Why The RealReal founder Julie Wainwright launched another startup in her mid-60s
Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Boeing's new COO is caught up in its latest crisis, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde is warning against Donald Trump's reelection, and The RealReal founder Julie Wainwright never wants to stop working. Have a lovely Tuesday!
- Work ethic. Julie Wainwright was the CEO of dotcom crash casualty Pets.com, shutting it down in 2000. In 2011, she founded online consignment store The RealReal when she was 53 years old. She took it public in 2019 and left in 2022. In mid-2023, she debuted a new startup, the personalized nutrition company Ahara.
The failure of Pets.com scared her off from founding her own startup for a while. "I regret that I didn't take the risk earlier," she says. Now that she has the success of The RealReal under her belt, she's not wasting any more time.
Today, Wainwright, 66, is leading Ahara through its earliest days with physician-nutritionist cofounder Melina Jampolis. Wainwright says reporters are the only ones asking her about her age and her motivation at this stage of her career. "I have a lot of energy, and I'll probably work for the rest of my life because I love it," she says. "I could put energy into other things, but the payoff wouldn't be there."
And yet, others (besides journalists) have a different perspective on life as a founder. Wainwright says she hears from women founders in their 40s who are reluctant to try again; they're "worn out" from "dealing with investors and their boards."
Over her years in business, Wainwright says she's learned to disregard some of those dynamics. "The older you get, the more you realize that when you start a business, you know more about that business than anyone else," she says. "I hope women find the strength to keep going and to understand that they have the power to drive their own success."
Wainwright says Ahara's mission—to improve people's health and prevent disease—motivates her. A typical workday at the still-small company lasts about eight hours, compared to 12 hours working across time zones at The RealReal, she remembers. She's raised about $10 million for Ahara.
She hopes that users of the platform improve their health and energy. And she wishes the same for female founders pondering their next act. She advises: "Don't get so tired that you can't move forward."
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Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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