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About
Steve Conine and Niraj Shah met as high school students attending a summer program at Cornell University. They both went on to study engineering at Cornell and quickly struck up a friendship while they were freshmen living in the same dorm. During their final semester of college, Steve and Niraj both enrolled in a class on entrepreneurism which sparked a business plan that turned into their first company and, ultimately, became the foundation for founding and building several businesses in the technology sector.
In 2002, the duo founded Wayfair on a shoestring budget in a spare bedroom of Steve's house. By carefully analyzing Internet search patterns and results, Steve and Niraj recognized a market opportunity to sell stereo racks and stands online. What would grow to become the largest ecommerce destination for home furnishings and décor started with just one single website and soon grew to more than 250 standalone sites selling everything from barstools to birdhouses.
A new way to shop for home
In 2011, Steve and Niraj took a giant leap and moved all of their e-commerce sites into one mega destination for the home and named it Wayfair. By the next year, Wayfair had exceeded $600 million in annual revenue and was well on its way to becoming a household name offering millions of products across a wide array of styles and price points. In 2016, Wayfair generated $3.4 billion in net revenues and $3.9 billion in net revenue for the twelve months ended June 30, 2017. Wayfair now offers 8 million products from over 10,000 suppliers across five distinct brands - Wayfair.com, AllModern, Birch Lane, DwellStudio and Joss & Main. The company employed 6,000 people as of March 31, 2017 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts with operations throughout North America and Europe. Steve and Niraj continue to build Wayfair into their biggest business endeavor yet still innovating every day to create the ultimate home goods shopping experience.
In 2002, the duo founded Wayfair on a shoestring budget in a spare bedroom of Steve's house. By carefully analyzing Internet search patterns and results, Steve and Niraj recognized a market opportunity to sell stereo racks and stands online. What would grow to become the largest ecommerce destination for home furnishings and décor started with just one single website and soon grew to more than 250 standalone sites selling everything from barstools to birdhouses.
A new way to shop for home
In 2011, Steve and Niraj took a giant leap and moved all of their e-commerce sites into one mega destination for the home and named it Wayfair. By the next year, Wayfair had exceeded $600 million in annual revenue and was well on its way to becoming a household name offering millions of products across a wide array of styles and price points. In 2016, Wayfair generated $3.4 billion in net revenues and $3.9 billion in net revenue for the twelve months ended June 30, 2017. Wayfair now offers 8 million products from over 10,000 suppliers across five distinct brands - Wayfair.com, AllModern, Birch Lane, DwellStudio and Joss & Main. The company employed 6,000 people as of March 31, 2017 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts with operations throughout North America and Europe. Steve and Niraj continue to build Wayfair into their biggest business endeavor yet still innovating every day to create the ultimate home goods shopping experience.
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