Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy
Business:Investing
My guest today is Trina Spear, a former investor at Blackstone and the co-founder and CEO of FIGS. FIGS is a multi-billion-dollar public company that built a category-leading brand selling scrubs to healthcare professionals. It was a problem hiding in plain sight and FIGS solved it through vertical integration and customer obsession. Trina shares so many interesting, simple lessons that are often ignored in business. Please enjoy my great conversation with Trina Spear.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.
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Show Notes
[00:02:28] - [First question] - The original insight that lead to founding FIGS
[00:04:28] - Why obvious opportunities can go so long before being seized
[00:06:23] - Key dimensions needed to improve the product and the early days
[00:09:02] - Basic overview of a clothing retailer’s financial profile
[00:10:49] - Financing the business and the early stage cash flow cycle
[00:13:04] - Strategies to manage workflow and making sacrifices
[00:14:43] - Advice for people trying to build their brands in a hands-on way
[00:17:14] - The biggest calculated risk she took in the first five years
[00:19:00] - Building a foundation that allowed for such explosive growth
[00:21:44] - The story that allowed FIGS to connect with their customers
[00:24:43] - Painting a picture of the size and scope of healthcare apparel
[00:26:22] - Things lazy companies do and thoughts on product variety
[00:28:54] - Defining SKU productivity and what to do with low productivity products
[00:30:21] - Chip Wilson Book; Lessons learned from reading Chip’s story
[00:31:58] - Balancing a healthy relationship with your CFO
[00:33:59] - Where she sees the most runway to tackle and continue to execute
[00:35:46] - A women-lead industry and her time spent with Meg Whitman
[00:38:13] - The most essential jobs she feels she has and shouldn’t do as the CEO
[00:40:03] - Thoughts about relationships with investors and messaging
[00:42:14] - What she’d be most focus on in founders if she was just an investor
[00:43:57] - The most stressful thing that has ever come across her desk
[00:44:41] - What types of things bring her the most joy in building FIGS
[00:45:27] - Philosophy of hiring given their small team and when it’s okay to hire
[00:46:56] - Whether or not there’s a role for non A players in businesses
[00:47:48] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her
Gaurav Kapadia - Everything Compounds - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 269]
Marko Papic - A Multi-Polar World - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 268]
Garry Tan - Unwrapping the Gift - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 267]
Eric Mandelblatt - Investing in the Industrial Economy - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 266]
Sebastian Kanovich - Powering Emerging Markets Payments - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 56]
Frank Slootman - Narrow the Focus, Increase the Quality - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 265]
Tim Flannery - Simplifying Fund Closing - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 55]
Joey Levin - Building an Anti-Conglomerate - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 264]
Peter Chernin - Betting on Passion - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 263]
John Pfeffer - Adapt and Evolve - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 262]
Geoffrey Moore - Building Gorilla Businesses - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 261]
Gavin Baker - The Cyclone Under the Surface - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 260]
Sam Englebardt and Richard Kim - Investing in Immersive Worlds - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 259]
Ricky Sandler - Building an Investment Compass - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 258]
Orlando Bravo - The Art of Software Buyouts - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 257]
Nick Saltarelli - One Foot in Front of the Other - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 54]
Jenny Johnson - Seven Decades of Investing Expertise - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 256]
Doug Colkitt - The Evolution of Markets - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 255]
Bill Gurley and Philip Rosedale - Back to the Future - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 254]
Francis Davidson - Design-led Hospitality - [Invest Like the Best, EP.253]
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