YouSaid · the spoken record

Alexa Hirschfeld

lines on the record: 69
first: 2026-02-26
most recent: 2026-02-26
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Our audio engineers were Debbie Dawtry and Sina Lefredo. Our production staff also includes Casey Herman, Sam Paulson, Alex Chung, Chris Massini, Carrie Thompson, Catherine Ceypher, Neva Grant, Nor Gill, and Elaine Coates. I'm Guy Razz, and you've been listening to the advice line right here on how I built this lab.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's paperless post co founder Alexa Hirschfeld. And by the way, if you haven't heard Alexa's original How I Built This Episode, go back and check it out. We'll put a link to it in the show notes. Thanks so much for listening to the show this week. And by the way, please make sure to check out my newsletter. You can sign up for it for free at guyroz.com or on substack. And of course, if you are working on a business and you'd like to be on this show, send us a one-minute message that tells us a little bit about your business and the questions or issues that you're currently facing because we would love to try and help you solve them. You can send us a voice memo at hibt at id.wondery.com or call us at 1-800-433-1298. Leave a message there and make sure to tell us how to reach you and we'll put all of this information in the podcast description as well. This episode was produced by Ramel Wood with music composed by Ramtina Ablui. It was edited by John Isabella.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I think that focus and always keeping the main thing, the main thing is a really important piece of advice. I think there are a lot of Interesting ideas, it can be distractions, those can be experiments. I'm not saying don't experiment. There are a lot of scary things that happen, like competitors or funding that doesn't come through or press that you don't like. And I think instead of looking over your shoulder too much at those risks or those threats, think about why do you exist? What do you offer to your customers or to your users, the people who need you and who need your product and who you want to serve? And that's the main thing. And you have to just keep that in mind the whole time. You know, the world has changed so much since we started. But I think we know very well who we serve.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Alexa, before I let you go, I want to ask you a question I've been asking all the guests who come onto the advice line, which is if you could go back to 2009 when you and James started paperless posts. And it's a great story. Everybody should check it out because you guys have had a lot of ups and downs and some crisis moments as well, especially around COVID. If you could go back to 2009 and give yourself advice on what you know now about how to run a business, what would have been helpful for you to know?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I think, Alexa, we've given Sayuri her marching orders here. Really lean in on the mats and on what the benefits are the mats.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It really is. It's a great story. I mean, a lot of yoga mats are made from natural materials like rubber, but people don't always like that. And here you have your life experience growing up in a home with Tatami floors. It has natural grip. It's very durable. It's antimicrobial or antibacterial, whatever it is, and it lasts forever. entirely natural. There's no synthetic materials. And I think that would appeal to a lot of people, especially the kinds of people who are part of this 120, 130 billion dollar global yoga industry.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I completely agree with that. I think that it's very compelling and relatable the story that you said about loving yoga, but not loving the smell of the mats and then describing your grandmother's Tatami yoga mat. I think that is alone, is just very compelling.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Want to kind of reverse what you're emphasizing here because when I go to your website, I see a sumo wrestler, and then I see mats that are $200. And unless you know what Tatami is, many people might think, well, a straw mat for $200. I think you want to explain why these are so special. The artisanship that goes into them, the curing, That trained artisans who make them in a specific part of Japan and how you are making them specifically for yoga and why it's a better experience, I think you really want to kind of reverse what you're emphasizing now and focus on the mats and maybe back into the sumo stuff later on. Does that make sense?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, Say, I agree. I mean, I think about the yoga market, and we've done many athleisureware brands on the show, Lululemon and Viori and many others. We're talking about, if you think about yoga alone as a global market, it's a hundred and twenty billion dollar global industry. It is a massive industry, right? And if you want to capture some of those consumers, I really think you want to lean into the mat. Sumo yoga can be the brand and it can be inspired by sumo wrestlers, but I think you want to be careful not to confuse people because you want to make sure that people see these mats and think, oh, this is better than a, you know, a rubber mat or whatever other material mats are made out of. This doesn't smell. It's natural. It's from Japan. It's handmade. And I think that you...”