Rob Royer is the Founder and CEO of Interior Define, a startup that builds furniture on demand and will customize everything, including the size, shape, color, fabric, filling, and frame.
Rob was one of the early employees at Bonobos and took much of what he learned over to Interior Define, which he launched in 2014. Shopping for a big purchase like a couch online without sitting on it beforehand kind of seems crazy so we talk a lot about how they have gotten people over that hesitation. We actually recorded this episode sitting on one of their sofas in their Lincoln Park guideshop.
In This Episode You Will Learn:
- How Rob got involved with Bonobos
- What he learned at Bonobos and brought to Interior Define
- How he got into the furniture industry
- The importance of partnerships in the lifestyle space
- Why they added customization options
- How they got PR in their early days
- How do they convince someone to spend thousands of dollars on a sofa they haven’t seen in person
- The importance of having a guide shop as an online brand
- What their most effective marketing channels are today
- How they picked the location of their guide shop
- The benefits of having the office directly above the guide shop
- How to sell a big potential hire from a larger company on working at a startup
- Future products that Rob’s excited about
Selected Links From The Episode:
- Maxwell Ryan, Founder of Apartment Therapy
- The Everygirl
- Monica + Andy
- Trunk Club
Favorite Books:
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
- Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Sponsored By:
- Bevy: a Chicago startup delivering everything you need, but don’t want to own, for amazing experiences. Own Less. Live More.