Hardware Podcasts

Tempur-Pedic: Bobby Trussell (2018)

How I Built This · 6 Jul 2020 · 58m

What this episode covers

Bobby Trussell, a former horse racing trainer who went bankrupt in the late 1980s, pivoted to distribute Swedish memory foam products in the US, founding Tempur-Pedic. After failing to sell initial mattress overlays to chiropractors, he successfully launched by mailing free pillows to 500 practitioners and securing a major retail partnership with Brookstone. Trussell explains how he raised capital from failed investors, adapted the product for the US market by laminating foam to create thicker mattresses, and positioned the brand as a high-end luxury item to avoid discounting, eventually taking the company public in 2003.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Tempur-Pedic, Brookstone, Sharper Image, Sealy, Danfoam, Relax the Back, IKEA
Products
Nion
Also
Michael Magnuson, Doug Landvic

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