لخّصلي

In 2013, Philip Krim, Jeff Chapin,Luke Sherman, Gabriel
Flateman, and Neil Parikh met at a coworking space in
New York City.They got to talking about sleep,partly
because sleep seemed to be on people's minds and
partly because they kept seeing people fall asleep in
beanbag chairs. One person in the group threw out the
idea of building a perfect mattress, which spurred the
discussion along. At that time, they were all working
on different business ideas,but informally started
investigating sleep and whether it was possible to build
a perfect mattress.They were also struck by the fact
that the mattress industry in the United States is a $14
billion dollar a year industry.
The discussions continued and the group reached
several conclusions. First, no one liked buying
mattresses.It was a process that most people found
frustrating and confusing-too many choices, too many
price points, too many pushy salespeople,too much
buyers' remorse. Second,many of the products on
the market had gratuitous upgrades, such as elaborate
labeling and fancy stitching in the corners,which had
othing to do with the quality of the owners'sleep. It
seemed the only purpose was to push up the price. And
d, the large margins in the industry made it ripe for
disruption. This combination of factors caused the group
to see an opportunity.What if theycould remove the
frustrations with the mattress buying process, and at the
same time build a mattress that everyone would like?
The opportunity was compelling enough that all
members of the group set aside what they were working
on and committed to it full time. They decided to start a
company and called it Casper.
Learning about the Mattress Industry
The first order of business was validating their
assumptions by learning as much as they could about
the mattress industry.This task involved studying
the industry and talking to customers.Two of the
cofounders had previous mattress experience,which
helped. Krim had sold mattresses in college and Chapin
nt 10 years at Ideo, a design firm in the Silicon
spe
e of his projects involved mattresses
Studying the Mattress Industry
The group started by studying the mattress industry
including environmental trends and business trends.
In regard to environmental trends, there was growing
interest in sleep. Many of the fitness trackers on the
market,for example,allowed their users to keep track
of their sleep,and drew attention to the importance of
a restful night's sleep. They also looked at business
trends, particularly in the areas of marketing and
branding. The marketing for mattresses consisted
primarily of splashy ads and loud commercials
promising deep discounts. A little digging revealed that
the deep discounts were possible because the margins

were huge to begin with. Most of the branding was
directed towards baby boomers rather than millennials.
The only logical reason for this is that the margins are
higher on high-priced mattresses, which baby boomers
can afford.Theyalso learned two insightful things. First,
for most people buying a mattress, it is considered to
be a purchase for the long term. They realize that the
mattress they buy is something that they'll sleep on for
5-10years,sotheyspendtimeresearchingmattresses
and taketheprocessseriously. Ironically,theyalso
foundout that mattress buyers suffer from a high degree
of buyers' remorse. Regardless of the research they've
done,whenthey get the mattress they bought home
theyoftenwonderiftheymadetherightchoice.
Talking to Customers
The five cofounders also spent time talking to mattress
buyers.Theydiscovered two things.First, as they
suspected, people disliked the mattress buying process.
They didn't like mattress stores, didn't enjoy interacting
with commissioned salespeople, and found the choices
tobeconfusing.Second,oncetheygotanewmattress
home,manypeoplewere dissatisfied. It either slept hot,
was so bouncy you could feel your partner move during
the night,was too soft or too hard,and so forth.Many
people felt, in retrospect, that lying on a mattress for
a few minutes in a store was a poor predictor of how
comfortable it would be for an entire night. People also
frequently felt that once they brought their mattress
home it felt different than it did in the store.
Both of these pursuits, studying the industry and
talking to customers, emboldened the group. They felt
the mattress industry was ripe for disruption on two
levels: the mattress buying process and the mattress
itself as a product.
Designing the Mattress and the Redesigning of
the Mattress Buying Process
At this point the group moved forward on two fronts:
Designing the Casper mattress and redesigning the
mattress buying process and the experience resulting
from it. The tagline for the company, as mentioned earlier,
was "One Perfect Mattress." The founders say the tagline,
and what it implies, directed their efforts in both areas.
Designing the Casper Mattress
The design of the mattress was informed by the earlier
interviews. One thing the interviews revealed is that
people don't actually want the variety of choices that are
offered to them. If you think about hotels,for example,
most have a single mattress that the majority of guests are
happy with. So they decided to remove the complication
of choice and build a single mattress. To be successful,
they knew the mattress had to meet two tests:it had
to be comfortable for everyone and the aesthetics had
to be acceptable to everyone. They built prototypes to
showtopotentialusers,testing differentmaterialsand
different levels of firmness. They even built several king
and queen-sized mattresses that had different levels of
firmness on each side of the mattress so the user could
compare the levels of firmness side-by-side. Through

