YouSaid · the spoken record

Larry Ingrassia

lines on the record: 84
first: 2020-02-12
most recent: 2020-02-12
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

“About why are these businesses venture backed businesses? You know, historically, you know, there are examples of big retailers that had venture capital back in the day. But historically, venture capital, you want to invest in, yes, disruption, but scalable businesses that you build something once like software, and you can, the amount of customers you can reach are sort of infinite. And yes, I'm painting with a broad stroke. But a lot of these businesses don't wouldn't strike. The average person as venture capital back”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“One of the questions I get about this space, and I mean, you know, you touch on a little bit in the book is, um, A lot of these companies are venture capital backed. And I've had many conversations over the years with some of the investors, some of the investors you talk to in the book, like Kirsten Green, who was recently on this podcast and some others.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, you know, kind of there, you know, kind of again, that's a slightly different model. And you have this proliferation of models. And the internet allows this. It allows all sorts of niche players. So again, I think that you're right. There are some big winners, big exits. Harry's is another one along with Dollar Shaved Club. And there'll be modest winners. There'll be niche players and there will be some losers because that's the way of the world and that's the way it should be. Not all the companies are going to be big winners. Not all of them are going to be billion dollar brands.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You've bottled a pair of glasses, and you love the frames, and you get a new prescription. It's like, hey, I love these frames. You go back to the opticians and say, hey, can you just put kind of new lenses in this? And they kind of like, no, we want to sell you full pair of glasses so we can make more money. So lensable is you send in your frames, send in your new prescription, we'll send it back to you.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Category. Right. Okay. Worry Parker, obviously the best known name there. There's another startup called Lensable. Which I stumble across. I'm not sure if it's a big market, but I think it's a niche market. And that's another thing that's kind of great about what's going on. So let's say you've bought a pair of glasses.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sure. You know, kind of some of those may be big needs, and some of the small needs. For example, if you look at the eyeglass.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Kind of clunky. It was a little bit complicated. And then they went to a questionnaire. Well, detailed questionnaire. And by answering that questionnaire and then collecting all that data from, first of all, hundreds of thousands, but now millions, I think they're over 10 million people have answered that questionnaire. Can more precisely using artificial intelligence figure out what is the right size for you? And oh, by the way, you know, if you don't like it, you can return it within 30 days. But again, getting back, the point on there was it was a higher price. They say we were going to make a premium product. So I think I went into it thinking that all these, it was a bit of a template. And while there are things in common, there are differences too. And, you know, a smart entrepreneur will figure out, you know, kind of what is that thing that I can come up with is that going to fill the need. And there might be different needs.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And early on, it didn't make any lenses. Again, it's innovation, and it was a lower price point. Third love is a little bit different. Third love is not a lower price. In fact, third love is a higher price point than its main competitor, Victoria's Secret. But what they've done is kind of Heidi Zack, the co-founder with her husband, one night is rummaging through her broad door when they're getting ready to go out and says, you know, I can't find one that is comfortable and fits right. There's got to be a better way. And they weren't actually hit, they were thinking of starting a business. They weren't exactly sure. And that was where they decided, you know, bras would be good. And the idea that came up with was half-size bras. So they have twice as many sizes as, you know, kind of most of the bigger companies. The idea.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Putting a label on it, marketing it, you know, their innovation is a customer experience marketing innovation. If you look at Warby Parker, Warby Parker, for the most part, doesn't make any. It started making some lenses, but it designed its frames. But the frames, it doesn't make.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Was there one model for success? So Dollar Shave Club and Hubble are basically buying outsourcing from an Asian manufacturer.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I've got a bit on that, as you know, in the book, because in any small business trend, you're not going to have everybody be a winter. So, you know, kind of one of the things that I found interesting and surprising, in addition to kind of what I mentioned earlier, which is that these people didn't actually know anything about the product. They just, you know, kind of knew that there was a need that needed to be filled.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Love Third love, we can get to that as well. Going in, what did you think you might see in terms of similarities and what might have been a surprise by what you learned about the successful ones? I want to talk about the ones that have not been so successful.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In this book, you focus on what have been a lot of the winners of this space club, Warby Parker, still a private company. I think by and large is seen as a sustainable, growing business that at some point will have a positive outcome. Justin, probably doing a good job.