Behind the Scenes: Scaling Saatva to $600M Revenue w/ Co-Founder Ricky Joshi

Ricky Joshi scaled Saatva to nearly $200M revenue with a 14-person ecommerce team while venture-funded competitors burned capital. His approach: bootstrap for 7 years, treat retail stores as conversion engines that drive 80% higher online sales, and embed customer service teams directly into viewing rooms to eliminate call center costs. Ricky breaks down how bootstrapping until 2018 created discipline that became competitive advantage, why COVID's retail disruption was the perfect time to lock premium locations at negotiated rates, and how markets with physical stores enable higher marketing spend due to increased conversion rates.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Teaser/Introduction
00:55 - Official welcome and setting the scene in Saatva
Austin store
01:50 - Ricky's background and founding story of Saatva
04:08 - Early direct-to-consumer landscape and Bonobos comparison
05:24 - Brand building versus catalog commerce approach
06:11 - What would Ricky do differently (PR earlier)
07:08 - Staying disciplined during venture capital era
09:48 - Decision to enter retail in 2019
11:37 - Viewing rooms as extension of web experience
14:12 - Community building through retail locations
14:47 - Advice for brands considering retail expansion
17:42 - Store economics and metrics (four-wall profitability)
18:34 - How retail affected data strategy and spend allocation
20:46 - Modern tech stack advantages for new brands (Shopify/Klaviyo)
22:09 - Reviews and SEO strategy
23:00 - AI and search visibility
26:57 - Product quality as foundation
27:58 - AI implementation across the organization
29:25 - Data challenges preventing full AI integration
31:19 - Rapid fire questions begin
31:40 - Favorite brand: Warby Parker discussion
33:44 - Wrap up