school So I would say they I'm a pet owner. We need you we need you to get out and take care of our animals Yeah, it was it's quite a time But those little animals sadly are coming back to the shelter now because people are like I'm done with you So I Adopt out of shelters. Well, if there any Purdue vet short sellers out there shame on you. That's right That is a that is a really bad negative But when you say it wasn't good for your career and so forth and sure in a literal sense, that's right But there's been a lot said and a lot said about you about the there are virtues There's some virtues in failure lessons learned and so forth But but talk a little about that. I mean is failure all it's cracked up to be well, I So Let's just set the stage. I mean it was bad for me. All right. We had reporters knocking at my house Oh, there was one other detail My husband asked me for a divorce the same day. I was shutting down pets. So it was a very bad time and And I it was just bad now you fast forward and it took a long time to get better I mean, you know, it took a long time, but There were some people are like, what did you learn about the business? And I always wanted to say I learned never to talk to reporters because But that wasn't really the answer. They're looking for I would say that The thing that I didn't expect which is pretty awesome And I wish everyone had this I have no fear of failure Mm-hmm, and I think it's because I failed publicly I lived through it and I didn't die I mean there were moments where I wanted to crawl under a rock But I didn't die and I didn't even realize how much stronger I emerged until In fact, when I embraced on the real real I knew it would be hard to get funding because the Valley although they say they embrace failure they really don't no one likes to lose money and I'm also a woman women get up last year. They got 2.2 percent of all funding in Silicon Valley So I had a land so I had a failure and being a woman and I was 50 So these things are all almost a nose that when you're rail raising capital So when you put all those things together, I knew it was gonna be hard But you know what I didn't care because I knew I was gonna win and I had no fear and I never wavered ever and That was the gift of that failure, especially I think being so public. It wasn't like my private failure It was a thing discussed at cocktail parties, you know, which even the ones that I was at so it really wasn't comfortable Well, congratulations you you set a great example because No risks taken and no there won't be there's one way not to fail never take a risk Oh, it's pretty easy. It's the old armchair armchair quarterback, right? It's pretty easy to sit there and pass judgment, but it's really satisfying to get out there and create something And and have it work. I want to ask you about the I think maybe the most discussed question among business people that I'm Listening to these days and that's the shifts in the workforce Both its size and availability the just the simple availability of people and then their attitudes toward work I know we're Working on it here trying to accommodate changes more Remote or hybrid work for those who want it So talk about that both. What do you see happening and how is the real real dealing with it? I think every business owner. That's the challenge is talent. Yeah is getting talent and And We have multiple types of jobs open We have most of our employees are in the ops centers, but then we have specialists We are gemologist brand experts Authenticators that are the authenticators tend to be homegrown and put through training programs And then we have a lot of we have engineers data scientists brand, you know brand people merchants Whole analytic team that separate so we have a very wide range of jobs And they're all hard to fill and the motivations for joining the company are all different. So I would say that The key is and we can't accommodate someone working from home in the ops center, but what we have put in place is We put training if someone wants to be a gemologist will pay for your schooling. All right, so we want to grow their own We do have food in the more food in the ops centers more career pathing One of the things that people do tend to join the real real for is that we are Really on a mission to get people to buy resells. We know it's good for the planet So we're a mission-driven company and we always talk about our wins We're now lobbying in DC to open their eyes to the fashion industry and how this is a fast win So making sure that mission it's a greater calling Everyone has stock in the company. Although that hasn't worked out lately during cove it, but it will it will and I would say Different people need different things like certain Creating a family environment in the ops centers is really important Giving recognition is really important and we just all have to be better And I don't think we've got it figured out, but it is absolutely something that we think about every day And it's not for our company. It's not one-size-fits-all. Yeah We're about to go to the student questions just to put our panel of interrogators on notice But let me ask you maybe just one more question because you come back to this issue of Recycling and sustainability and so forth, which is a huge plus but a lot of the Big-name designers whose products you are selling are on those lists of you know that people keep of Companies who may be using forced labor and you know and abuses of that kind is so how does that how does that fit in? You know what? I'm not sure they do anymore, but it's more the fast It's really the more the fast fashion because they're more regulated. They probably do and we don't know it But they're really trying not to I Can't control them right, but I can only do what you know what we do Encourage them to work in resale. We'll get to themselves Any the European laws are ahead of the US laws for all of that and that's because they're they have more Luxury brands in Europe, but they're more regulated. They're getting even more regulated and the bad actors can be outed And and we saw this a few years ago where Burberry was burning at their products and They really got beaten up and their public company that got beaten up and they changed their practices so I think there's enough social activism and Certainly there is capital going toward companies that are good for the planet that it'll keep them in check and Then our goal is just to get them to think encourage their customers to recirculate their goods one way or another And that's easier with some and harder with others, but But then you have someone like shine they came out of nowhere out of China and 19 billion with disposable clothing I mean that that we couldn't sell because our Arses are sort of our underlying story if it's made well it should be resold So we want people to buy well so they can resell Everyone pay close attention Our students thank you for bringing