Rent the Runway

In 2007, Hyman and Fleiss met as sectionmates at Harvard Business School. They regularly met up to discuss entrepreneurial ideas, one of which was Rent the Runway. After seeing her sister overspend on an expensive new dress for a wedding, Hyman had the idea of offering dress rentals for women for special events. Long term, her plan was to offer women unlimited access to a designer closet they could rent from on-demand. Early on, Hyman and Fleiss pitched the idea to designer Diane von Fürstenberg as a rental service for her brand's website. She was initially uninterested, and suggested that instead they create their own multi-brand retail site. Hyman and Fleiss took her advice, and Fürstenberg signed on as one of the company's first designer partners. A November 2009 article in The New York Times helped bring publicity to the company shortly after its launch. In 2016, the company began offering everyday clothing through a subscription model.The company has received over $400 million in venture capital from investors including Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, TCV, Bain Capital Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, American Express, and T. Rowe Capital. In 2015, the company suffered negative press after the departure of several executives such as CTO Camille Fournier and Linda Honan . However, it was reported to have a positive bounce back by the end of 2016 with a Series E venture investment from Fidelity Investments and the launch of new physical retail shops. In 2017, Fleiss left the company to co-found Jetblack, a concierge shopping service. Fleiss remained on the board and Hyman remained as CEO. In March 2019, Rent the Runway received a new round of financing that increased its valuation to the unicorn level of $1 billion.