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And if the answer is yes, I think it's really important to say that clearly because it reduces friction and it will expand the audience pretty meaningfully. And I think that the goal isn't to explain everything. It's to explain just enough so that people's curiosity is peaked and they want to understand more.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so I think that education is essential here, and it's important that it's very crisp when something is unfamiliar, people need a quick mental hook before they really ask more questions and lean in. And I'd encourage you to define sumo yoga early and consistently. So for example, It's a yoga practice inspired by traditional sumo movement, whatever the right words are. It's not wrestling. It's designed to be accessible across body types and focus on strength, flexibility, balance, and confidence, whatever the right words are, you'll know better than me. But I think that that definition up front helps people understand who it's for and how it's different from other yoga practices or other wellness practices. And I think one of the questions people will definitely ask is, can I use this for all yoga?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, so a lot that you want to do. You want to educate people about sumo yoga. You want to promote body positivity, and you want to sell your yoga mats. I want to bring you in, Alexa. Any thoughts or questions or ideas for Sayuri?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Nice. I love sumo squats. Very, very good for you. So it sounds like you've got this concept of This sort of a brand concept, but you're starting with these Tatami mats. And so do you have this idea of other products that you want to create or like a yoga studio? Kind of a type of yoga that you want to promote or create.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And tell me a little bit about this idea of sumo yoga. Obviously, I know what a sumo wrestler is, and I'm looking at your website, and there are the first thing you see is a sumo wrestler. What's the idea around sumo and yoga?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I just spent two and a half weeks in Japan and stayed in a Ryokin with Tatami floors. And it was incredible. And I wish I lived there all the time. So I know how amazing this material is. It's like a grass, right? And it's woven and it's cured. And tell me a little bit about your business so far. Where are you? You're selling these online. Are you selling them anywhere else?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Got it. Okay. And so tell me a little bit about this business. How did it start? I'm assuming you are a yoga practitioner.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“With us because after the break, we'll talk to another founder working to take their business to the next level that's after the break. I'm Guy Ross, and you're listening to the advice line right here on how I built this lab. Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Ross, and today I'm taking your calls with Alexa Hirschfeld. Hello, welcome to the advice line you're on with Alexa Hirschfeld, co founder of Paperless Post. Tell us your name, where you're calling from, and a little bit about your business.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, awesome. Awesome. Congrats, Carolyn, on this idea. It's really, really cool stuff. The Creative Garland Company, thanks for calling in.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think that you should just think about how you can make your job into the part that you love and that you're really excellent at and use some of your creativity to figure out how you can solve for the other steps of the process that you know well you can do well, but you don't have to be the one to do well.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So it sounds like right now you are in a great position to grow incrementally and find somebody part-time. That could be helpful to get somebody to start doing it and to enable you to go to the trade shows and to do more business development and design.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I love that you say that because some of the feedback I get is the opposite that some people think it's a little too expensive. But I always have to reiterate to them that, hey, it's handmade, it's made in the USA, kind of drive those points through.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, you know, I'm looking at science. These are so cool. And by the way, I think your prices are pretty low. I mean, are you, is that standard? I mean, it's $25, $30 for one of these handmade garlands?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Is just the best way of vetting the quality of your working relationship with somebody is actually working with them. So that's a nice thing. Also, less commitment. Another thing I might consider is, are there certain parts of your process that those skills are required for manufacturing something else that may be local, like the cutting, for example, are there other products that need to be cut in a similar way where you could find someone who you aren't just training from the ground up, but actually they have skills in that part of the production process that you could leverage? I think that putting your creativity towards figuring out what parts of what you're currently doing and house, you can start to hire somebody else to do would be a good use of time.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I agree with that. I think also that the part-time suggestion is really smart. What's nice about part-time hires that it's sort of an extended interview where you can see, is it working or is it not? And if it's working, then...”