Julie Wainwright - The RealReal Founder | How She Rebuilt After Pets.com Failed and Built a Billion-Dollar Empire
Julie Wainwright - The RealReal Founder | How She Rebuilt After Pets.com Failed and Built a Billion-Dollar Empire  
Podcast: Success Story with Scott D. Clary
Published On: Fri Aug 08 2025
Description: ➡️ Join 321,000 people who read my free weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.scottdclary.com   ➡️ Like The Podcast? Leave A Rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/successstory Julie Wainwright is the visionary entrepreneur who transformed one of Silicon Valley’s most public failures into a billion-dollar empire. After leading Pets.com through the dot-com crash, she came back stronger, founding The RealReal in 2011 and scaling it into the world’s largest online luxury consignment marketplace with over $1 billion in annual revenue, 33 million members, and a successful IPO on Nasdaq. Under her leadership, the company processed millions of authenticated luxury items, disrupted a $200+ billion resale market, and redefined sustainable fashion. Her story is proof that with resilience, bold vision, and relentless execution, even the biggest setbacks can become the launchpad for extraordinary success.   ➡️ Show Links https://www.instagram.com/realrealjulie/   ➡️ Books https://www.amazon.com/Time-Get-Real-Billion-Dollar-Business/dp/1637746865    ➡️ Podcast Sponsors Hubspot - https://hubspot.com/   ShipStation - https://www.shipstation.com/ (Code: SuccessStory) Inbound - https://www.inbound.com/register  Cornbread Hemp - https://cornbreadhemp.com/success (Code: Success) iDigress Podcast - https://idigress.show  NetSuite — https://netsuite.com/scottclary/  Indeed - https://indeed.com/clary   ➡️ Talking Points 00:00 – Intro 01:31 – Julie’s Career in Her Own Words 02:40 – Why Training Shapes Entrepreneurs 08:32 – The Risk of Letting AI Think for You 11:49 – When Julie Was Called “Unemployable” 16:02 – Bouncing Back from a Major Failure 21:43 – Sponsor Break 23:40 – Building Something Completely New 30:29 – Winning in a Crowded Market 43:12 – Sponsor Break 45:07 – Success vs. Billion-Dollar Success 51:27 – Why Every Founder Needs an Exit Plan 1:06:49 – Julie’s Biggest Life Lesson