Case Study: How I Built A $598 Million/Year Business Selling Glasses

Neil, thanks for joining! Could you introduce yourself to the audience?

Sure thing! I am the co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, a transformative lifestyle brand that offers designer eyewear at a revolutionary price while leading the way for socially conscious businesses. We finished 2022 increasing revenue to $598 million, up 10.6% year over year—a pace well above the industry’s growth at 0.5%.

To understand where you are today, I want to start off with your childhood when a food dehydrator started your spirit for entrepreneurship. Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

So, growing up in New York, you're just surrounded by energy and entrepreneurship in all places. I was watching an infomercial, and they were trying to sell a food dehydrator. The whole idea is that if you purchased this food dehydrator in the next five minutes, you got a free matic slicer. My idea was to create a dry fruit stand in the middle of Manhattan. Needless to say, I don't know if it was the best idea, but I ran around my apartment begging my parents if I could borrow the $49.99 to get this food dehydrator.