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Like what people are ordering, the demand is predictable. Like, if the sleighs are accounting for 60 or 70% of your business, then that might be a time to think about doing it.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I think that you have an opportunity, right? As Alexa said, to find, I mean, maybe you're small, you're doing $45,000, but clearly you're growing and there's demand. And so you may be in a position to hire somebody hourly part-time to do those kinds of things, right? Because when you're talking about outsourcing, you're talking about a whole different world. It's like long lead times and there's minimum orders, quantities that you've got to order, and they can't be as flexible. Like now you can just turn on a dime. If someone's like, hey, you know, I'm throwing a party for my wife's 50th and she loves musicals. Can you make garlands? You can do that right away. You can make something like that. And so the minute you outsource it, it's trickier. I mean, and you can really only outsource once the variability of your product is low. In other words, once you're...”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Your question is should I outsource this? Like, should I send the production elsewhere or not? And I guess if somebody else worked with you part-time and did them out of your garage, would that be a solution or not really?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. I mean, you have a, what you're bringing to this, I'm assuming, are the designs, right? You are designing everything.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I think the question is, if something defines your brand, it needs your taste, if it changes often, that's the kind of thing you should keep close. But if it is consistent and repeatable, systematize it. I think you are already scaling your business. And so you need to decide what has to stay artisanal and what can become a system”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My thoughts for you, first of all, are that I don't know that it's really this. In house versus outsourcing question that you need to answer. I think that especially for creative brands, it's more sequenced and hybrid than that. So my advice is to think about what do you have to do and what things that you currently do are repeatable and you personally don't need to do. So for example, you know, concept and design ideas, new skews, limited runs, that's probably one type of thing you do. Then there's the production of the components, like cutting, printing, raw materials, probably there's assembling and finishing, like, you know, string, sorting. And then there's fulfillment packaging, et cetera.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, so my business has reached a point where I can no longer handle production on my own. How should I evaluate the decision between building an in-house production team and workspace versus outsourcing manufacturing, all while protecting product, quality, brand identity, and the creative flexibility that got me here?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So you get all the paper stock sent to you and then you have like in your garage or you're just constantly because these are hand cut and then you're putting them on the twine yourself?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's so cool. So you've got, I'm looking at your site, you've got all kinds of garlands, wedding garlands, bride and grooms. Do you sell, I'm assuming only through your website?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Cool. All right. And tell me about the business. How did you come up with this idea? I didn't, I mean, it's cool. I'm looking at all the things that you make and do you have a background in crafts and...”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, Carolyn, welcome to the show. Thanks for calling in the Creative Garland Company. Okay, I'm embarrassed to admit this. I was like, what's a Garland again? And then I went on your website and I was like, oh, that's a garland. So can you just indulge me for a moment for the five people listening who don't know what a garland is? Can you describe what it is?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, let's bring in our next caller. Welcome to the advice line you're on with Alexa Hirschfeld, the co-founder of Paperless Post. Tell us your name, where you're calling from, and a little bit about your business.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, another collar, another question, and another round of advice. I'm Guy Raw. Stick around. You're listening to the advice line on how I built this lab. Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Ros battling a cold, but I'm getting better. My guest today is Alexa Hirschfeld, co-founder of Paperless Post. And Alexa, you ready for our next call?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, absolutely. Jess Walker, the brand is called 5.post. Congrats. What a great idea. I love it. Love what you're doing. Keep us posted. Good luck.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And also the brand that it's coming from and the story of the brand that it's coming from is something that copycats aren't going to as authentically tell a story around. I think that also is an argument for keeping 5.post what it is and having the story behind that brand and with the new collaboration, having the right story behind that brand because that's something that's really hard for like an AI copycat to authentically communicate.