Often, companies are trying to chase growth and get into other categories or go international too quickly, and they can get in trouble doing that.
— Neil Blumenthal
Just as a company needs a strategy to capture market share, a company needs a strategy to encourage actions that reflect their core values.
One of the core values of the startup world is that you must have a list of core values. Like all abstract ideas, they're easy to dream up and tricky to implement.
I believe that the concept of 'design' encompasses every aspect of customers's exposure to a brand, from the moment they hear about us to the first time they visit our store to the process of ordering and anticipating the arrival of their glasses.
Millennials in particular get a lot of flack for their supposed entitlement and narcissism, but these evaluations have never matched my experience with hiring young people at Warby Parker.
One of my favorite products at Warby Parker also happens to be our worst-selling item: the monocle.
The basic idea of a hackathon is to erase all routine obligations for the day so that employees can clear a mental space for creativity.
Young people entering the job market seek employment at companies with values that match theirs.
When my three co-founders and I started Warby Parker in 2010, our primary intention was to sell good-looking, affordable eyewear online.
We all have a personal recipe for productivity. One person may need six cups of autonomy and just a pinch of collaboration. Another person may require heaps of sociability and noise, with just a teaspoon of occasional privacy.
If faced with two competitive candidates, every company will hire the person who evinces more enthusiasm.
Self-aware employees make a self-aware company.
The key to an ideal workplace, in one hyphenated word, is this: self-awareness.
We have been very focused on eyeglasses in particular because it's a massive industry.
My goal is to get in bed by 11. That rarely happens. But I celebrate when it does happen.
When you look at the reasons people leave companies, it's usually because their boss is a jerk or because they aren't learning and growing.
I wanted to open up a stand to sell dried fruit and beef jerky where we lived in Greenwich Village. I was 8 years old. I had been flipping through TV channels and got mesmerized by this infomercial for a food dehydrator.
What happens when kids don't have glasses - they get bored in class. They disengage and they may be disruptive. They may be misdiagnosed for A.D.D. or put in special needs classes.
Creativity is a business imperative.
Every moment contains an opportunity to create feelings of satisfaction and excitement in a customer. It's up to retailers to make it happen.
When another editorial pops up denouncing millennials for some perceived generational flaw, I take it with a Miley Cyrus-sized grain of salt.
Every generation trash-talks younger generations. Baby boomers labeled Generation X a group of tattooed slackers and materialists; Generation Xers have branded millennials as iPhone-addicted brats.
Hackathons are an amazing way to engage the team, foster collaboration, and knock out great work.
All those articles that scold Millennials for their supposed entitlement? Forget them. Millennials are great employees.
Building a consistent experience and firm identity was instrumental in our ability to swiftly build our online presence, open four stores as well as a mobile store in a converted yellow school bus, and launch six shops-in-shops.
The trick to maximizing your team's productivity is to create a workspace that's flexible, so it can be altered according to the ever-changing needs of the company and its team members.
Theoretically, an open-plan office is a great format for a changeable work environment, a place where employees have a say over how they work and a place that can adapt to their needs and to the needs of the business.
Share your personality with interviewers, but keep a professional filter safely adhered to it.
A workplace that encourages self-awareness is an environment where the most productive, curious, and innovative people thrive.
All companies - and not just startups - face the same eternal challenge: resource allocation.
People who are passionate about Warby Parker are passionate about creating a company that can scale, be profitable, and do good in the world - without charging a premium for it.
I want to go at least 11 hours without food. I sat next to Hugh Jackman at a conference, and he told me he fasted 12 to 14 hours when he was training for the Wolverine movies. I've deluded myself into thinking I can effortlessly achieve the same body type as Hugh Jackman if I keep up this eating schedule.
My grandfathers on both sides were entrepreneurs.
If you're entitled, you likely think you know more than you do.
When we were creating Warby Parker, for us it was about having a positive impact on the world and having a strong social mission.
Creativity flows when curiosity is stoked.
Warby Parker designs experiences, not products.
We've built a company that distributes a pair of eyeglasses to someone in need for every pair sold; that purchases carbon offsets; and that hosts mentoring programs at the office.
In general, obsolete technology is obsolete for a reason. Monocles are no exception.
The word 'hackathon' was born out of 'marathon' for a reason. It's exhausting.
Millennials are eager to make an impact, which makes them ideal for start-ups.
From the beginning, we believed that it was possible to develop direct relationships with customers at a relatively cheap cost, and our plan was to build a lifestyle brand that was also an Internet company - a rarity for eyewear.
Giving employees agency over their workspace encourages them to think carefully about the conditions in which they work best, and it gives them the tools to forge that environment.
Be personable to everyone you interact with.
There are two elements to nailing a job interview: form and substance. 'Form' describes the outer layer of your character - your manners, your demeanor, your social skills. 'Substance' describes the inner core of your character - your intellect, your empathy, your creativity.
Self-awareness is a trait - or maybe 'practice' is the more accurate way to put it - that everyone can always improve at. It is part emotional intelligence, part perceptiveness, part critical thinking. It means knowing your weaknesses, of course, but it also means knowing your strengths and what motivates you.
A startup is a company working to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious and success is not guaranteed.
At Warby Parker, we say that we're customer focused but medium agnostic.
Walking in the morning improves my whole day. I think more clearly, my points of view are sharper, and I'm more decisive.
I was captain of the soccer and basketball teams in high school, and I was the equivalent of class president.
