How Kendra Scott Launched a $1B+ Business From Her Spare Bedroom

PLUS: Year of the Humanoid Robot... Lessons from OpenAI's Attempted Coup... And more...

Author

Ethan Brooks
March 07, 2024

Welcome to this issue of Austin Business Review, your weekly roundup of great local events and insights for Austin business owners (plus some other cool stuff for your life outside of work).

My name’s Ethan and I’m the one writing this (holler at me here!).

This week, we’ve got a few things on-deck:

  • 📅 Upcoming Events

  • 📈 The Kendra Scott Case Study

  • 📣 Word On The Street

  • 🤠 Local Shop of the Week

  • 📊 Austin by the Numbers

Did someone forward this to you? If you like it, you can sign up here!

-Ethan

PS. SXSW is officially upon us. If you’re looking for a full list of unofficial tech events, plus access to group chats dedicated to founders, investors, and marketing leaders, check out Andrew Yeung’s guide here.

Upcoming Events

Running a business is tough. Here are a few great places to meet cool people going through the same sh*t you are.

If you’re hosting something you think is a fit, let me know here!

Fun Stuff Coming Up

…Annd if you’re anything like me, you work too much already. So here’s some fun stuff to do around town that’s not necessarily related to business.

  • Mar. 8: How People and Machines Learn to Solve Hard Problems

  • Mar. 9: CommuniTEA at West China Tea House

  • Mar. 9: The Inaugural Pinvitational Cask Fest at Hold Out Brewing

  • Mar. 9: Blues in the Night at Jester King Brewing (they also do Doom Metal Goat Yoga if that’s more your speed)

  • Mar. 10: Whiskeys of the World - The Roosevelt Room

  • Mar. 14: Learn to Paint Your Pet’s Portrait

  • Mar. 19: Crate Diggers - Shop local vinyl over happy hour at Eberly

  • Mar. 22: Recent Discoveries from the James Webb Telescope

  • Mar. 28: Focaccia baking class at Commodore Perry Estate

  • Mar. 30: Hyde Park Storytelling

  • Mar. 29: Refuge - A Burlesque & Art Experience at The Cathedral

  • Apr. 11: Culturemap’s Tastemaker Awards

From Spare Bedroom to $1B+: How Kendra Scott Built a Jewelry Unicorn Right Here In Austin

When you think of Austin unicorns, it’s natural to think of tech startups. This is, after all, the home of companies like WP Engine, Bumble, and Indeed.

But one of our most inspiring local brands is the jewelry company, Kendra Scott, which started in the founder’s spare bedroom, was pedaled door-to-door at downtown boutiques, bootstrapped to seven figures before ever taking investment, and today, is valued at well over $1 billion.

This week, I dug into the story behind the brand, learning about:

  • Revenue over time

  • How she got her first sales

  • What unlocked growth

  • Key hires and relationships

  • When she was able to take money off the table

  • The “special sauce” that makes her different as a leader

She’s super inspiring, and this case study was a blast to work on. Hope you enjoy it!

Word On The Street

Thought-provoking ideas and stories published by founders in ATX

1. Three Months After the OpenAI Drama: Looking back on the attempted ousting of Sam Altman, multi-time founder Brett A. Hurt sees key lessons for the future of responsible AI:

  • Transparency: Failure to maintain this is part of what created the dissatisfaction among board members trying to remove Altman

  • Regulation: Governments and companies will require new treaties, education, and tools like “sandbox” regulation, to keep up with the shift into a post-digital world.

  • In the Meantime: Businesses will be the drivers of responsible AI, and should explore models like B-Corp that align incentives properly.

2. 2024 - Year of the Humanoid: Zaib Husain is the founder of robotics company MakerArm, and in this piece, she reflects on the trends she’s seeing propel humanoid robotics forward right now. Some keys include:

  • New models, like Agility Robotics’ Digit, showing robots can learn and perform complex tasks typically reserved for humans

  • The adoption of Rust, a programming language apparently known for its security, which reflects a broader trend toward robust robots

  • Specific LLMs and generational models for conversation, reasoning, and predicting what a robot is about to see before it happens

3. Shiny Objects of the Culture War: In a recent issue of his newsletter, podcast host, Chris Williamson, penned this reflection on the toxic 6-part cycle that drags us all into the culture wars, distracting from bigger issues.

The solution: A personal commitment to try and focus more on things that’ll matter in 50 years, not just the next 50 minutes.

4 . Our Most Unifying Tribe: Speaking of culture wars, Adam Lawrence, who sells big construction equipment online at Boom + Bucket, wrote this refreshing piece about the groundswell of American Dynamism.

More founders want to play their part in building up the country. You see it in companies like SpaceX and Palantir (both with founders in ATX!). And in shifting sentiment toward people like Palmer Luckey.

Yes, the country has problems. But it’s also what unites us all. Great read

5 . Building Stripe from 160 to 6,000 Employees: Holy hell, I’ve had three different founders send me this interview with Claire Hughes Johnson, former COO at Stripe.

During her tenure from 2014-2021, she led various functions including sales, marketing, customer support, recruiting, HR, and more.

Prior to that, she spent 10 years at Google, leading teams across AdWords, Gmail, and Google’s self-driving car. She’s also a mother, investor, Ivy League MBA, and sits on the boards of multiple unicorns, including HubSpot and Aurora Innovation.

Local Shop of the Week

Built as an extension of the Kendra Scott flagship store on South Congress, Sips & Sweets is a cafe, open late seven days a week, serving up coffee, seasonal wine, and local beer & baked goods.

They’ve got a walk-up window and two patios, so it’s worth checking out even if you’re not into jewelry. And I think every business owner can appreciate how this is a brilliant way to make a retail store into more of a community hub, and keep people coming back.

Perfect place to read the Kendra Scott Case Study over a beer frosé

Austin By The Numbers

Quick bites of local news

  • 23 Years it took to build Jeff Kodosky’s mansion here in ATX

  • -6.7% The amount rent prices fell in ATX from Feb 2023 to 2024.

  • 12 Consecutive years Texas won Governor’s Cup (unprecedented!)

  • $400m Kendra Scott’s revenue last year - read the case study here

  • $95.33 The price Capital Factory’s Luis Lan paid for a lie-flat business class pod flying from Houston to New Zealand (typically $8k+). Check out his newsletter on credit card points here.

That’s all for this week. If you liked this, do me a favor and forward it to another business owner here in town you think might get some value from it!

You can also email me here if you’re hosting something for local founders that might be a fit for the newsletter.

Until next week,

-Ethan

Thank you to everyone who shares great insights and events. You can follow and connect with them here…