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I really appreciate you saying that. And I think that Great advice because I have copycats. It feels like whack-a-mole. Like I have a handful of trademarks, but there's really not a whole lot you can do other than spending hours of your very valuable time as a CEO trying to reach out to have them removed and have cease and desist. And I think what you're saying is really powerful because you're right. It is not just the sentiment. It's not just the image. It really is the whole experience. And I think that's going to be a large part too with this new business is creating that experience for these pet parents and celebrating their identity as a pet owner, not just I got this that says like i heart my dog it's it really resonates with who they are as a person”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I think copycats, they might look like your product, but I think for the people that are really looking to buy something that is going to send the right message to the other person, they're actually going to pay attention to the details. And I think in many cases, consumers aren't as easy to trick. To them with copycat inauthentic messages is just, it's not as effective as copycats might think.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So you can protect them. If we're talking about patents, it's not going to stop other people from trying to copy your product, especially from a design perspective. It's really easy for a copycat to go right up to the edges of what's legally acceptable and offer a knockoff product. I don't think that any other Provider of products is going to be as good a version of you as you are. I think that you probably shouldn't spend time worrying about patenting designs. You should focus on continuing to innovate and to offer this full authentic experience which you really have”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, in other words, you've got your human brand, right, which is $5.post, and then you've got your animal brand, which is this new entity. And by the way, how are you thinking about protecting your designs and your IP? Alexa, is it, I mean, in sort of the with what you do and your designs and even the things that you guys write, can you protect those things?”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think that makes a lot of sense. And again, to your point, we also, we started with cards, and then we also have giftable lifestyle products as well, like accessories and things. So it's like there are going to be a lot of products under this new entity. So I do think maybe what you're saying to have it be its own standalone would make a lot more sense to consumer.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Got it. Okay. And so, I mean, I guess the question is, if this business is really sort of going to blow up and grow, I mean, I was looking at pet accessories. I mean, this is a $30 billion global business. It's a huge accessories. That doesn't include food or other dog care products. It's just accessories. You're talking about a huge market. And I wonder whether it would just be worth kind of creating a new brand around this and really focusing on that this is a separate business.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think that's a great point. When we first started, we didn't know it would take off, so we were like people will find these cards and then that will create the opportunity to send customers to both of our respective businesses. We thought that was like a positive marketing tool and we're now seeing just as we're launching this stuff that's a little confusing for customers because they're like who's what like it's also quite wordy sweet pause by 5. So we're we're just trying to decide Maybe this is a bigger thing than either of our respective brands even though we've both had success in our own worlds. Perhaps it makes sense just to create it as a separate identity because to your point it does seem like it is growing at a more exponential rate than either of our respective businesses at this point.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, so you've got sweet paws with your brand with 5-dot post. And Alexa, you've done a bunch of collabs. You've done collabs with Martha Stewart. Richard Scary, the Richard Scary books that are incredible cars and trucks and things like that. It's an amazing collaboration. You guys are doing a paperless post. I mean, collaborations are an awesome way to scale a brand and idea, but there's questions and things that you've got to figure out. as they come.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Wow, I love this idea of pet sympathy cars, and to do them well. So before we jump in a little bit further, tell us what your question is for us.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A trade show last year and decided to do pet sympathy cards taking what I do really well, what she does really well. We created this collaboration. It is grown exponentially in the first 12 months, and that partnership is, we're now on Chewy. We won three golden tickets at Walmart's Open Call. And in a few weeks, we're going to be launched at every PetCo nationwide. Wow. Yeah, so we're in a huge growth spurt right now. So, Justin PO's for that partnership. It's already exceeded last year's revenue just in January of this year.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, the last two years we've been about 350,000, both 2024 and 2025. And we're in a bit of a transition year where this year I have entered a partnership with a pet brand called Sweetpaws, Marissa Gurdy, and she's actually been on the Advice Line. Oh, she was on the Advice Line.”
2026-02-26 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT