Running a company isn’t for the faint of heart, says Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman.
On rough days, she relies on a single piece of advice from a mentor, she says: “There are only two reasons why a founder leaves their company or stops working toward their dreams … either you stop believing [in it], or you’re tired.”
The observation came from Dan Rosensweig, a former Rent the Runway board member who’s currently the executive chairman of technology company Chegg, says Hyman. It helped her shift her mindset at work: If she starts feeling “unhappy and frustrated and blaming it on Rent the Runway,” she reminds herself that she still believes in the mission of her company, which helps her stay motivated.
Hyman, 44, co-founded Rent the Runway with her Harvard Business School classmate Jennifer Fleiss in 2009, launching the clothing rental service with little, if any, existing competition. Today, the clothing rental market is a more mainstream industry, with competitors ranging from Armoire to Urban Outfitters-owned Nuuly.
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Some of them even threaten to outpace Rent the Runway. Nuuly brought in less than half of Rent the Runway’s revenue during their 2023 fiscal years, but was probably closer to profitability: It posted a $13.9 million operating loss, much smaller than Rent the Runway’s net loss of $113.2 million, according to SEC filings. (Urban Outfitters didn’t share Nuuly’s net income figures for 2023, and Rent the Runway hasn’t released its 2024 earnings statements yet.)
“There are [more] people that [rent clothing] every year,” says Hyman, whose company currently has a market capitalization of $27.76 million. “I’m a bigger believer today than I’ve ever been.”
‘Every few years, make a choice for yourself’
Checking in on your work self every once in a while — making sure you still believe in your job — can be beneficial to your career and paycheck, some experts say.
Employees with a strong “sense of mattering,” or a perception of how their work positively impacts the world, are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and land promotions, psychiatrist Gabriella Rosen Kellerman told CNBC Make It last year.
As for the exhaustion element of Rosensweig’s observation, Hyman says being tired simply isn’t a good enough reason to give up on something you believe in.
“If you’re tired, there are lots of ways to change that,” she says. “You can change the way you work. You can change the energy you bring to the office every day and change the people around you. You can take a vacation.”
Hyman has a few vacation rules for herself, she says: Her vacations must be longer than five days, because it takes that long for her to stop habitually checking Slack, she must stay away from screens and she spends the time with her children to help her disconnect from work.
“I think [Rosensweig’s] advice stands for more than just your job,” she says. “We should [reflect] as it relates to our marriages, our friendships … Every few years, make a choice for yourself, figure out what you believe. It helps you feel like life isn’t just happening to you.”
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