some great questions, and I'm just gonna Deal from the top of the list. I as you were given to they were given to me So from st. John Indiana a junior from the school of mark of management in marketing Katarina Nikolovsky by the way you guys were all tough. I read I got a little set up like wow These are good questions. Hi. Hi. Thank you so much for coming in. I really appreciate it My question is to you there are so many students including myself that share an Entrepreneurial spirit and goals of starting their own company one day based on your many years of Experience and success looking back Is there anything that you would do differently in your college days at Purdue and more specifically? Do you have any advice for me and fellow students as we look upon our entrepreneurial journey in the future? So, I mean you have so many more classes geared toward this at Purdue than I did but I have to tell you I took a And I you would have known you would have overlapped with it Arnold No, maybe not Arnold Cooper Arnie Cooper's class on entrepreneurialism, and it was the best class I mean it was the class I loved and the reason I loved it. He brought in entrepreneurs. They told the story They told their success. They told their failures and And it and then we'd have casework on Problems and that casework along with hearing what they really did actually opened my eyes up and and I would say that Whatever you can do to actually either start something right now. It can be small You have to be able to one of the key things when you start a company even if it's your idea you really have to set up a team to Offset your own weaknesses and then you have to learn how to collaborate and it's really fun if you can so collaboration So getting any classwork which requires collaboration active problem-solving. I know there's some competitions You can get in with case studies I would say eat that Because the more you do it will have an impact on you and plan a seed and I would say if Anything I wish I would have done it sooner because that but I was in high risk And I was CEO in early-stage companies. It's a lot different when you started yourself and you learned You're gonna learn no matter what you do and I would say Depending on your risk profile and your personal life goals I would do it sooner rather than later because it's really rewarding and you won't have a big public failure like I did But even if you did even if you know because it's it's hard to do you kid It's not something that's something you really want But but even if you do, I mean it served me I didn't know it at the time and I didn't know the gift Until I got back on the horse and I'm like, yeah, I got this so that's what I'd say. Thank you so much Sure. Katerina. Thank you very much From Fowler, Indiana a sophomore in communications Corey Hanager Julie Mitch. Thank you so much for being here tonight As I looked at your career and all the twists and turns that your career has had How do you evaluate the opportunities ahead of you and choose your next move? Well, no, I mean honestly my moves were chose for me during coven So I would say that that what you have to do is always Actually, both have a long-term plan and then have flexibility When you think about it because there are things you can't control and so you're always creatively problem-solving And you have to think we're public so we have to think quarterly But we have to think three years out at the same time So it's you just balance it all the time I would say the more you get used to that kind of rhythm the more natural it becomes Sounds like a squishy answer, but that's that's all I've got Thank you Thanks, Corey and from st. Louis, Missouri A senior in biomedical engineering Which is very close to The real real. Yeah. Yeah, it's Stella Erikson Yeah, thank you so much. This has been a great opportunity listening to you talk And I was wondering what have been some of the greatest Obstacles you've faced in your career and what specific steps have you taken to overcome them? I mean Okay Women getting started in your career. It's still a man's world. So get ready If you're a woman of color, it makes it harder. All right, so it's hard But I would say, you know, you focus on the business. You can't personalize things You focus on what you can control and you develop thick skin Because even if you're in a corporation or you're in a Are you starting your own company? You're going to be told no a lot. You're going to be told, you know You're going to be told didn't work So I would say the more intellectual integrity you have around what you've done And you don't personalize business issues and you keep your eye on where you want to go You'll be fine, but it's going to be harder for you. It just is it's not it's not over yet when I I was so naive when I got out of Purdue. I'm like, oh, I've got this You know, because I was women's movement was in the 60s. I'm graduating 1979 80. I've got this. That's a long time ago. I what's not that's not what would happen So um, but just but don't get rattled and also remember when you start your career, you're playing you are playing the long game So you're going to have some wins. You're going to have some losses And you may decide I want to take I want to go in a different direction. You may come back But keep your eye on where you think you want to go and always be conscious of the trade-offs you're making Because there's no such thing as work-life balance. So if you want a strong Life, then then you're going to have to reset your expectations of work And then last remember the whole thing find your passion find your passion I mean, it's hard to make money on your passion, but if you can find something you love doing it never feels like work A lot of times the whole find your passion can end you and with like no money That means that it may be your passion, but you're not very good at it Um, but if you can align those things, it's so it's a big win Awesome. Thank you so much. Sure And thank you stella and lastly from winamack indiana jillian brum Hi, it's really nice to meet the both the both of you jillian couldn't make it by my name's melisa. I'm a senior in marketing My question to you to usually is what setback do you believe that really With what set book are you grateful for that allow you to launch your career and make it as successful as it is Well, my career, you know Honestly, I have to tell you when especially now when you look in hindsight Just getting coming to brudu was I originally started in pharmacy And then I decided I was going to go on and I If I was going to do it I wanted to do drug development then I thought I can't be in school that long because I'll kill myself so I switched to what I thought was the best form of analytics and creativity, which I think business is to be honest business is Incredibly creative and incredibly analytical and so it met both. So I'd say choosing prudu Was absolutely the right decision for me