Sara Blakely, Founder and CEO, Spanx

Key ideas

Blakely argues that starting small and self-funded, trusting intuition over the 'business is war' script, and using humor to make failure safe shaped how she built Spanx.

From a machine transcript of the audio. Quotes link to the moment they are said.

1. 1

   Look for what never evolved

   Asked where ideas come from, Blakely describes questioning everyday objects and noticing which ones have stayed the same and why. She traces the men's line to learning the undershirt dated from 1918 and hearing her brother's and husband's complaints, and arm tights to her own frustration with sleeveless clothes in cold weather.

2. 2

   Start small and make your own momentum

   Blakely says she never took outside money because she never needed it: by her account Spanx was profitable from its first month and she put earnings back in. She allows that starting big can work, but says it can also mean dilution and more people to answer to. With no advertising budget she says she paid friends to buy the product and put it at registers across Neiman Marcus to move it out of a quiet department.

3. 3

   Reject the script you were handed

   Blakely recalls being told early on that business is war and deciding to take a different approach, which she calls a feminine style of leading. In practice she describes talking to customers as one of them, showing vulnerability, and going with intuition over data almost every time. She suggests this is probably part of why word of mouth carried the brand without paid advertising for years.

4. 4

   Hire your weaknesses and let go

   Blakely says being every department at the start teaches you what you are good at and what you enjoy, and that the two tend to line up. She stayed with inventing, selling and promoting and brought in a CEO for daily operations. She also credits advice she received to accept delegated work that is 80% as good as her own.

5. 5

   Use humor to make failure safe

   Blakely says humor runs through her marketing and her training, where new hires do a stand-up comedy module. She holds 'oops meetings' in which she and employees tell funny stories about their mistakes, and she argues people who are less afraid of failing are more productive and inventive. She also says she embarrasses herself on purpose so the fear loses its hold on her.

In Sara’s words

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