Hardware Podcasts

Paperless Post: James and Alexa Hirschfeld

How I Built This · 7 Oct 2024 · 1h 06m

What this episode covers

James and Alexa Hirschfeld, founders of Paperless Post, explain how they convinced investors to fund a premium digital invitation service in 2008, pivoting from a ticketing model to a paid 'stamps' system after validating user demand. They discuss the strategic decision to launch and later shut down a physical printing division to focus on their core digital product, and how the company survived the catastrophic 85% sales drop during the COVID-19 pandemic by securing PPP loans and raising capital from existing investors. The episode highlights their long-term 'marathon' approach to building a profitable, independent company that has sent over 650 million invitations, including a recent expansion into physical party supplies via Party Shop.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Paperless Post, Moose Partners, Crane Stationery
Products
Evite, Party Shop, Flyer
Also
Saturday Night Live

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