Meet Jen Rubio, Who Created the Perfect Suitcase at Away
“We started Away because we saw a real gap in the market. There wasn’t a travel brand that truly understood the way people travel today, so our goal was to create one — to build a brand that helps people explore the world more seamlessly.”
– Jen Rubio, to Forbes
Jen Rubio, the co-founder and current CEO of Away, explained to Forbes what inspired the establishment of the highly successful brand that now has a valuation of $1.4 billion in less than eight years of existence. Rubio’s main motivation was an incident early in 2015 that saw the suitcase in which she was traveling break open and litter her personal belongings all over the airport.
The frustrated Rubio subsequently made an effort to replace the disappointing suitcase with one that is stylish, durable, and affordable. When she could not find any, she decided to take the bull by the horns by creating one herself. This was while working at the D2C store Warby alongside Away co-founder Stephanie Korey. At that time, she was in charge of social media, while Korey was head of supply chain.
Like all clever budding entrepreneurs, Rubio and Korey knew they had to put in some hard work in order to determine the viability of their dream business. “We had done so much research to develop the initial product — we interviewed nearly 1,000 people — that by the time we launched, we were confident that there wasn’t anything on the market like it and that it would resonate with a lot of people.” Both ladies are alumni of the Forbes 30 Under 30.
Rubio dropped out of college because she wanted to be a businesswoman.
Jen Rubio is no stranger to the world of travel, having lived in seven cities on three continents. She was born in the Philippines, from where she immigrated with her family to New Jersey when she was seven. While an undergraduate majoring in supply chain management at Penn State University, she first interned at Johnson & Johnson, then later got a job offer at Neutrogena.
To her parents’ consternation, she dropped out of college to take the Neutrogena job. With hindsight, that decision turned out to be the right one, because it was from there that she worked her way up to become the head of Warby’s social media department and later the global head of innovation at AllSaints, a fashion brand based in London. On why she dropped out of college, she says, “I didn’t look at it like this at the time, but it was just me following my curiosity and what I was interested in.”
“I left college a few credits shy of a degree, and after an extended externship at Neutrogena, I channeled my personal passion for social media and struck out on my own as a social media consultant in LA, tweeting for food trucks and small businesses and eventually movies,” she disclosed in an interview on Fortune.
Investors agree that Away is a great idea.
Rubio argues that “If you’re looking for seed investment, what’s the problem that you’re trying to solve? How are you solving it? Why are you the one who is uniquely positioned to solve this in the market, and how big is the market? We knew the problem we were trying to solve was that the luggage industry was broken. We were going to create a beloved direct-to-consumer brand that cuts out the middleman and is built on consumer insights. Why were we uniquely positioned to solve it? Because we had experience with the direct-to-consumer [model], a vision for a travel brand, and the size of the market.”
Like many startups with a sound business model, investors quickly took a liking to the Away project. One such investor is Eurie Kim, general partner at VC firm Forerunner. Eurie first met Rubio in 2014 and went on to invest in Away (which was formerly known as JRSK Inc.).
“What made Jen stand out is that she understood that travel isn’t a point-to-point transaction. She realized that you could build a powerful relationship with the consumer from this piece of luggage. And she was onto something big because Away really resonated with the millennial consumer.”
Away has since come a long way since Jen and Stephanie got $150,000 from family and friends to kick-start the company. Further investments will come via the following rounds of funding:
● $2.5 million seed round in August 2015
● $8.5 million series A round in September 2016
● $20 million Series B round in May 2017
● $50 million Series C round in June 2018
● $100 million in May 2019 (which pushed the company’s total value to $1.4 billion).
Away’s first product was well-received.
When Rubio launched Away with Korey in November 2015, her ideas included transforming the perception of people who saw suitcases as boring travel accessories. Instead, she envisioned a fashionable and quality product that could inspire a mammoth following. She accomplished that goal through the adoption of strategic branding.
The unveiling of their signature product, the “Carry-On,” was a huge success, with Vogue calling it “The Perfect Carry-On” and people seeing it as “the little black dress of luggage.” Notably, the company made $12 million in its first year of operation. Propelled by that warm reception, Away launched three more suitcases after just one year of existence:
● The Bigger Carry-On
● The Medium
● The Large
Within months, Rubio and Korey had filed over a dozen patent applications globally. Away had attained profitability by the end of 2017. By late 2019, the company was on track to rake in $150 million in revenue and would go on to sell over one million suitcases that year. Its new “Neon Collection” was launched in May 2023. Away sells most of its suitcases online but also has 14 brick-and-mortar stores in high-traffic cities like New York, Los Angeles, and London.
Lessons that can be learned from Away.
In 2018, Forbes recognized Away as one of its next billion-dollar startups. By May 2019, it had become a billion-dollar business. Jen Rubio has the following tips for female entrepreneurs:
1. Try to keep emotions out of your fundraising efforts.
Jen notes that fundraising can be a draining process for anyone, and as women, the numbers weren’t on their side. For instance, in 2017, women’s share in total venture capital funding stood at just 2.2%. Though fundraising can be emotional, you must realize you are not asking investors for a favor but rather providing them with an incredible opportunity to invest in something you will work on tirelessly to achieve success.
This distinction is essential when it comes to taking the emotion out of fundraising collaborations. However, this doesn’t mean that human nature is completely kept out of these interactions. Rather, keeping your emotions out will make you grateful for quick investor rejections that allow you to seek other options while ensuring that you don’t take such rejections personally.
2. Associate more with those who understand your vision.
Whether it’s linking up with a business partner capable of complementing your skills or employing workers that are the best in their respective roles, the team you build, and how much they believe in your long-term goals are key determinants of whether you’ll be successful or otherwise.
3. Understand that your vision will not resonate with some people.
In the process of building something, you are bound to meet people who will question your vision or you personally. Rubio notes that “In some early conversations, people told us that no one would ever get excited about luggage.” The moral here is not to waste time faulting those who think differently. Instead, just try to understand their opinions and use their feedback constructively to improve your business ideas. “Today, we’re grateful that we didn’t spend too much time dwelling on those who said no. The people who have truly added value to our vision didn’t need much convincing,” she concludes.
References:
https://fortune.com/2019/07/10/away-founders-q-and-a/
https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/history-of-away-luggage-data/
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/away-jen-rubio/id1150510297?i=1000432146312
https://www.createcultivate.com/blog/createcultivate100-entrepreneur-away/
https://www.eater.com/2018/10/4/17936756/start-to-sale-away-luggage
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