Nish Samantray (Arrae) - Using Wedding Savings to Start Arrae, Landing Retail, and Winning TikTok
On this episode, Arrae CEO and co-founder Nish Samantray joins us to unpack:
- Using wedding savings instead of throwing an actual wedding to start Arrae with his wife and co-founder, Siff, right as the world shut down for Covid
- Why Nish and Siff called their breakout product "Bloat" instead of overthinking a clever name
- How Arrae brute-forced its way into the top of the TikTok Shop category before anyone had figured out a playbook
- Why Target and four other major retailers all came to Arrae first
- Going from fully DTC to five of North America's biggest retailers in five months
- Nish's biggest regret
- Running a company that's roughly 90% women as one of only two men on the team, and how staying data-driven instead of personal made product decisions easier
- The "find your lanes" rule that keeps Nish and Siff from stepping on each other as co-founders, and why he says arguing hard, and often, is the key to a healthy partnership
- Why the entire team still works out of Nish and Siff's house, closets and all, and the second home they just bought to make a little more room for it
- What Nish learned about speed working across the US, India, and Japan earlier in his career, and how that shaped the culture he built at Arrae
