Kathy Elsesser
Showing 1–3 of 3 transcripts.
- Goldman Sachs7 min
The Rise of Sustainable Consumerism
Sustainable consumer brands like Beyond Meat, Oatly, and Vital Farms have achieved rapid market expansion and multi-billion dollar valuations, driven by a surge in Millennial interest and pandemic-induced scrutiny of environmental footprints. This demand has catalyzed a financial shift where ESG-focused funds see record equity inflows and high-ESG stocks outperform their counterparts, prompting investors to prioritize metrics ranging from carbon reduction to board diversity. Consequently, the current market landscape represents an acceleration of established concepts like plant-based proteins and electric vehicles rather than entirely new categories, as capital flows increasingly toward companies demonstrating measurable social and environmental governance.
- Goldman Sachs45 min
Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger: Making Footwear Sustainable, Comfortable and Cool
Tim Brown, Joey Zwillinger, Kathy Elsesser
Founded in 2016 by Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger, Allbirds operates as a certified B Corp that disrupts the footwear industry by prioritizing sustainable material science through its direct-to-consumer model. The company leverages a co-CEO leadership structure and a rigorous "one product at a time" philosophy to rapidly iterate designs based on direct customer feedback, successfully launching innovations like the Wool Runner and eucalyptus fiber while maintaining a flat price point. With plans to expand internationally and open physical retail locations for tactile testing, Allbirds aims to normalize sustainable manufacturing standards across the fashion sector.
- Goldman Sachs7 min
Sara Blakely: Fireside Chat
Sara Blakely, Kathy Elsesser, John F.W. Rogers, Kevin McCarthy, Tyler Perry, Danny Meyer, Sarah Kauss, Wilbur L. Ross, Michael Bloomberg, Gina Raimondo, Rick Snyder, Marco Rubio, Lloyd Blankfein, Richard Branson, Warren Buffett
Sarah Blakley founded Spanx with $5,000 to solve the issue of visible panty lines for women wearing white pants, despite lacking formal business training or industry connections. After facing initial skepticism from manufacturers, she leveraged a childhood culture that rewarded failure to build a company culture centered on public error disclosure and challenging industry norms. Her strategy of deviating from standard practices enabled the creation of a footless pantyhose product that revolutionized the hosiery market and generated significant breakthroughs.