Focusing on people ops from the start to grow a healthy organization with Eliza Blank of The Sill

Maren Kate
Welcome to From Five to 50. The podcast dedicated to helping startups and founders survive and thrive through the early stages. I'm your host, Maren Kate, and we're here with Eliza Blank from The Sill. Welcome to the show, Eliza.

Eliza Blank
Thank you, Maren for having me. I'm so excited.

Maren Kate
Absolutely. So first off, when did you found The Sill?

Eliza Blank
I started The Sill in 2012. So it's been nearly eight years.

Maren Kate
Okay, and then just in 90 seconds or less, tell the audience what you do and the why behind.

Eliza Blank
Sure. So The Sill is the first digitally native, direct to consumer brand that's dedicated to plants. And what I mean by plants right now is house plants. So we are on a mission to bridge the gap between people and plants, because plants make people happy. I started this company from a personal experience of having killed many, many, many houseplants after moving into my very first apartment in New York City, and was inspired to create a wonderful experience for a new generation of plant parents.

Maren Kate
I love it. I love the term plant parents too. I was on the site. I thought that was adorable. So what's the business model? How do you guys make money? You mentioned direct to consumer and digitally native.

Eliza Blank
That's right. So we started online. But we are now omni channel. So you can purchase our products from thesill.com, or one of our five stores which we are now based in New York City, LA and San Francisco. And our core of our product is an easy to care for potted houseplants, we want to encourage people to incorporate more plants into their day to day lives. And that might mean you know decorating their home with plants, it might mean a plant at their desk in the office, we make it really simple in that we provide all the things that one would need to choose a plant for their lifestyle. Decorate with it, meaning we also create our own line of planters. We also offer all the necessary accessories, whether that's fertilizer, or potting soil, or watering cans, or misters. But we also focus a lot on education. So you're always going to get really thorough care instructions, we offer things like virtual plant care appointments, workshops, we have a really robust blog with a lot of education there, we really just want to make the experience of owning and taking care of a plant as wonderful as plants themselves.

Maren Kate
So did you bootstrap this company over the last six, seven years? self funded? Do you have external investors?

Eliza Blank
So great question, I actually chose to bootstrap initially, and did so for nearly five years. So 2012, to the beginning of 17, that was entirely bootstrapped. And in 2017, I decided that I wanted to raise venture capital. And the reason being is that I had have always had very high ambitions for this company. But it's a very complicated company to run operationally with a perishable product that you're shipping nationwide. And also just with changing consumer behavior, really trying to identify why people want to incorporate plants into their lives today, and how to better serve today's consumer who just has different expectations. So it took me five years to really understand how to build this company for a modern day consumer. And once I felt like I had that product market fit, I decided to raise venture. Okay, and how much have you raised?

Eliza Blank
We've raised just north of $13 million.

Maren Kate
And what type of investors participated? Was it investors that are mostly investing in e-commerce? Well, it's such a different model, like a combination of the digitally native and something that's real and perishable right, living?

Eliza Blank
That's right. So our investors are all institutional venture investors. They're a combination of consumer brand focused investment firms, and actually those that that bridge the gap between consumer brands and media. So I think what's interesting about The Sill is that we're really a platform for plants. And we certainly have, a conventional commerce component to this company to this brand, but we also deliver on content and community. And I think that's just made us more interesting to a wider swath of investors.

Maren Kate
Yeah, for sure. So what is the current size of the company look like?

Eliza Blank
So right now, at sort of what I would call corporate level, or that's typically how people understand it, we have about 30 people from a headcount perspective, we're somewhat dispersed. Our main headquarters is here in New York. But we have two distribution centers, one in New Jersey and one outside of LA. And we have the five stores. So our total headcount as a company is closer to 80.

Maren Kate
Okay, and then in terms of the 30, kind of corporate, what does that look like? What is your breakdown? Are you more marketing heavy? Are you more engineering or operations? I would assume logistically, there's a lot.

Eliza Blank
Yeah, looking at the total company, operations is certainly the largest team, I would say following operations, though, which includes for us, the logistics, the fulfillment, the distribution, but also procurement is the marketing team. And for us, marketing is not just brand marketing, but marketing from a brand perspective, but also merchandising and creative and performance.

Maren Kate
Okay, and now, are you a solo founder? Or did you cook on this with others?

Eliza Blank
So I co founded initially back in 2012. However, we ultimately dissolved the partnership. So I started working on The Sill approximately February of 2012, the business launched in June of 2012. And then my co founder, and I opted to split towards the end of the year. So I don't recall, maybe it was something like October. So she was with me through the initial launch, which was great. But then we we ultimately had different ambitions for running the business, which can be tricky. And you know, I was 26 when I started this company, so you don't know what you don't know. So it was a really tough experience, but a good one.