because I'm more of an analytical math person With a creative bed getting in the right major was important And then in general I would say, you know just and this is something you have to it's so personal you have to find yourself It's just resilience Because I know pets was a big failure, but there are other failures before that So you just keep going and I would also say that There's a little bit of and you got to watch it because you don't want it to be hubris So it's like, yeah, I know that what they think but I'm not going to let them define me So a little a lot of that it's like no So but but you don't want to read your now the flip side of that which is dangerous. You believe your own pr So you I mean you can't that is death So what you have to do is always let the data and the real information speak to your decisions but um Then you'll be fine And stay healthy. Yeah, stay healthy. Thank you. Julie and mr. Daniels. Thank you. What was your name? Melissa Melissa. You're a great pinch hitter. Melissa Yeah Tell julie and she couldn't have done any better than you did. So thank you very very much for a great question Thank you So Melissa's question and your answer brings up something very interesting that you you told me a fourth hand, which is the importance of data and and analytics which we have we're trying to make Ubiquitous here at Purdue no matter where a student's headed, but you had an interesting observation. I think about um Some young people not understanding exactly what the what the purpose is and what the real skill is so first of all we're in complete agreements that um Everyone will benefit by understanding. Um, how to work with data and how to analyze that data But the people who win and this is harder is turn that data into information And so I get presentations all the time. They're like, well, here's this I'm like, well, what am I supposed to do with that? You know, what where are we going? What problem are you solving? What you know, that's interesting. What does that mean? So because you can get in data overload So I would say understanding what the most important things are understanding what information you want from the data And then either doing the analytics yourself or working with people that can do it for you When you're getting started and I still do this, you know, we have a lot of analytical tools that we use All the time But what I'll do is download the raw data and look at it myself and cut it a different way to see if I'm missing something Now I could Hand it off. We have a data analytics department, but that may take, uh, you know two hours and I want it now sometimes So just having that ability to analyze the data to solve real problems And provide real information. It is a huge win. This is a data driven world now But the people are going to win are going to the people that know how to create amazing algorithms and data and use data scientists But more importantly the business people are going to win by understanding what information they need from that data and how to Put it into action And that is there's a gap right now. It's a real gap. I don't know how to close it to be honest, but there's a gap Well, we hope that uh the faculty of Purdue and other people here will help answer that question We we certainly understand its importance. So, uh, maybe time for one more it's commonly observed and they're countless examples of people who were as you were Brilliant had a brilliant insight and innovation created something new in your case a whole new category but not as not not Too many of those people were then good at taking that great idea to scale and running a good business based on it A lot of them broke down there had to bring in other people maybe to operate what they had A Perfectly sound business theory they'd conceived you did them both What what enabled you to do both? Well, I started out as an operator But I have to tell you we I brought I mean we are up We are upgrading our team all the time because the business is a lot bigger than it was And we're bringing in different experts in every field To help us grow the business and scale it and what this is a really fascinating thing when you do that We're you still want an entrepreneurial mindset And you don't want someone that actually doesn't isn't comfortable taking risks because sometimes the things the business is still inventing Some things they'll do will fail and finding that hybrid of someone who can come in who has deep experience Which we're always looking for but an entrepreneurial mindset hard to find so That that actually is where we're at But I have a much more talented team than I am now having said that the whole there are some great examples I mean bezos ran the company for what 25 years bill gates ran for I think the same And I do think when the founder leaves you lose the essence and and strategic maybe strategic oversight And what you get is more of the same incentive innovation because that That um entrepreneur that started the company does bring a more innovative look at things That's how the business started and there's examples of those all over. I mean in my category Certain companies Let's just say the precedent for the real real was ebay ebay hasn't innovated Yeah Ever in 20 years. Yeah, so, you know, that's the flip side of losing the the founder But they're you know, the founder maybe could run the company because it got so big. So, you know, it's a tough It's a tough balance Jobs needed or apple needed scully, but then they needed jobs back because I think it might be a an example of the Of the uh conundrum you just described right and look I mean look after bill gates and bomber didn't do with What the what the ceo's doing now too. So you need that innovation thinking and that energy to think bigger But the trains still have to run they always do and that's I mean, you know, we always say we go from hero to zero every day You know, right, you know like pretty at the end of this quarter. That's it. You start all over Well, julie lane, right you've done an awful lot for this university over the course of time She's come back to old masters She wouldn't tell you but she is Endowed scholarships for women in the business school who might follow a path similar to hers And then of course you've shared this evening with us this evening, but Nothing you've done directly is as meaningful to us as what you've done indirectly by giving the world a fabulous example of uh, you're a category uh Creator in your own personal right as well as in the great company you've built and we're proud of you And we're really appreciative that you came and joined us tonight. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much Thanks to you all for coming. Thanks to the hundreds that uh history tells us are watching by stream Somewhere else right now The program will also be available for replay as usual at the website So appreciate everyone being here and we'll see you at the next