Question: Can you describe to me your position at Revivn?
Answer: My role is predominantly in logistics, both global logistics and asset disposition. I build out our network to facilitate global pickups for our partners. I work with everyone in Operations, giving advice and being available to bounce ideas off because I've been here for so long. I provide some historical context and drive them in the right direction about things I've worked on in the past, how we can improve our systems, etc.
Question: How did you learn or hear about Revivn?
Answer: I found Revivn on AngelList back in the day. After some interviews, I narrowed it down between Revivn and another startup in the office furniture space. I had a phone interview with John and then I met him and Anthony in person. When I walked into the warehouse, there was tech piled from the floor to the ceiling. It provided some sense of security because I knew if we went out of business, it wouldn’t be because we didn’t have the inventory. I made the right decision because that other company went out of business in a year, and I’m really proud of where Revivn is after all these years.
Question: What really sold you on Revivn at that moment?
Answer: Honesty and transparency. I had the phone conversation with John and the in-person meeting with Anthony and he was very straight-up. He needed someone to be there in the mornings to open the place up, and that’s what I did. They've always been true to their word, which is why I first started working here.
Question: Can you tell me a little bit about your career journey before getting to Revivn?
Answer: I moved to New York 10 years ago. Originally, I'm from Oregon. My friends from high school went to college on the East Coast and they all moved to New York City after college. I moved in with them and slept on their couch for five weeks while I looked for a job. I had just graduated college too so my experience was really limited.
I found a Business Development Representative job listing on Craigslist and I met with a guy that just bought a female fashion blog he was monetizing. That was a tiny company; it was just the two of us. It was a wild experience and definitely wasn’t a traditional job. I was building affiliate relationships with big brands and we were making money from affiliate links. As I got deeper into the business, I realized that the company was masking numbers, meaning it was using inflated numbers to build all these partnerships. It started to be a bit disingenuous and shady, so needless to say I didn’t stay too long.
Then, I was an account manager for Idea Management Software, which is software that helps your company catch ideas from people who aren’t in meetings to present them. The idea was good, but I wasn’t meant to be an Account Manager. We lost our second and third biggest accounts in a couple of weeks leading up to my start date and the business was in disarray.
I took some time off and started working with furniture. I would walk around my neighborhood and find pieces that people threw away. I’d take it back to my building, take photos of the furniture, and post it on Craigslist to gauge interest. I would redo and refinish the ones where with interest and charge more. That kept me going while trying to figure out which direction to go with my career.
When I started to look at AngelList again, I found Revivn.
Question: Hopping into some of the Revivn-oriented questions, what would you say is your favorite part about working at Revivn?
Answer: It's definitely the relationships with the people that I value the most. I see most of them outside of the workplace too, which is really nice. Recently there’s been a pretty big focus on company culture–trying to cultivate those relationships amongst all of us because it does help with everything.
Question: What would you say is the proudest thing you've accomplished at Revivn?
Answer: Being directly involved with some people on my team's development over the years, guiding them through the different stages of their careers, and doing everything I could to assist them in that journey. I ended up writing letters of recommendation for a couple of them, which was such an honor. I think letting me help them get to that next stage shows a level of trust.
Question: Why should someone work at Revivn?
Answer: I think they would want to work here for a couple of reasons.
One, there's an opportunity for growth and learning. There’s more structure and defining what that is at each stage. That mixed with the vision of growth for the company and how we're never going to do anything that's outside the realm of what we're comfortable with in terms of growth. A lot of startups have failed because they've tried to get into this hyper-growth mode of customer acquisition at all costs and they don't end up making it because they just hemorrhage cash. That's definitely not the case here. Doing things organically and more sustainably leads to a quality experience.
Question: If you could switch jobs with anyone for a day, who would it be?
Answer: I would say Stefan's job as the lead tech, but if I'm changing jobs with him I want access to all of his knowledge of repairs for the day too.
Question: What do you like to do for fun?
Answer: I like to hang out with my dog. He’s very active, and a hundred times more social than me and my wife. His ideal walk includes saying hi to every person and dog we pass. That's not my ideal walk, but he forces us into it and it’s pretty cute.
My other pastime is that I'm our building’s superintendent. While I don't officially have that title, I like fixing things and have this insatiable need to figure out how things work. So that leads me to weird plumbing and electrical jobs to keep our old Brooklyn building in working order.