Julie Wainwright: Getting Real Real About Building a Billion-Dollar Business

Julie Wainwright is the visionary founder and past CEO of The RealReal, the luxury resale giant that disrupted the fashion industry and redefined what it means to build a billion-dollar brand. In her new book, Time to Get Real: How I Built a Billion Dollar Business that Rocked the Fashion Industry, she pulls back the curtain on the grit, resilience, and unfiltered truths behind her journey. Wainwright doesn’t just share the glossy wins—she dives into the hard decisions, the fundraising hurdles, and the bold power moves that turned an idea into a publicly traded company with over $1 billion in revenue. With candor and wit, she explores what most people get wrong about building at scale, how to know when it’s time to exit, and the real strategies women need to win in male-dominated spaces. Time to Get Real is part playbook, part memoir, and all inspiration—a masterclass from a founder who changed the conversation around luxury, sustainability, and what it really takes to bet on yourself. In this episode, Julie also discusses:Being at a major crossroads and owing it to yourself to start your own businessPioneering circular fashion and making sustainability mainstream in luxuryConfiscasting fake goods Which brands never go out of styleTaking the company public in one of retail’s most talked-about IPOsBreaking barriers in fundraising as a woman in a male-dominated space We hope you enjoy this episode and gain valuable insights into Julie's journey and the growth of TheRealReal. Don't forget to subscribe to the Glam & Grow podcast for more in-depth conversations with the most incredible brands, founders, and more. Be sure to check out TheRealReal at www.therealreal.com and on Instagram at @therealreal Rated #1 Best Beauty Business Podcast on FeedPost This episode is brought to you by Wavebreak Leading direct-to-consumer brands hire Wavebreak to turn email marketing into a top revenue driver. Most eCommerce brands don’t email right... and it costs them. At Wavebreak, our eCommerce email marketing agency helps qualified brands recapture 7+ figures of lost revenue each year. From abandoned cart emails to Black Friday campaigns, our best-in-class team manage the entire process: strategy, design, copywriting, coding, and testing. All aimed at driving growth, profit, brand recognition, and most importantly, ROI. Curious if Wavebreak is right for you? Reach out at Wavebreak.co