DNVB List: Hey David, thanks for chatting today!
Lilybed: You bet, been looking forward to it!
DNVB List: We always like hearing more from founders about the time before they started their companies, so tell us more about what you and Brittany were doing pre-Lilybed.
Lilybed: Sure, so Brittany was managing a retail store for women’s beauty products in Vermont. Most recently though, her career focused around art. She has a passion for painting and specializes in landscapes and animals.
DNVB List: Interesting. And yourself?
Lilybed: I’ve spent the previous 20 years in the bedding industry. Most recently I was VP of Sales and New Business Development for Natural Form Sleep Systems.
DNVB List: Ah, there we go, you answered one of my questions, which was whether anyone actually had experience in the “sleep” industry.
Lilybed: Yeah, that would be me. Quite a bit of time actually.
DNVB List: I’ll say, 20 years is substantial. Plenty of time to understand the competition and find a niche. Tell us what Lilybed is and how it fits into the marketplace right now.
Lilybed: Lilybed is a 10 inch, no-flip mattress comprised of 3 proprietary foam layers and covered with a washable top. More-specifically, however, it’s the only mattress that is designed specifically for a woman’s body.
DNVB List: Interesting, tell us more!
Lilybed: When we designed Lilybed, we re-imagined how mattresses are designed.
DNVB List: Knowing nothing about them, my gut says it’s more or less the same across the board. Is that accurate.
Lilybed: Pretty much. Nearly every mattress company was using a 6–7 inch firm base foam with several thinner comfort layers on top. Lilybeds design is unique. It only uses a 4-inch firm support foam with a 4-inch thick response foam as the core, topped with a 2-inch layer of CoolFlow memory foam.
DNVB List: That’s a lot of layers :)
Lilybed: Actually it’s more about the quality, thickness and density of the materials that Lilybed uses which leads to creating the perfect balance of comfort and support for the unique curves and proportions for a woman’s body. I can’t even tell you how many combinations we tested! Hundreds!
DNVB List: So it’s designed specifically for a woman’s body?
Lilybed: Exactly! Brittany wanted to create a sleep surface that complemented and supported a woman’s body.
DNVB List: How did it get started? Where did that idea come from?
Lilybed: It was Brittany. I’d known her for several years and when she approached me about it, I just thought it was fantastic. She wanted to find a mattress that felt like it fit her silhouette.
DNVB List: It’s hard to believe something like that didn’t exist already.
Lilybed: Yeah, most mattresses were either too rigid or felt like sleeping in quicksand. And after speaking to friends and colleagues, we found pretty quickly that Brittany wasn’t alone.
Women typically hated mattress shopping and ended up settling for the mattress the salesman recommended for them. Couples on the other hand compromised on something they could both live with even though it may not be perfect for either one of them.
DNVB List: Ha, I can attest to that!
Lilybed: The mission became creating a mattress that was perfectly balanced for a woman’s silhouette; to provide comfort, support, and just the right amount of bounce.
DNVB List: When did you come onboard?
Lilybed: We joined forces pretty quickly and opened our testing facility in Bennington, Vermont in June of 2015.
DNVB List: OK, so we know it’s made specifically for women. How?
Lilybed: Oh gosh, where do I start? We put a lot of features into this mattress. It’s a no flip design with a firm base support for proper spine alignment. It’s got continuous, responsive support for a woman’s silhouette with a cooler, pressure-relieving surface. It accommodates all sleeping positions and is even hypoallergenic thanks to the Purotex cover.
DNVB List: What does the Purotex cover do?
Lilybed: To keep it simple, it reduces humidity, which in turn cleans up allergens and creates a clean healthy sleep environment.
DNVB List: I like the sound of that.
Lilybed: We’re the only US company incorporating Purotex. It’s a natural probiotic in the mattress cover.
DNVB List: Take that Serta and Sleep Number!
Lilybed: Haha! We also added a second treatment called Adaptive. Adaptive is a textile treatment used by sportswear companies like Champion, New Balance and KJUS for its dynamic cooling technology. We wanted to create a cooler sleep experience.
DNVB List: There are few things worse than feeling sweaty and hot in bed.
Lilybed: Right?! Our technology goes a long way in preventing that.
DNVB List: It seems like out of nowhere over the last, call it, five years or so, the mattress space has become pretty crowded. The “made for a woman’s silhouette” thing is a big differentiator, but I’d love to know more about how you plan on building the brand. Not necessarily the business and the numbers, but the brand itself.
Lilybed: We envision Lilybed creating a suite of products for the bedroom that contribute to creating a beautiful sleep experience. Products we are looking to add will be sleepwear for women, nighttime skin care products, aromatherapy candles, and bed sheets.
DNVB List: Very cool. And I think you told me you guys bootstrapped the company, right?
Lilybed: Yes, completely.
DNVB List: That’s not easy to do. Where are most of your customers coming from?
Lilybed: Most come from our social media outreach and lots of word-of-mouth.
DNVB List: And can people find you on the social medias?
Lilybed: Oh yes! They can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We love hearing from customers who are loving our mattresses! The giants in the mattress industry make it extremely expensive for a small, niche company to compete in online paid marketing. Our goal over the next 12–24 months is to continue to grow that brand awareness for Lilybed through social channels.
DNVB List: Well, hopefully we can help with that. I can understand what you’re saying about the giants of the industry. There are some deep pockets!
Lilybed: Afraid so. But you know, “the industry” as you put it is one of the reasons we wanted to do this. The mattress industry in general treats every sleeper exactly that same. Just look at the marketing messages from every major competitor in our segment. “The Perfect Mattress For Everyone” from Casper to Leesa to Tuft & Needle, and the big players as well. They’re trying to group all genders and body types into one universal preference for a mattress firmness. They think they’ve created a unisex mattress perfect for all. And let’s face it, they’ve been successful creating that marketing message and creating a cult following.
DNVB List: You think they’re wrong?
Lilybed: Not necessarily. They have great mattresses and they’re highly rated by users. However, we feel there’s a personal level of comfort that can take a sleep experience to whole new level. Lilybed has focused our attention on creating that new level of comfort and quality, and have done it specifically for women. If you also notice the trend these companies are changing their designs or adding more mattresses into the lineup. Casper for example has added 2 more mattress designs and Leesa added a Hybrid into the lineup. They realize the trend that people are looking for more than a “one size fits all” mattress.
DNVB List: You read more and more studies these days showing just how incredibly important good sleep is. On top of that there’s a real movement toward customization and personalization (in apparel, in particular) so it makes sense for that to extend into sleep products. We spend a third of our lives sleeping, maybe it’s time we invest in getting something perfect for us!
Lilybed: We couldn’t agree more. To make it easy for people to give it a try we have a 10-year warranty, free delivery and returns, and a 101-night in-home trial.
DNVB List: Well, that’s quite the cherry on top!
Lilybed: We try :)
DNVB List: Anything else we need to know?
Lilybed: I think we covered it all. People can go to lilybed.com to see more, read our reviews, watch testimonials, and more.
DNVB List: Well, thanks again for chatting with us!
Lilybed: You bet, talk soon!
DNVB List: Bye!
