Meet The New CEO Of Babylist: Jennifer Hyman
Co-founder and former CEO of Rent the Runway, Jennifer Hyman, IPO’d her own startup and plans to join as the new CEO of Babylist, a company nearing $1 billion in revenue.
In May, Jennifer left Rent the Runway, her on-demand clothing rental company. Jennifer originally joined Babylist as a board member because it was a business that she was fascinated by, being a parent herself. Jennifer met Natalie Gordon about a year ago, surprised it took so long because they’ve led “parallel lives” over the past decade.
Jennifer created Rent the Runway in 2009, offering women the chance to wear designer clothing for a one-time rental fee or monthly subscription. Rent the Runway fundamentally reshaped customers’ accessibility to high fashion. Similarly, in 2011, Natalie launched the universal baby registry platform Babylist while pregnant with her first child. Although they began in different fields, Jennifer and Natalie share an ambition to create tools to expand the possible options available for women, both in the fashion industry and the world of parenting.
Leaving Rent the Runway was a complicated process for Jennifer. “When you dedicate two decades of your life to something, figuring out what the right time is to start a new chapter is such an emotional, trying, and intense decision-making process. It took me many months to come to that place,” said Jennifer in an interview with Forbes.
What is Babylist?
Babylist is a parenting platform that Natalie Gordon has built over the last 15 years. The company started off in baby registry and e-commerce and has since expanded. In September, Jennifer will take over as founder, and she is taking the responsibility seriously. Approaching the transition, Jennifer emphasized her fondness for the specific kind of culture that has been curated at Babylist. Expressing a preference for founder-CEO companies, Jennifer explained that in these kinds of companies, people show up for more than just a job, and everyone feels like they can pursue big dreams at the company.
Jennifer noted a similar culture at Babylist as at her own former company, Rent the Runway.
“I’m not coming in to change anything about Babylist. They’re doing very well,” Jennifer said, “I’m coming in to dream even bigger, expand what they do in community.”
Last year, Babylist revenue hit 750 million, with a steady growth rate of 45 percent each year.
Babylist is a registry service, but it also represents parents’ investment in financial stability for themselves and their children. Babylist offers a variety of financial services; for example, over the summer, they launched a program called Early Investor, which helps new parents plan savings for their children’s education. Jennifer wants to expand access to trustworthy information for new parents, encouraging them to save for their children’s future education from early on to avoid stress down the road.
Becoming A Parent And Changing Your Life
Prior to becoming the incumbent CEO of Babylist, as a board member, Jennifer learned that the new-parent customer base is willing to change their behavior, much more than other groups.
When you become a parent, you start to think about your own health and future in a different way. Jennifer noted that 40% of new parents write a will within the first year of becoming a parent. The customer demographics for Babylist, their openness to change, give the company business opportunities to pursue growth. Jennifer plans to expand Babylist to its full capacity, becoming the modern parenting platform for new parents.
