johmas

Following up on our December post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6900625), we'd like to thank the Hacker News community—especially all those who reached out directly to advise. Based on feedback, we made improvements that have resonated well with customers, including:

We launched our Tuft & Needle Ten mattress. This is a thicker version (10-inches) of our original mattress while keeping the same comfort and feel. Improved the visuals and photography to show that Tuft & Needle is a quality product crafted with care rather than just another low price mattress. Added FAQs and clarified that we only sell the mattress.

Our company and sales have grown quite a bit since our last post. Over the last three months we've exceeded our 2013 revenue ($1MM). Last week, CNNMoney/Fortune followed up on a previous article and filmed our manufacturing process: http://bit.ly/tncnnmoney

Here are a few of the challenges we've been experiencing with our recent growth:

Scaling Supply Chain: We discovered a very critical bottleneck in our manufacturing process. The fix involves a new machine. We learned that we need to proactively forecast and make sure that order volume can be sustained even with a jump in the sales baseline. Also, customers appreciate open communication via emails and social media about any delays before they realize it themselves.

Hiring: We are having to hire quickly, especially in customer support. The volume of tickets seems to compound with delays which puts extra stress on the team as a whole. What has been working well for us has been to ask our friends, "Who are the most talented people you know who we should hire?"

We'd love to hear your critiques on our changes so far. We realize we still have a lot more work to do. Also, it'd be great to get your ideas on how we can improve the brand.

We're so grateful for your help so far. Thank you again.

JT & Daehee https://www.tuftandneedle.com