I’ve met hundreds, if not thousands, of entrepreneurs and founders over my short tenure at Fuel. Being a founder myself, I look for the three factors that were integral to my success in the early days: A ton of resilience + unrelenting hustle + and a strong, world-changing purpose. Using this formula as my guide, a few founders have stood out as having the potential to change the world. Jay Reno is one such founder. And today, I am incredibly excited to announce that Chris and I have participated in Feather’s $3.5M fundraise, along with Kleiner Perkins and Bain Capital.
Feather has a big idea — to bring a truly modern approach to furnishing your home. We live more flexible lives than ever before. The average American adult today will change jobs at least four times by the time they’re 32 years old, and move 12 times in their lifetime.
Fundamental to the success of the sharing economy, it’s clear that Millennials overwhelmingly prefer to rent versus own their largest assets — their homes and their cars. But, the way they buy furniture (their 3rd biggest asset) is still stuck in the old ownership model. Choosing, buying, assembling (the hours of assembling!), and re-selling furniture is an expensive and time-consuming process.
Feather is home furnishing for the modern lifestyle. With Feather, you choose the furniture you want, and, with the click of a button, it’s delivered, fully assembled, and placed in the room you choose. When you are ready to redecorate or move, Feather comes and picks it all up. Feather is currently available in the SF Bay Area and NYC but will be expanding to other cities in the coming months.
And this isn’t the frumpy furniture that you see at other rental stores. Feather literally brings the kind of beautiful decor you see on Instagram and Pinterest to your doorstep, at a reasonable price and with no long-term commitment. It’s easy, it’s affordable, and it makes your home look amazing.
The last reason I love this company is more personal. Over the last week, Jay and the team at Feather have further demonstrated the importance of what they are building and the mission driven nature of their culture, by helping our friends and family in the North Bay. With the devastating wild fires in full swing, many homes have been destroyed, including my sister’s. Thankfully, in my case, my family is safe and they only lost their things. Things, like furniture, that can be replaced. The rebuilding process will take time and will be excruciating. Jay and his team swooped in immediately to give peace of mind to these families in need. My sister was so grateful. With the overwhelming feeling that everything is going to be difficult during this time of rebuilding, it was a huge relief to know that getting a temporary apartment furnished for her family (including a 2 year old!) was going to be one of the easy parts.
This is a great team, a fantastic product, and they are truly mission driven. Chris and I are proud to partner with them, helping to support the city-by-city roll-out and operational plan. I know firsthand that it takes hard work and persistence to bring a totally new approach to something that’s been done a certain way for generations — habit and the status quo are very powerful things. Jay and his team are the perfect people to ensure this idea reaches its full potential, and I’m thrilled to support them on every step of this journey.