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Tuft & NeedleAs part of an ongoing series, each week Insider Picks features a product or store that’s poised for big things. The subject of this week's "We're Obsessed" segment is an online mattress company called Tuft & Needle.
There's a bevy of online mattress startups that have cropped up in the last couple of year, but Tuft & Needle is the industry pioneer, having launched in December 2012 before the likes of Casper (launched April 2014) and Leesa (launched January 2015).
Founded by JT Marino and Daehee Park, two software engineers from Silicon Valley who were fed up with the lack of transparency and fairness in the mattress industry, Tuft & Needle has successfully stripped away all of the gimmicks and insane price markups and turned the entire industry on its head.
Marino and Park told Business Insider:
We developed several product and process innovations — such as the one model mattress, donation return policy, sleep trial with no hassles — that most of our competitors and even some of the incumbents now use. Even now, with over 50 copycats that have sprung up after we started, Tuft & Needle is still the only one advocating transparency and education for customers shopping for a mattress. Because of this, we take pride that we pioneered a better experience for customers whether they choose us or our competitors, and we continue to use that same ingenuity to grow our business.
Tuft & NeedleNot only was Tuft & Needle the first to the party, though, its arguably the most ethical attendee as well, having raised zero outside capital. "JT and I started Tuft & Needle three years ago with $6,000 of our savings," Park told us. "We did over $40 million in revenue in 2015, we’ll do $150 million this year, and we haven’t raised any outside capital. Because of this we’re only held accountable to our customers and our employees, rather than outside investors who care most of all about growth and profits."
Tuft & Needle's ethical approach applies to its staff, too. None of them were in the business prior to joining the startup. "Most of the mattress startups you see popping up have been started by mattress industry people, which leads to doing things the same way, just transferred to a new medium — digital and online" Marino explained. "They are just farcical shells with cool millennial branding."
Instead, everyone at Tuft & Needle is a customer — just like the rest of us. And they understand just how frustrating, deceptive, and unnecessarily expensive the traditional mattress-shopping experience can be — in that, it can make you want to pull your hair out.
Not only are its mattress among the most affordable out there (its California king goes for just $750, to give you an idea), the experience Tuft & Needle offers its customers is much simpler: Every mattress purchase comes with a 100 night sleep trial and free shipping. This offers people a free, risk-free way to test out the mattress in the comfort of their own home, instead of on the awkwardness of a showroom floor. If, for whatever reason, you don't like the mattress, the company works with you to donate the it to local charity or organization. Painless.
Tuft & NeedleIf you're not wholly convinced Tuft & Needle is the right mattress for you, though, Park suggests checking out its Amazon reviews:
After our first several months in business, we decided to list the Tuft & Needle Mattress on Amazon to provide an objective platform for customers to review us. We asked ourselves where is the most trusted source of reviews online, and JT and I both agreed that it was Amazon by far. Other places, such as a company’s own website, are not as trusted by customers, but Amazon is impossible for companies to game the reviews because their fraud algorithm is best-in-class. We’ve been the number-one rated mattress on Amazon’s mattress category for over two years, and we now have over 2,800 5-star reviews by satisfied customers.
While the company's primary sales channel has always been and still continues to be its website, Amazon may offer customers additional peace of mind.
If you're considering buying a new mattress, and you're ready to forgo those sketchy showrooms, have a look at Tuft & Needle. For those who value a good night's sleep (that's everyone, hopefully), this brand should prove itself good value all around.
Tuft & Needle's mattresses are available in the following sizes, and for the following prices: twin ($350), twin XL ($375), full ($500), queen ($600), king ($750), California king ($750). Click here for more purchasing information.
