Neil Blumenthal

I'm honored to judge @Omaze's #StandingOAwards this year! Do you know a person or nonprofit that's making a big difference in their community? Your last chance to nominate them is this Sunday! standingoawards.com

@vntrlab @Wharton @Penn First and foremost, our classmates! We relied heavily on the expertise and experience of our classmates for everything from ecom to UX/UI to branding to ops. We sought advice from our professors & participated in the Venture Initiation Program & the Penn Wharton startup challenge

Q5: For our aspiring entrepreneurs just getting started, what resources @vntrlab, @Wharton, and @Penn, did you use and would recommend? #venturelabchat

Q4: “The greatest teacher, failure is.” What teachable moments in your startup journey can you share with our entrepreneurship community? #venturelabchat

@vntrlab When building @WarbyParker, we often spoke about all aspects of the business. However, we realized we were oversharing and risking our audience losing interest. Leveraging our fellow classmates, we used polls to understand what messages resonated most and emphasized that first.

@tranglanimous @vntrlab @WarbyParker Trust! You want bd members you truly trust (both their integrity and their advice). You want someone that will push you to your best. Of course, you'll also want specific domain expertise and varied perspectives (investor, operator, etc).

@vntrlab @WarbyParker Another question: "When thinking good boards, what qualities do you look for in good board members and is there someone in particular that you would define to be one of the best you’ve worked with?"

Q2: The brand promise of @WarbyParker is designer quality glasses, affordable pricing, and social mindedness (Buy A Pair, Give A Pair). Was there ever a concern that your business model couldn’t deliver on all of that promise? #venturelabchat

@tranglanimous @vntrlab @WarbyParker Do you homework first, your business plan/deck should be perfect before starting the fundraising process, here is a resource for writing a business plan sequoiacap.com/article/writin…, make sure you know your market (size and dynamics), make sure you know the competitive landscape cold.

@vntrlab @WarbyParker Incoming question: "Can you give any advice for student founders about to raise their first VC round also considering the context of the current environment"

@tranglanimous @vntrlab @WarbyParker It's really hard to get comfortable with taking a lot of risk, the trick is to de-risk any venture, getting as much customer feedback as early as possible while spending as little money as possible (focus groups, surveys, etc). @AdamMGrant wrote a great book about this, Originals

@NeilBlumenthal @vntrlab @WarbyParker Another question: "A lot of student founders struggle with getting started on a idea or even get used to feeling comfortable with the risks that come with being a founder. How did you tackle this while you were at Penn/Wharton?"

@tranglanimous @vntrlab @WarbyParker Absolutely, that's why we held focus groups and conducted surveys before launching the business, the feedback we received led to our home try-on program. But, ultimately, you don't know how customers are going to respond until you start selling to them.

@NeilBlumenthal @vntrlab @WarbyParker In 2010, direct to consumer wasn’t as proven a business model as it is today. Did you ever worry that customers wouldn't embrace mail order glasses?

@tranglanimous @vntrlab @WarbyParker Brands that sell directly to their customers (D2C) have an inherent advantage over wholesale brands because they have a direct relationship with their customers that enables them to provide more value (lower pricing, learn directly from customers & apply those learnings, etc).

@NeilBlumenthal @vntrlab @WarbyParker From one of our students, "Hey Neil! Many critics think that D2C is a dying down as an industry, so what do you think about the direction of this trend?"

Q3: @WarbyParker has been raising awareness around voter registration and access ahead of the upcoming election. Why is it critical that business play a role in encouraging civic engagement? Can you tell us more about what Warby Parker is doing? #venturelabchat

@vntrlab @WarbyParker @VOTE411 @bfamericaus @CivicAlliance twitter.com/WarbyParker/st…

@vntrlab @WarbyParker @VOTE411 @bfamericaus @CivicAlliance We created an easy step-by-step guide along with an informative video that features non-partisan information regarding how to register to vote (or check to see if you’re registered), plus state-level voting guidelines and information about who is on the ballot.

Q1: Hi @NeilBlumenthal! As Co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, you’re already a household name at @Penn and @Wharton. What don’t people know about who you are and what you do? #venturelabchat

@vntrlab @Penn @Wharton My wife is also an entrepreneur (actually a serial entrepreneur) and now runs the children's apparel company @rocketsofawesom and when we started @WarbyParker, we worked out of her office

It's #FounderFriday w/ @Wharton alum @NeilBlumenthal co-founder and co-CEO of @WarbyParker! Join the conversation by using #venturelabchat!