Two friends at Harvard Business School shared a passion for fashion. Jennifer Fleiss and Jennifer Hyman drew upon their business savvy and their desire to look great for a low cost to create Rent the Runway (www.RentTheRunway.com) in 2009. This “Netflix for Fashion” allows women to borrow designer clothes and accessories from top designers at a fraction of the cost (approximately 10 percent of retail prices in most cases).
For women struggling to find a balance between a small budget and a big taste for style renting a $650 Diane von Furstenberg cocktail dress for $75 or a $1,200 Nicole Miller gown for $175 is a pretty good deal that even an economics major can’t argue.
The business was a hit. In 2011 Fortune magazine named Fleiss and Hyman on their list of “most promising women entrepreneurs.”
Today the company offers more than 25,000 dresses and accessories by 160 different designers.
Rent the Runway is also helping a few enterprising young female entrepreneurs on college campuses across the country. The business’s “It Girls” are students who keep a rotating assortment of cocktail dresses in a trunk in their dorm rooms to rent out. At Vanderbilt for example although the price points of the designer duds in stores would be around $400 a one-time rental is only $30. Students also have the option to sign up for the $85/month subscription service which allows them to rent as many dresses as they like. The It Girls gain valuable experience in sales marketing customer service and networking—as well as access to the fashions they love!
While becoming an It Girl may sound like a dream job the competition is stiff. In a recent round of 350 applicants only eight women were chosen to represent Rent the Runway.
If being an It Girl isn’t your thing but you have a desire to start your own business find a need for something and fill it! There are plenty of examples of companies started by college students. Some of the best known include Facebook WordPress Google and FedEx but there are many others not as well-known. For example Insomnia Cookies was created by a junior at the University of Pennsylvania and now has locations at over 25 college campuses.
So once you find your niche figure out what it will take to start your business. Here’s a hint: It’s not always about start-up money.
“My advice would be to take risks and test out a concept that you’re passionate about,” says Jennifer Hyman, CEO and co-founder of Rent the Runway. “Some people have the best ideas but never actually pursue them. The single most important characteristic in an entrepreneur is passion.”
