“The right idea, like the right cofounder, isn’t a choice. It just happens. I never consciously chose Away. I called my friend Steph with an idea, then flew to New York to talk about it and ended up sleeping on her couch for three months while we built a company. We were so passionate and so thoroughly believed in the idea that Away was just kind of born. I think that, in order to be successful, every entrepreneur should feel that way about their business.” Rubio

“You can’t go in thinking, ‘Here’s an industry and I’m going to disrupt it.’ That’s not enoguh. The people I’ve seen be successful found an idea they were really passionate about and executed on it in a way that ultimately changed the industry. If we had just decided to disrupt luggage without a true understanding of what that means or an undying passion for the idea, we would never have seen the kind of success we have today.” Rubio

“That was a really smart acquisition for Unilever. They’re a legacy company that’s strong in distribution and R&D, but weak in end relationships with consumers—mostly because that wasn’t the way business was done until very recently. Now Unilever can not only access DSC’s fan base, but also learn how they were able to build one. As an entrepreneur, however, you can’t just be thinking of an exit strategy. Away has focused our energy on building the world’s best travel brand—not on whether we’ll sell it in the future.” Korey

“One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen startups make in the last five years is spending too much on customer acquisition. You can’t overestimate the lifetime value of a customer. At Away, we have a cap on how much we’re willing to spend for a conversion, and that varies by channel. If an area isn’t performing, we cut it… We still make money on every sale.” Korey