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Ambush in San Francisco, again, which is I kind of focus on the book, three guys who went to Penn. They went to Wall Street. They were making a lot of money, but they were kind of bored. They wanted to do something on entrepreneurial and kind of stumbled on digital marketing. And initially we're focusing on Google. And then they kind of had how do we take advantage of this new thing called Facebook? And that was their genius and got them a lot of the DTC companies and hooked up with Dollar Shave Club and together for a few years really that was on a rocket. We're here with.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I think one thing, you know, I had covered Dollar Shave Club pretty closely, but one thing I guess I may have overlooked was how deeply, you know, there's the story of the great viral launch video that, you know, 26.6.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Facebook, you don't actually have to search for it. They know the demographics of the people who are responding to your ads or buying your things. And they're gathering that data and they say, okay, look, we'll show this ad to lookalikes, people who look like those people who have already purchased from you. I mean, think how that helps you target and get more response for less money.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly Affordable then. So, you know, kind of again 10 or 15 years ago, you needed tens of millions of dollars if you wanted to have national advertising for a consumer product to get any kind of attention. But all of a sudden with Facebook, social media marketing or with viral marketing, which can help too, you can do that for tens of thousands. First of all, you can start with thousands. You can do it with tens of thousands, and then you can ramp up to hundreds of thousands. And the advantage is you can also target those customers, which are most likely to buy from you. And part of it is a demographic thing, but of course Facebook ends up kind of becoming issues later on with other businesses they do. Facebook has something called lookalikes.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Go to 2010. All of a sudden, internet comes, you don't need a retailer. There is unlimited shelf space online. So that is one kind of time.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, right. It was another kind of. We talk about kind of the wine. So all these problems had existed before, right? So why were they being solved now? Why could they be solved now? And it was because of technology. People say, are these technology companies? Well, they're kind of hybrid companies. I would say they're technology companies and they wouldn't exist without technology. 10 or 15 years ago, Jason, you have an idea too. Sell raz Okay, what do you have to do? You have to go to Walmart or Walgreens and say, will you carry unbended knee? Will you carry my razor? What's your name? You know, I'm going to get all this stock. And oh, by the way, how much do you advertise that people are going to know about your brand? Okay.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Uplifted. So you go to a store and you have to ask a clerk to unlock it. It's behind a locked glass case. Right. Kind of heck with that. I'll send it to you at home. I'll give it to you every month on a subscription. And by the way, that's good for me because once I've got you, I'll have recurring revenue. I can look at the lifetime value of the customer because to offset my marketing cost to get you the first time. So all of these companies had some kind of a light bulb moment, often with A consumer. This is something that I don't really like about the way this product is sold. It's been dominated by a big company. Their customers are the retailers. In the end, they are the real people, but they're really pleasing the retailers first instead of thinking the way the customers want to do it.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Customer experience Disruption. You know, similarly, the guys at Warby Parker, why should I pay up to $700 for paired prescription eyeglasses? So, you know, they came up with the idea, you know, starting as low as $95, but also let's make it convenient, we'll send to your home because nobody's going to buy a pair of glasses without seeing what it looks like. We'll send to your home five pairs, pick the one you like, send it back, and then we'll get your prescription in it and send it to you. You know, there's the unlock there. There's the thing that kind of gets over the kind of hesitation that people might have. In every case, there's a bit of a how do I make this, first of all, how to make it more convenient, better experience, and in some cases lower price. I mean, let's face it, you know, kind of, as Michael kind of Dubin said, $5 for razor cartridge. And the inconvenience, you have to often, because they're so expensive, they are prone to being shot.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, so the guys at Casper and Tuft the Needle, which actually was ahead of Casper and kind of going to the market, said, hey, there's got to be a better way. And so, you know, they came up with the idea we'll sell a mattress, we'll ship it to you right at your home. It'll be reasonably precise. It's not the lowest priced mattress, but it's far from the highest priced mattress. Kind of good quality. And if you don't like it, you can return it free of charge. What they do is donate to charities. And you could sleep on it for 30 to 60 days. I mean, what's not to like about that experience? So that was one problem.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Know they say, try this one out, lie down on it for 30 seconds a minute, and you're supposed to be able to tell whether you get It's going to be good for you when you're sleeping on it all night, night after night. So you buy it, you get it at home. Two or three days later, you say, this is not either too soft or too hard, not working for me. Can I return it? Yeah, you can return it. 20% restocking fee or 10%. And oh, by the way, we're going to charge you kind of the shipping fee back. You know, by the time that's done, you got several hundred bucks out of your pocket. You're not going to return it. You're not returning.