Alexandra Zatarain of Eight Sleep – Once Upon a Smart Mattress

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:54 — 46.6MB)

One of the biggest challenges of launching a company is transitioning from the security and support of a corporate job into the unknown, and how your former corporate allies may question every move you make. For Alexandra Zatarain, cofounder of  EIGHT SLEEP (the world’s first sleep fitness company), she had both the trust in and of her cofounders, and the knowledge that they were onto something important that’s universal to everyone on the planet: the need to fall, and stay, asleep. Alexandra and her team have now raised millions of dollars, were selected to participate in prolific accelerator programs like StartX and YCombinator, and have been shipping product non stop since they completed their fundraising seed round! Alexandra joins Socialfly co-founder Stephanie Cartin for a conversation about building her business and career, and describes her journey to success, including about the challenges Latino and female founders go through; why Indiegogo was such an important tell for cash flow and testing interest; how Eight Sleep uses science and leverages knowledge through the mattress itself; and, why it’s important to just keep swimming.