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Demystifying the conversations we're already here at RRE and with our portfolio companies. In each episode, your hosts, Will Porteous, Raju Rishi, and Jason Black will dive deeply into topics that are shaping the future, from satellite technology to digital health, to venture investing, and much more.
Raju: Just a generic observation, we have a declining birth rate in this country, and obviously that has an impact on more than just Nanit, but, you know, the world. I mean, any thoughts on that? I mean, do you guys talk about that inside, and you know, do you feel like that’s going to change anytime? I mean, this is—
Will: Full disclosure, Raju has four kids. He and [Hattie 00:00:22] are—
Anushka: Good.
Will: Doing their best to, sort of, compensate—
Anushka: More.
Will: For the—
Anushka: More, please.
Will: Shortcomings of the rest of us.
Raju: Yeah, yeah. I mean, based on this conversation, I might talk to Hattie about number five.
Anushka: Yeah. I mean, listen, Nanit basically is like a third parent, right? So, you can—
Raju: I know. I mean, it’s like a piece of cake [laugh].
Will: I’m Will Porteous.
Raju: And I’m Raju Rishi. Welcome to RRE POV, the show in which we record the conversations we’re already having among ourselves, our entrepreneurs, and industry leaders for you to listen in on.
Will: Welcome back to RRE POV, where we share with you the kind of conversations we’re already having internally at the firm. Today, our guest is Anushka Salinas, CEO of RRE portfolio company, Nanit. Welcome, Anushka. It’s great to have you on the show.
Anushka: Thanks for having me.
Will: Raju is here with me, and today we’re going to be exploring the experience of a first-time CEO. And our thought behind this was that Anushka is early in her tenure still at Nanit, and it’s her first time she’s a CEO—she’ll probably be CEO of a number of companies across her career—and we thought it would be a really interesting moment to talk through the experience of taking over a company and stepping into this role. So Anushka, if you would, maybe you would just start telling us a bit about your background before coming to Nanit.
Anushka: Yeah. Excited to be here chatting with you guys, and excited for the support that you’ve given Nanit over the last ten years. So, my background, I would say I’m, like, a quintessential American, meaning I’m the child of two immigrants.
Raju: [laugh].
Will: [laugh]. That’s great.
Anushka: Both my parents grew up in India. My dad came to the US for his PhD, and my mom came shortly after he finished, and they got married. And they really raised me and my sister in this amazing way of providing us all the opportunities that they both got and wish they had gotten, and giving us all the support we needed to be able to achieve great things in, kind of, our life, here in the US. And so, yeah, quintessential American. That’s what I would say.
Will: [laugh].
Raju: The same background for me. I actually was born in India when my mom—my dad came over, and then my mom came over. Actually, the rest of the family came over, like, three or four years later, once he got enough money. But where did you grow up? Which part of the country?
Anushka: I grew up in the DC area, which was this really interesting way to grow up because everyone in DC is basically, like, in the government, or in law, or in politics, or, you know, working for the World Bank or IMF, which is, you know, where my mom worked. And so, we were, sort of, surrounded by this, like, really diverse, very well-educated, sort of, intellectual group of people. And so it, sort of, provided this really interesting backdrop to think about, who did you want to be in the world? And for me, it was, like, very clear I wanted to be in business, and it was like, DC was not going to be the place for me, but it was this incredible upbringing where you had, kind of, tons of opportunity to explore, and I’m super grateful for that experience.
And I think the immigrant experience is something so precious and special, and I think, you know, you see that, obviously, in kind of, the amount of successful immigrants and children of immigrants that are out there in the US today. But my parents applied this, like, really great level of pressure to me, which was awesome because little people—few people know this, but I was, like, kind of a slacker up until 9th or 10th grade—
Will: [laugh].
Raju: —which is, like, hopefully not obvious today [laugh], but was true then. But I had these parents that were, like, applying, like, steady, intense pressure to make sure that I was going to really do great things. And because of that, at some point the script flipped, and I was like, okay, I’m going to put all that pressure on myself. And so, I’m very grateful for that.
