The RealReal’s founder steps down as the market turns on growth-at-all-costs
Julie Wainwright, who founded The RealReal in 2011 and built it into a public company, stepped down as CEO and board chair effective June 7, 2022, a move analysts read as the company pivoting from growth toward profitability, according to Business of Fashion, Retail Dive, and Vogue. The exit came as public markets soured on unprofitable growth stories across tech and retail.
It was an inflection point for the whole category. The era of raising and spending to chase gross merchandise value was ending, and the resale operators that survived the next two years were the ones that read that signal early and rebuilt around unit economics.