18: Hayley Barna, Co-Founder of BirchBox and General Partner at First Round Capital

Almost exactly a decade ago, a new bright eyed class of students entered Harvard Business School in September 2008. One month in, something happened that nobody could have anticipated: the economy completely fell apart. The world experienced the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. At a time where the future looked uncertain and bleak and taking career risk was probably the last thing on any rational person’s mind, something magical happened at Harvard Business School. In just a short time window the foundation for multiple multi-billion dollar companies was being laid: Rent the Runway, Blue Apron, Plated, StitchFix and BirchBox.  This week I caught up with Hayley Barna, co-founder of BirchBox and current General Partner at First Round Capital. One of the famed consumer success stories of the last decade, BirchBox revolutionized the application of the subscription e-commerce business model to beauty and retail. Hayley helped the company raise over $80M in venture capital, generate $100M+ annual revenues and deliver products into the hands of over 1 million monthly subscribers. In her current role at First Round, Hayley is focused on finding the next crop of great consumer companies.  We had a lot of fun in this one — Hayley is one of the most personable guests we’ve had on the podcast. The conversation is filled with great lessons, but a few highlights included: (1) why the downside of taking risks is overrated, (2) how impact at scale is all about people and culture, (3) the importance of balancing growth with sustainability and (4) Hayley’s belief that the best thing you can do for yourself is “just getting out there and doing it”.