How To Build A Cookware Company From Scratch And Scale To $1 Billion
A Shopify Masters interview, hosted by Serena Smith, with Danny Winer, co-founder and CEO of the cookware brand HexClad. He describes betting early on direct-to-consumer when retail buyers turned him away, the pandemic boom as people cooked at home, how celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay found the product on Instagram and became a partner, the design goals of durability and a non-stick surface, and how he thinks about leading by example and decency toward founders. The host's intro cites over 380 million dollars in revenue, and the description cites 500 million dollars for 2024. Sponsor: Shopify, which produces the show and is named in the description with a free trial offer. PARTIAL COVERAGE: this note is based on the opening, the early rejection story, the product and materials discussion and the closing, and may not cover every point in the roughly 35 minute video. Revenue figures and product safety claims, including his comments on PFAS, are the guest's own and not independently checked, and nothing here is medical, health or financial advice.
Executive Summary (TL;DR)
A Shopify Masters interview, hosted by Serena Smith, with Danny Winer, co-founder and CEO of the cookware brand HexClad. He describes betting early on direct-to-consumer when retail buyers turned him away, the pandemic boom as people cooked at home, how celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay found the product on Instagram and became a partner, the design goals of durability and a non-stick surface, and how he thinks about leading by example and decency toward founders. The host's intro cites over 380 million dollars in revenue, and the description cites 500 million dollars for 2024. Sponsor: Shopify, which produces the show and is named in the description with a free trial offer. PARTIAL COVERAGE: this note is based on the opening, the early rejection story, the product and materials discussion and the closing, and may not cover every point in the roughly 35 minute video. Revenue figures and product safety claims, including his comments on PFAS, are the guest's own and not independently checked, and nothing here is medical, health or financial advice.