Dress Stress? Meet the Founders of Rent the Runway!

So another Final Club date event is coming up and you’re freaking out. You’ve worn every dress in your closet and your roommate’s dress is being dry-cleaned after a spilt drink fiasco at the last formal. What are you going to do? Don’t worry, Rent the Runway is here to save the day. From the comfort of your dorm room, you can search their site (www.renttherunway.com) for the latest designer dresses. They even categorize dresses by occasion to make it even easier for you to find the perfect one! Once you have found that jaw-dropping number, you can rent it at just 10% of retail prices. Rent the Runway even sends you two sizes, just in case the one you order doesn’t fit quite right. After your event, just repack the dress in their handy, pre-paid packaging and drop it in the mailbox. Shopping has never been easier! Her Campus Harvard readers can get an exclusive invitation to Rent the Runway at www.renttherunway.com/freezecollegemag. We’re also giving away two $25 gift cards in the Freezebie section (www.freezecollegemag.com)!!!

Rent the Runway was founded by two Harvard Business School alums, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Carter Fleiss. Freeze got a chance to chat with them about their company, their college experiences, and, of course, fashion!

1. What was your inspiration for Rent the Runway?
Jennifer Hyman: My inspiration for the company is my incredibly fashionable sister Becky Hyman. I was at Becky's apartment over Thanksgiving 2008 and she was about to attend yet another wedding where she had to buy yet another dress that she'd only wear once. The irony was, I was staring at her closet jam-packed with beautiful dresses but she felt that she could not wear the same dress twice. Rent the Runway gives all the Becky's of the world access to the "Carrie Bradshaw" closet - an opportunity to play with trends, try new designers and experiment with fashion - without the guilt of a dress they'd only wear once.
Jennifer Carter Fleiss: Wanting to create a service that was fun and would bring many of the social elements of shopping to the Internet. Knowing the guilt of buying things I’m only going to wear once and having a messy closet filled to the brim with things that are out of style—I always find it more fun to get something new and with constant events in my life I have seen how Facebook kills outfits these days! Once I wear something it seems someone has posted a photo of it on Facebook by the next day!

2. You both are Harvard Business School alums, but where did you go for your undergraduate degree and what did you study?
JH: I went to Harvard undergrad (Class of '02) and was a Social Studies major - spent way too much time senior year writing my thesis. But I feel like my real "major" in college was FM Magazine - where I was Editor-in-Chief.
JF: Yale. I was a Political Science major and focused on International Relations. Funny that now my idea of current events is what Jennifer Garner wore to the Golden Globes!

3. What is your favorite college memory?
JH: Late nights with my roommates at the Quincy Grille, Launching the first Seneca Red party, sweaty dance parties in Quincy, Kirkland, Eliot Houses
JF: Having a prank war with the boys across the hall—It lasted a week with our trading pranks back and forth!

4. Did you attend business school directly after college or work for a few years?
JH: I worked for 5 years - at Starwood Hotels where I launched a wedding business for them - and then at WeddingChannel.com and IMG. All of my roles were in sales and marketing.
JF: Worked for two and a half years in finance—Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers as a strategic planning analyst (basically internal consulting for the firms). While I learned a lot about PowerPoint and Excel, I wish I had been more explorative about the many unique job opportunities out there. In particular, I think start-ups are a great place to be for someone just out of undergrad because you get exposure to so many different areas of a company and can really hone in on what you like—Also, tons of opportunities for responsibility at an early age.

5. What was the most important thing you learned from business school?
JH: That anyone can start their own business - all you need is passion for your idea, a go-getter attitude and the ability to be humble enough to realize that you'll be wrong far more often that you'll be right.
JF: The importance of sales and that every meeting is worth taking.

6. What advice do you have for Harvard students who hope to enter the world of fashion and/or become entrepreneurs?
JH: Very simple - just do it. Harvard undergrads are amongst the most creative, smartest people in the world (in my biased opinion!). If you put half as much energy into starting something you believed in as opposed to prepping for ibanking and consulting interviews, you'd have a lot more entrepreneurs coming straight out of Harvard.
JF: Do it! This is the most fun and best experience ever. If you don’t have your genius idea yet, team up with someone or work at a start-up and learn what it’s like.

7. What are the most fulfilling parts of your jobs? What are the most challenging?
JH: The most fulfilling and challenging parts of the job are building and motivating a team of people to feel like owners in the business and always be thinking with the customer in mind. We've built an amazing team of talented people thus far and I’m so proud to be a part of it. It also makes it a lot more fun to come into the office every day and be around people that teach and inspire me.
JF: Most fulfilling is when customers called feeling thrilled by their rental experience. Most challenging is trying to grow very quickly to satisfy demand.

8. Who are your favorite designers?
JH: Haute Hippie, Matthew Williamson and Alexander Wang (not yet on Rent the Runway but hopefully soon!)
JF: I’m not a fashion hound, but have definitely come to appreciate fashion more and more since founding Rent the Runway. I love Temperly London, Diane Von Furstenberg and Brian Reyes.

9. What trends are you seeing in formal wear for this spring?
JH: Lots of draping, embellishment and darker colors than one would normally expect!
JF: Beading, Jewels… I’m not the fashion brains in this company!

10. Do you have a signature perfume or piece of clothing?
JH: I like to wear whatever's trendy so I usually flip out my signature pieces on a seasonal basis but thus far this year it’s a yummy chocolate brown leather vest and a pair of amazing round toe louboutins. I also treasure a pair of pearls that I recently received from my grandmother.
JF: I love Lulu Lemon stuff—I usually wear perfume from Bond Street or Angel Perfume.

11. What one item should every college girl have in her closet?
JH: An outfit appropriate for the Spee Pajama Party (I hope that still exists - it was the best!) and of course, a ton of new outfits that you can constantly refresh via Rent the Runway. There is absolutely no need to wear the same old dress to House Formals, Final Club Parties, Opening Nights etc.
JF: LBD = Little Black Dress

12. What can’t you live without?
JH: My family and my amazing boyfriend Anand (whom I met at HBS!)
JF: My husband = best person ever!

13. What have you learned from starting your own company?
JH: That being involved on a daily basis in something you love is the absolute best feeling in the world. This is the first job I've ever had that doesn't feel like a job.
JF: Sales and implementation are key. Managerial skills are super important—Something that is hard to learn until you’re actually on the job.

14. What’s one lesson you wish you had learned in college or earlier?
JH: I feel so lucky to have gone to Harvard as the people I met in school are still amongst my closest friends and confidants. Spend more time listening to the people around you - everyone has amazing ideas and things to say and you'll learn that the more you actually take others' advice, the more you can grow!
JF: The pluses of working in a small company.

15. What’s next for you both and Rent the Runway?
JH: I hope Rent the Runway is around for a very long time and I hope to be working with Jenny to build it into a part of every woman's daily life. And, look out for the launch of accessories on April 1st!
JF: For me, trying to get back into shape! Building a business has cut into lots of “me time,” things like exercise! At work, focusing on hiring more people for RTR. RTR is launching accessories in April—Going to be huge!