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, mattresses going to mattress store, to buy a mattress is one of the most miserable experiences that any consumer has. Which the salesperson stalks you around the store. They try to upsell you to the most expensive. Yeah, you don't believe it.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Emily Weiss of Glossier, she started a blog when she was working for Teen Vogue in her early 20s. And it was so popular. She said, there is an interest, there is a need for this. So, you know, kind of maybe that's how she started a company. The founders of Third Love, Heidi Zach, and her husband Dave Specter. So she had been in retail. She was interested at some point in, you know, they were interested in maybe becoming entrepreneurial. And so you talk about thinking outside the box. All part of this revolution that made this possible”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Interesting because I knew Michael. And as I kind of got into it, I realized more. To the people who started these companies were in their 20s or 30s. Didn't know anything about the product that they were. Of getting into that, they decided to sell. But it turned out to be an advantage, not a disadvantage, because that enabled them to think outside the box as opposed to I'm going to compete on the terms of the big guys. So the guys at Warby Parker for students at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School, the idea was usually a class project and they figured, hey, look, if we don't start a business, we'll just wait credit for it. Right.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This is one of the more remarkable stories that I've seen. As a journalist, it's great when you don't really know the answer going in. You have some thoughts about it, but your curiosity is peaked. And the other thing, which I found really...”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Big stories. Like you said, the financial crisis 2008, the rise of Facebook. Heck, the rise of Microsoft. I go back that far.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Michael did it. Was that kind of. And it made me think. How did that happen? What changed on the landscape that allowed this to happen? And oh, by the way, when I started looking into it, I realized it wasn't, he was one of the early direct-to-consumer brands, early movers, but Warby Parker had been a little bit before him. But in every category you could think of, you know, mattresses, bras, contact lenses. You cover it, so you know it. Lug age, toothbrushes.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Its market share in the US. Not years, but decades was around 70%. I mean, think about that for a second this rare consumer product company. So it's a real powerhouse. And so I hear that Michael is planning to start a company that is going to compete with Gillette. And I don't say it to him, but I say to myself, that is one of the craziest ideas. I just don't get it. He's going to be looking for something else fairly soon. Right. Okay. So now, flash forward. I think it was even before he had put the name Dollar Shape Clip on my company. Flash forward 2016. I'm in Los Angeles. I'm working for the LA Times as managing editor, driving to work, 7 a.m., listening to NPR. And I hear the radio that Unilever has purchased Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion. Now”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I actually knew Michael Dubin, the founder of Dollar Shave Club, before Dollar Shave Club. He was a friend of my daughter, Lisa's. And he always was had an entrepreneurial bent. Around 2011, he found he was digital marketing executive. He found himself out of a job. And he decided to start a company that would sell razors online. And I heard about it. And remember, I'd worked for the Wall Street Journal. One of my postings for the Wall Street Journal was in Boston, where I covered Gillette. Gillette is a formidable company, great product, great marketing, spends hundreds of millions of dollars advertising.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“At one point. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a fascinating kind of industry. It's an industry. It touches everybody's lives. And obviously it has to do with the people who produce it too. So it's not just, it's a multifaceted business. But getting back to your question, the last time I really wrote much was probably 25 years ago. I was the London Bureau chief at one point and I spent about probably a third of my time for the Wall Street Journal. I spent about a third of my time writing and about two-thirds of my time editing. But since the mid-90s, it's been really full-on editing.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Decades. I mean, occasionally I would write a story, but when I got out of university, I was a reporter for the Chicago Sun Times initially for about four years, did a lot of general assignment stuff, but moved over to the Wall Street Journal where I reported probably for about 10 years, 15 years of the 25 years I was there, and wrote a bottle of stuff. At one point, I actually wrote about retailing. That was well before e-commerce, I can tell you, Jason. You and Kara alike, both go.”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So the reason why I think I'm doing this today is because I pay a lot of attention to the space, the rise of these companies. And so I was really, really intrigued by this book and this topic. It's one I've thought about a lot. We're going to start with the book, but I do want to talk about a whole bunch of stuff beyond that. Your career, you've managed and overseen coverage that's won a bunch of awards during the financial crisis, other big important parts of our business history. And so I'd love to get your perspective of what we're seeing in sort of tech and the business world beyond. Let's start with the book, though Before this book, what was the last time you actually had a byline or were writing because you were editing”
2020-02-12 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Larry Ingrassia · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT