Boston is home to many a tech mafia – in other words, groups of people that used to work at a company together, but have since split off to pursue other ventures, whether in the wake of an exit or on account of a new opportunity. It’s a bit like the circle of life; talented people are recycled back into the tech ecosystem, ready to innovate on a novel idea. We’ve seen this over the years with iRobot and Avid Technology. But it’s time to explore a promising company on the verge of a public offering that is already beginning to push out some innovators of its own: Wayfair.
The home decor e-commerce company has become one of Boston tech’s big success stories. Cornell grads (and already accomplished entrepreneurs) Niraj Shah and Steve Conine founded Wayfair in 2002, rapidly growing the business to become the dominant online destination for home furnishings. In 2013, the company had an annual revenue of $915 million, with a revenue growth rate of 55 percent and order intake exceeding $1 billion. This March, Wayfair raised $157 million in equity financing on a $2 billion valuation, taking its total funding to $358 million. The company’s IPO is rumored for this summer, and Wayfair has already tapped four banks that will underwrite the offering.
Here are four members of Wayfair's tech mafia that had a big impact on its growth, but won't be with the company when its stocks start trading.
Jeff Steeves
Steeves served as Wayfair’s VP of marketing from 2009 until early 2014. After completing associate stints at Needham’s Prism VentureWorks and Boston’s Fidelity Ventures, he stepped into the head marketing position at the home decor company. Steeves had left the company by late February 2014, and joined another Boston e-commerce company, Rue La La, at some point this spring as their VP of marketing, according to LinkedIn.
Fayyaz Shah
Shah seems to have been brought into the company in 2010 to help manage and guide its major rebrandingfrom the not-so-sexy CSN Stores to today’s Wayfair. He worked as a VP of product management and customer experience, a role in which he led a major rehaul of the company’s user platform. Shah is now the SVP of product marketing at performance-based digital marketing company Bridgevine Inc. in Texas, according to LinkedIn. Prior to joining Wayfair, he worked for Cambridge Technology Partners and Travelocity, among others.
Joe Noonan
Noonan joined Wayfair as a category manager in 2008 after working as an associate for local venture firm Polaris Partners, according to LinkedIn.
He soon began to creep up in the ranks and eventually advanced to senior director of international business in the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia in 2011, right around when the company was first setting its strategic sights overseas.After a year or so of consulting and sitting on the board at Watts Water Technologies in North Andover, Mass., Noonan headed westward to Mill Valley, California to start his own startup in the space called Homespun Designs. Described as a “curated collection of high quality, American-made furniture,” Homespun sounds similar to Cambridge’s CustomMade in that it lets people connect directly with artisans and makers who create their products to receive hand-crafted, customizable pieces of home decor.
Kim Edwards
After working at online shopping giant Amazon, Edwards began working at Wayfair as the company’s director of inventory planning in early 2011. As the company expanded, she managed the inventory process of three brands – Wayfair, Joss & Main and DwellStudio. Edwards left the home decor company in February 2014 to commence her own “artisan-designed accessories for your home” startup, called Step. and Lizzie. Edwards is the CEO of the company, which is based in the Boston area.
Images via LinkedIn
