Jumping Out of the Conventional with Ariel Kaye, the Founder and CEO of Parachute Home
Welcome to the second episode of the Stairway to CEO podcast. Today, I will be speaking with Ariel Kaye, the Founder & CEO of Parachute Home. Parachute is one of the fastest growing direct to consumer brands creating bed and bath linens and other amazing home goods for the modern home. I met Ariel when she was just starting out in building her business and its been so incredible to see how she has grown the company over the years - building an all star team, raising millions of dollars in venture funding, opening up stores from LA to NY and creating a home essentials brand that people know and truly love. In this episode, Ariel shares with us some amazing insights on what it takes to build a strong consumer brand, how she transitioned from working in advertising with huge brands like American Express and Burger King to taking the leap into starting her own company, and why fundraising is like a performance.
In This Episode You’ll Hear About:
Ariel’s unconventional path from working in Advertising to starting her own business.
How Ariel merged her interest in building a brand with her passion for high quality home essentials to start Parachute Home.
What she did to update investors and show progress in order to secure capital.
How she took feedback and applied it feverishly to better herself and her company.
Best lessons learned and tips on hiring the right people based on your own core competency.
Some of the challenges she faced in building her confidence, and ways she encourages camaraderie and bonding within the Parachute culture.
Why it’s not rare to see employees of Parachute cardio boxing each other.
What investors need to feel and see, and what Ariel has done to bring out the “crazy” within her own pitch meetings.
Her recent $30M Series C round, and why fundraising is like a performance.
How Ariel measures success, and her focus on building a long lasting brand.
The moments where Ariel felt most defeated, and how she got back on her feet.
Ariel’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
To Find Out More:
Quotes:
“You have to fake it til you make it.”
“You are investing in the person so much more than the actual idea”
“I had to let go of my own insecurity regarding the types of people that would be excited to work here.”
“When you have a great brand that people are inspired by, it becomes a lot easier to recruit people.”
“You are your own biggest advocate. You must put the excitement and passion on the table so it can be felt and experienced by others.”
“Nothing is easy, and that’s what keeps it fun.”
“Everything takes longer than expected.”
“I think when you have an idea you really believe in, it’s totally worth following that passion.”
“You have to get used to things going wrong, and moments that are overwhelming.”