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Casper Founder: How I Built A $575 Million Business At 31

E125 • Apr 9, 2024 • 52 mins

When Neil Parikh was in medical school, he called his parents to say he was taking a year off to move to NYC. At the time, they were furious, but little did he know that would be one of the best decisions of his life. He partnered with his friend, whom he met at a coworking space, to build a DTC mattress company. Their most recent valuation was at over $1 Billion. This is the story of Casper and the secret behind their viral growth.

Key Points

Neil Parikh reflects on the impact of working in his grandfather's store as a child, learning the basics of business and the importance of community and customer service.
Casper's co-founders experienced numerous rejections from investors who doubted the viability of selling mattresses online, but they persisted and eventually secured funding by demonstrating their innovative approach and market potential.
The rapid growth and success of Casper were fueled by a combination of earned and paid media, strategic partnerships, and a strong focus on customer experience, including the introduction of the now industry-standard 100-night trial.

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Learn more about Casper here: https://casper.com/

Speakers

Neil Parikh

Guest • 86%

Shamus Madan

Host • 14%

Chapters

0:00	Introduction and Neil Parikh's early years
2:57	Foundation of Casper and disrupting the mattress industry
11:11	Lessons learned from investor rejections and evolution of Casper's story
18:00	Achieving $1,000,000 in revenue in 30 days and creative marketing strategies
28:53	Overcoming traditional business barriers in the mattress industry and innovating customer service
32:16	Dealing with challenges and problems in business and importance of feedback
38:05	Mistakes made during Casper's scaling process and maintaining focus
40:09	Decision to go public and challenges faced
46:41	Future focus: Consumer applications of healthcare and AI
49:13	Best piece of advice: Relentlessly invest in yourself and words to 18-year-old self
51:53	Wrapping up the episode and future plans

Transcript

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