Maren Kate
Oh, my gosh, so true. Absolutely. I know you have mentioned the 30 million venture, the stores, the 80 top headcount, are there any growth numbers, you can share publicly? Revenue users, anything that you guys are comfortable with sharing?

Eliza Blank
I would say since the first dollar in, we've basically 10x our business. So over the course of two years, we've 10x and that's even true of headcount. I mean, when I first raise money, I think the team was eight people and now we’re 80.

Maren Kate
Wow, that's so cool. Congratulations, that must be a whirlwind.

Eliza Blank
It is. It's like running a different company every year, but I think that's why sure keeps me so engaged.

Maren Kate
Absolutely. Okay. So what's your environment? Are you guys all in offices in a different city? Does anyone work remote? How does that how does that look for the corporate team?

Eliza Blank
The corporate team all sits together. We are based in the Seaport right now, we actually work out of a We Work Office.

Maren Kate
For those people that aren't in New York State, where's the Seaport?

Eliza Blank
So the seaport is downtown. So it's basically the financial district ofManhattan, it's a big building, it's very corporate. So we used to be in walk ups that were too small and literally falling apart. So this feels very fancy for us. But we are on the 31st floor, we are looking out on a sea of high rises. It's, really a change of scenery, but it's been a really nice transition for us, because I feel like we've been in less than nice accommodations up until this point.

Maren Kate
Okay, that makes sense. So in terms of pain points, especially over the last two years of a hypergrowth, if you're 10xing, What's been the biggest pain point around hiring and talent? Or just people in general?

Eliza Blank
Well, people are the hardest part. So always the hardest part, and it is it's so challenging, because when you make a mistake with people, it has wide implications across the organization. And on the flip side, if you get that people piece, right, that's really what makes you hum. So you know, one of the things that we did in 2018, was we decided to start building a people ops team, and we now have two women who run people ops here at The Sill and they are, honestly the lifeblood of this company. They are the ones who keep this place, a happy, healthy place to work, and I really couldn't have done it without them. And quite honestly, when we first decided to build the team, I thought it was too early. I didn't really fully appreciate the impact that it could have on the culture of the company and it has just been really transformative, I would say,

Maren Kate
How many people were you at when you started to build out people ops?

Eliza Blank
We must have been around 50.

Maren Kate
Yeah, that's a good time to do it.

Eliza Blank
At the corporate level, we were still quite small. We were maybe, 15, corporate, but 50 as an organization across distribution and retail, but in retrospect, it was absolutely the right call, even bringing on a second person, I think was super meaningful. And we've absolutely broke in company culture here, I think that's to be expected. But then going through it, it's no less painful, even though you can sort of foresee it coming. And I think we're now well equipped to predict those breaking points and get ahead of it, we weren't really in a position to do and I really didn't fully understand how that was going to make good work and possible.

Maren Kate
It's so funny, as I've been doing this podcast, and I've been in the entrepreneurial world for over a decade now. And one thing I've noticed is when I talk to founders, after several years, when they're looking back, they either say one of two things. They're either like, I wish I'd brought on people ops earlier. Or they're like, I'm so glad I brought them on when when I did, even though it felt too early. Yeah, so people that wait too long, or that say, we would have been farther ahead if we'd done that. And I think that's so true. I think especially, as first time founders, sometimes we're like, do we really need that, where's the value? Right? Man, it pays dividends. It really does. I mean, it's like investing in your health, it's investing in your company's health.

Eliza Blank
It's so true. And now I would say the payoff is we have such alignment within the organization on how we hire, how we incentivize, how we compensate, how we evaluate. And, there's clarity, everyone understands what's expected of them, what it's going to take to get to the next level, what it means to be an employee at The Sill. And it's really satisfying to hear people say that they were effectively miserable at their last job and are so happy here.

Maren Kate
That's amazing. So on the flip side of hiring, as you guys have scaled, what's been the hardest part of sales or just growth in general?

Eliza Blank
It's just knowing from a people perspective, since I know that's the focus here is in such a fast paced growth company, making sure that people are able to adapt, and understand that there are chances that the company can outpace the individual. And things have to change. And I think that's a very challenging thing to communicate and to really get people to appreciate, even if they hear it. And so, we've definitely gone through periods of time where people have struggled to keep up or, or they don't quite understand why we're moving so fast. I just even had a conversation with someone on the team, who's now on his, maybe like fifth manager. And it's not because his managers have left, we've just reordered the logistics team a number of times to support our scale. So it's actually effectively a really good thing. But he expressed frustration that things keep changing, and he doesn't understand why, and why does he have a new manager, and he just had a new manager. It's easy to understand someone's frustration with that. So to have to explain, we're doing this for the good of the company. And ultimately, we hope that it results in a better work day for you.

Maren Kate
And do you find with hiring when you guys are onboarding or closing a candidate, hiring a candidate, that's something you're over communicating?, Like, hey, if you want something that is stable and stays the same, this is the wrong job, you need to be okay with that constant disruption?

