# Away: Jen Rubio

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2019-03-18
- Length: 1h 07m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-03-18-away-jen-rubio

## Summary

Jen Rubio, co-founder of Away, explains how a broken suitcase in a Zurich airport inspired her to launch a direct-to-consumer luggage brand with co-founder Steph Korey. After raising $2.5 million from Forerunner Ventures, they faced a critical manufacturing delay that forced them to pivot their Christmas 2015 launch to a coffee table book containing gift cards for the suitcases. The strategy succeeded, selling out the initial inventory and establishing Away as a cult travel brand that has since sold over one million units.

## Chapters

- [0:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-03-18-away-jen-rubio#t=23) Introduction: Jen Rubio and the Origin of Away
- [4:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-03-18-away-jen-rubio#t=252) Jen Rubio's Career Path: From Penn State to Warby Parker
- [25:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-03-18-away-jen-rubio#t=1558) The Airport Incident and Market Research
- [31:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-03-18-away-jen-rubio#t=1898) Partnering with Steph Korey and Defining the Product
- [39:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-03-18-away-jen-rubio#t=2390) Fundraising and the Self-Imposed Christmas Deadline
- [44:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-03-18-away-jen-rubio#t=2693) The Manufacturing Delay and the Coffee Table Book Pivot
- [50:52](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-03-18-away-jen-rubio#t=3052) Launch Success, Celebrity Adoption, and Scaling

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Crowdfunding & preorders](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/crowdfunding)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Away (product)
- Warby Parker (company)
- Forerunner Ventures (company)
- Excel (company)
- Vogue (company)
- Sled Legs (product)

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- [Against All Odds: Overcoming Huge Setbacks to Sell 5 Million Worldwide](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/its-only-a-prototype/2025-05-15-against-all-odds-overcoming-huge-setbacks-to-sell-5-million-worldwide) (It's Only a Prototype)
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## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-03-18-away-jen-rubio. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.