Mark advised his wife and her co-founder to be quick and nimble in seizing the opportunity. Pincus says her husband, Zynga founder Mark Pincus, gave her and Feldman advice that is still part of the OKL product culture. As Pincus tells me, it was about being at the right place at the right time.įrom the start, OKL operated at warp speed for a startup. That’s one of the reasons the site launched as a members-only platform initially. Feldman realized that these brands wanted to move inventory quickly and discreetly, so that a brand wasn’t going to be featured on the website for weeks and months at a discounted price. This wasn’t going to be an Overstock or Walmart. OKL was pitched as a channel where they could possibly sell these goods, but also maintain a luxury brand value. Pincus and Feldman started pitching them in December 2008, and found that these companies were eager for ways to distribute inventory.Īs the economy continued to implode, consumers tucked away their wallets, leaving retailers and brands with massive amounts of excess inventory. The pair quickly found a good attorney, wrote a business plan, figured out who would host the website, hired designers to actually build the site, and then started taking meetings with vendors. And Feldman’s background in merchandising and creative seemed like the perfect complement to her business development and digital media skills. Pincus says she couldn’t stop talking in their initial conversations about the possibility of starting the company because she saw how disruptive a company like One Kings Lane could be. Lisa Stone, founder of BlogHer, set her up with Pincus in 2008, which brings us back to Feldman waiting at Arrivals outside of LAX. During that experience, Feldman realized that in the home decor space there was no place to get deep discounts on designer goods.Īs Feldman further explored the idea of flash-sale meets home decor, she realized the need for a more tech-savvy co-founder. And she hated paying regular price for anything. Being a New Yorker, she was unaccustomed to the idea of driving from store to store to find individual pieces for her house. She had recently moved to LA from New York and was in the process of decorating her home. This impetus was partially born out of personal frustration. At the time, the model was mainly a vertical play in apparel, but she saw an opportunity to bring this to home goods. As a merchandiser, she was working in retail and observing the emergence of a flash-sale distribution model, pioneered by Vente Privee, and adopted by others, including Gilt. This wasn’t your typical founder story, but four years later, their brainchild, One Kings Lane, would become a business with over 4 million members, with expectations of over $200 million in revenue for this year.įeldman first started exploring the idea of applying flash sales to the home retail space in 2007. Feldman and Pincus both recall feeling a combination of nervousness and excitement. They had spoken over the phone after a mutual friend set them up to discuss the overlap of e-commerce and home goods, but they hadn’t met face-to-face. Feldman was meeting Ali Pincus, her soon-to-be co-founder, for the first time. And then rounded up a dozen other pieces that would be great buys, especially considering today's discounts.As Susan Feldman waited outside the Southwest Airlines arrivals terminal at Los Angeles International Airport in October 2008, she had a nervous feeling in her stomach, which she compares to blind date jitters.Įxcept this wasn’t your traditional blind date. I picked up this set by Kate Roebuck, one of my favorite artists, to bring a bit of sun-dappled happiness to the room. Of course there are a ton of great furnishings, too, but I was particularly jazzed to see the sale because it includes so much great art. And today, the solution presented itself.Įnter One Kings Lane, which is having a big sale that ends tonight! Take 15% off an order of $300 or more (code: SAVE15), or 20% off an order of $70o or more (code: SAVE20). It needed a pick-me-up!) I've been looking. (The room is otherwise shades of mauve, olive, and blush-super muted. I wanted a set-two pieces by the same artist that, while not identical, spoke to one another and had a certain dramatic tension-and a soft jolt of color. Such was the case for two blank walls, one on either side of some windows in my house, that have been begging for art. Such stipulations limit, complicate, and generally squeeze some thrill out of the hunt. You might need the piece(s) to be a certain size, style, or color. But buying art for a specific location in your home is much trickier. Pop into your local gallery on a whim, scour online collections, or shop in thrift stores and at street fairs while you're traveling. Searching for art that you love has to be one of life's best pastimes.
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