the testing they were able to arrive at a mattress design
would be stylish yet simple.It would dress up a room,but
that most people liked. They then built prototypes of this
would not clash with the decor or furniture.
specific design and tested them again with a group of beta
The nearby table sums up Casper's redesign of the
testers, iterating on the additional feedback they received.
mattress buying experience.
Redesigning the Mattress Buying Experience
Casper's Redesign of the Mattress Buying Experience
What People Don't
The team also focused heavily on the mattress buying
Like about the
experience. Through earlier customer interviews and
Mattress Buying
their own experiences, they knew that there were at
Experience
Casper's Redesign
least five things people didn't like about the mattress
buyingexperience:too manychoices,toomanyprice
Too many choices
Casper sells a single mattress in
points,toomanypushysalespeople,toomuchbuyers
six different sizes.The company
remorse, and mattresses that are difficult to handle and
tagline is "One Perfect Mattress."
get home.Theyaddressed these frustrations one-by-one
Too many price
Casper offers one price for each
and designed what would become the Casper mattress
points
size mattress.
buying experience. Casper would sell a single mattress.
There would be several sized mattresses (single, queen,
Pushy commis
Casper sells only online.
king,etc)but there wouldonlybeonemattresstochoose
sioned salespeople
from.Therewouldalsobeonlyonepricepointforeach
Buyers' remorse
Casper offers a 100 night full-
sized mattress.The mattresses would be sold strictly
refund guarantee.
online,sotherewouldn't be any pushysalespeople.And
Mattresses are dif
Casper's mattresses are delivered
in regard to buyers' remorse, Casper would offer a 100
ficult to handle and
via UPS in a mini-fridge-sized box.
night guarantee. If you bought a Casper mattress and
Same day delivery is available in
get home.
didn't like it for any reason,you would get a full refund.
New York City.
You wouldn't even need to put it in a box and send it
back. Casper would send someone to your home or
apartment to pick itup.
Launch and Fast Growth
In regard to handling the mattress and getting it
home,themattress the Casper ended up with is made
Based on the strengths of its tests, Casper was able to
from a special blend of four types of foam: comfort foam
raise a seed round of $1.85 million in January 2014. On
(which provides support, cooling,and bounce),memory
April 22, 2014,its mattress became available for sale.
foam (which provides support and comfort),transition
Casper sold $1 million worth of product in the first 28
foam (which provides deep comfort through consistent
days. Sales remained strong and the company was able
weight distribution), and support form (which provides
to raise additional funding in August 2014. In November
additional support). An advantage of this configuration
2014, Casper expanded its delivery from the contiguous
of materials is that the mattress could be packed in a
United States to Canada.
box about the size of a mini-fridge, making it easier and
Several things happened that caused Casper's
cheaper to ship than other mattresses and simpler to
sales to take off,some of which Casper planned for and
move into a house or apartment. On-demand delivery
some of which it didn't. rirst, a large number of people
would be available in New York City, where Casper was
were involved in Casper's initial testing.These people
headquartered, meaning a customer could get a mattress
were serious about sleep,and many became Casper
the same day they ordered it. It could be shipped in three
evangelists, posting positive comments on social media
to five days elsewhere. Once unboxed, the mattress
or speaking out in other ways. Second,about half the

people who bought a Casper mattress talked to someone
in-house, via the toll free number displayed prominently
on the company's website.They would ask questions
like "Do I need a box spring?" (No). Casper used the
occasions to leam about its customers,and kept in touch.
Third,atrendstartedearlyon,whichwasn'tplanned,of
people posting Casper mattress "unboxing" videos online.
Theseareshortvideosofpeoplethathathave just received
their Casper mattress and film themselves taking the
mattress out of the box. Several of the videos went viral,
which spread the word about the company. If you'd like to
see one of the videos,go to YouTube and type in "Casper
mattressunboxing."You'll find many examplesto pick
from. Finally, Casper did conventional advertising and PR.
Alongwith thesefactors, Casper's approach worked
Its big bet-that people would accept the fact that it sold
a single mattress and would buy mattresses online-
resonated. The company reportedly sold $30 million worth
of mattresses in its first 14 months. Other estimates report
sales of $100 million in 2015 and $200 million in 2016.
Opportunities and Challenges Ahead
From the beginning, Casper saw itself as a sleep products
company rather than a mattress company. As soon as
it launched, it started prototyping and testing additional
sleep-related products. It added pillows and sheets in
early 2016.Truetoform,it offers a single pillow,priced
at $75.The Casper pillow,like the mattress, has a 100
night guarantee. There are also limited choices for the
sheets.In late summer 2016, Casper launched its fourth
product-The Casper Dog Mattress. According to
Casper, the company spent 11 months conducting canine
sleep studies, consulting with dog psychologists and
building prototypes. The result is a dog mattress that sells
for $125 and promises "to create a sleep environment
that caters to dogs' natural behaviors."The dog mattress
reflects the somewhat whimsical nature of Casper and
its founders. Commenting on the dog mattress, Casper
cofounder Neil Parikh told Fast Company magazine that
the dog mattress provides the company an opportunity
"to (show) people how we think-to remind them that,
'Hey, here is a cool group of people that thinks in an
interesting way."'According to reports, the dog mattress