Eliza Blank
Yeah, so we've definitely learned our lesson in that. I think, if anything, the conversations that we have that are harder, are with team members who've just been with us for longer. Well, I still have plenty of team members here who are with me pre fundraising. So what this company looks like right now is very different than what it looked like three years ago before we had any external financing. So, just to make sure that they usher along. If, that’s what they want, and in the meantime, any new hire 100% gets that sort of expectation setting chat during the process. There's no question.

Maren Kate
Yeah, I guess that is true too, as you're growing it always hardest for the people that came on at a certain stage. And now it's the environment that looks different. So focusing on growth, especially that 10x growth? What do you think has been the most successful growth hack you guys have tried to instill?

Eliza Blank
That's a great question. I don't know that. What's interesting is, in some ways, I think us opening brick and mortar stores was our growth hack. It's a little non traditional, but it taught us so much about the customer. Because all of a sudden, we’re able to have direct lines of communication long form, so you know, more art and science, but real meaty insights, that you just can't have by looking at a heat map of your website, or like a survey of your customers, or prospecting or, ad units, and just there's nothing that replaces that constant open line of communication with customers, and being in the real world with brick and mortar really helped us, evolve our strategy.

Maren Kate
The digital side of it, too. That's cool. You're doing physical in real life user testing, watching how people interact.

Eliza Blank
Right, but also making money while we do it, as opposed to spending the money.
Like focus groups.

Maren Kate
Exactly. Which in reality, aren't as true to life as me walking in and touching the leaves and looking at the design and asking about price. That's right. Okay, so final three questions. First, what is your favorite book or podcast from 2019?

Eliza Blank
Favorite book or podcasts from 2019? Great question. I wish I had a more immediate answer for you. I am the type of person who has very little recall. So well, the podcasts that I've been listening to have actually not been business based. And now my recall of my last podcast that I truly listened to was the podcast that acccompanies the documentary, Chernobyl, and it was fantastic. And it's probably not the answer that you're hoping for.

Maren Kate
No,no, no, I just want whatever pops top of mind.

Eliza Blank
So I watched Chernobyl. And my husband found out that there was a an accompanying podcast that then went one level deeper. And I know they do this on Netflix all the time, they sort of do these director's cuts, but to actually have a podcast complimentary to the show was brilliant. And it was so fascinating. So I would recommend, watch the documentary. Or it was really like, a dramatic show, not a true documentary, but then also the podcast.

Maren Kate
That's great. I'm looking at it on Apple podcasts. It has 7000 ratings. Definitely popular. Okay, cool. So another question. And I'm going to caveat this one. What business tool could you not live without? That is not slack? Because when I ask people that every single person is like Slack, so Slack taken out of the mix, what business tool do you guys really depend on?

Eliza Blank
I would say Shopify, if I'm allowed to say Shopify. That's what our company is built on. We've been on Shopify since 2012. It's been really good to us. As a company itself has grown tremendously. So it's really supported our scale. Our stores run on the Shopify POS system. So you know, I 100% say, Shopify,

Maren Kate
That's amazing. I recently listened to a podcast with the founder of Shopify, and it was so cool understanding just what they've built and how it’s grown since when they started because I remember when they started, I remember poking around, I was selling jewelry on eBay back then. And it's amazing that they're supporting, large growing companies now.

Eliza Blank
Yeah. And it used to be that oh, you could start a Shopify, ecommerce site, but eventually you'd have to move on from or build something from scratch, but that is just not the case anymore. You can 100% scale on Shopify.

Maren Kate
That's so cool. Okay, So for founders listening who are somewhere between that five to 50 person stage, what is the best piece of advice you received during that growth stage at The Sill?

Eliza Blank
Whether or not someone directly gave me this advice, I think it's the advice that I would give others which is to really make sure you have a value system in place and not just words on a wall. But for a founder who wants to grow a meaningful business that is truly a reflection of their ambition and their personal values. Create that value system sooner than later. I think it acts as a compass or your North Star, whatever you want to call it. It is such a powerful tool to keep you honest. And to ensure that you are building something that you care about.

Maren Kate
I agree so much. Okay, so how can people find out about you and The Sill online? Or offline actually,

Eliza Blank
So we you can visit us at our website, which is thesill.com Visit us at any one of our stores and our addresses are also available online. But our stores are in Manhattan soon to be Brooklyn and LA and San Francisco. Follow us on Instagram we are just the handle @thesill or myself on Instagram @Elizablank

Maren Kate
Awesome. It was so great connecting. I love what you're doing. I'm a huge plant nerd myself. I actually think I'm going to book one of those plant Doctor things because I have a fig tree that I just I can't figure out what's going on with him. So I'm gonna do that soon. I really appreciate it. Thanks so much.

Eliza Blank
Thank you Maren. Take care.