How The 'Warby Parker Of Mattresses' Generated $1 Million In Its First 28 Days
Casper was founded to make it easier to get a mattress, and it does so by cramming a huge, fluffy mattress into a tiny box that gets delivered straight to your doorstep. Their mattresses come in six sizes and cost between $500 and $950 with a 10-year warranty.
They don't have different options for levels of firmness, but Casper does let you try out the mattress for 40 days before fully committing. If you're not into it, they'll pick it up and give you a full refund.
And apparently this model has been working pretty well for Casper. The company told Business Insider they were profitable on their first day of business and did $1 million in sales in their first 28 days.
Casper raised a $1.85M seed round, led by Lerer Ventures. But the startup did not expect the demand it encountered, selling out early on and having to figure out a way to get more mattresses produced as fast as possible.
Along with his four cofounders, Casper CEO Philip Krim originally sought to create the perfect mattress for millennials to encourage them to get more sleep. The cofounders were seeing a trend of millennials competing over who got the least amount of sleep, and Casper was designed to change that fad.
"We got excited about the direct-to-consumer movement that's penetrated other industries, whether it's razors, eyeglasses or even cars," Krim told Business Insider. "The ability for people to sell directly to consumers through a website is a really exciting shift in the way retail works."
While Casper lacks the options you may find at a Sleepy's, it offers an easy and quick alternative for 20-somethings that may not want to take the time shopping for their perfect mattress. In today's culture of immediate gratification and convenience, Casper lets you sidestep the challenges of leaving your apartment to find your new mattress.
"For startups that are launching today, especially consumer focused startups with a physical good, you really have to overdeliver on every part of the experience," Krim said. "When we look at it, it's the shopping experience, making sure the site is compelling, providing all the info the consumer needs all the way through the purchasing of the product, delivery, making sure when you get the physical good it's exciting and something they want to talk about. We've made the whole experience unqiue and different."