Will: Wow.
Raju: That’s amazing. And when you say slacker, I mean… I’m thinking, not really a slacker, like, one of those, you got bit by B. Why you not get bit by A? [laugh].
Anushka: [laugh].
Will: [laugh]. That’s super cool. And obviously it’s something that you still carry with you, is kind of the sort of message of that upbringing, and kind of, the example of your parents. Tell us about the early stages of your career. I mean, once you stopped being a slacker, and you decided you were going to be a serious person, like, what forms did that take? And where did you find some of your first real success career-wise?
Anushka: Well, coming out of undergrad, you know, in true—you know, the immigrant thing is going to be a through line in this whole thing, but I did pretty well in undergrad. And, you know, tend to be relatively analytically oriented. And my dad was like, “Perfect. You should be an investment banker.” Right? And I’m like, “I don’t… I don’t know dad. It doesn’t seem like what I want,” you know?
So, my passion was the business side of fashion. And, you know, my parents didn’t, like, totally love that, but were supportive. And so, I took the ultimate—you know, this was, like, in the early-2000s—like, the ultimate retail dream job, which was being an assistant buyer in a training program at a department store. And like, these jobs, like, almost don’t exist anymore, but it was such an awesome first job. I feel so lucky because it was this left brain, right brain.
You’re, kind of, in your early-20s, running a business. They’re giving you, like, way more responsibility, candidly, than they should be. You’re managing, sort of, like a multi-million dollar buying portfolio. But you’re very much left to, like, okay, here’s your top-line goal, here’s your margin-goal. Like, go make it happen with this pool of money you have to acquire inventory.
So, that was my first sort of role out of undergraduate, and I loved it so much that when I, kind of, decided that I was going to leave and go to graduate school, I, like, left begrudgingly because I had fallen so in love with this industry.
Raju: Is this like a Devil Wears Prada kind of thing where—did you have your Meryl Streep, like, your mentor?
Anushka: There was—no, it was very much not that [crosstalk 00:06:34], I would say. It was like the real business side of fashion versus the fashion side of fashion, which was more suited to my skill set, probably.
Will: But could you actually make decisions about what you were going to buy, like, what lines and what levels of inventory and that sort of thing?
Anushka: Everything. So literally, I mean, I still remember the numbers. Like, my buying area at Lord & Taylor—which is a store that no longer exists, but was very—you know, an iconic store in its day—I was a dress buyer. And I was given a $50 million budget every year—okay, inflation adjust that much higher—to basically spend kind of however I wanted, in order to generate, you know, X million in sales. And yeah, you had a ton of latitude, you know? I think I was like 24 when I got that job. I think back on it now, and I’m like, they trusted me with $50 million? That’s crazy.
Will: Well, you were a true arbiter of fashion because you could actually decide where to spend the money and who to give it to, including, like, up-and-coming designers and, like, established brands?
Anushka: Anyone you wanted. Anyone you wanted. And it was, like, all about following this—it was, like, a really fast-paced job, right? You know, I remember, I’d go in on Sundays—and this was when, like, you couldn’t get data more than, kind of, once a week—and so you’d have to go in and get the printed report, and you’d sit there with your highlighter, and you’d be like, okay, what business is doing really well? And it was a different day and age and data analysis, but there was—you know, you did it, and you would react really quickly to that.
Raju: Oh, my God. That sounds fascinating, actually. I mean, I’m sure you actually set trends because you’re buying so much inventory, that’s what people see in the stores.
Anushka: Totally.
Will: Yeah. I think I probably just would have bought, like, a lot of jean shorts because they’re like, you know, they’re jeans, but they’re also shorts, so they can provide a lot of utility.
Anushka: Versatile. Very versatile.
Will: I don’t think I would be very good at that job.
Raju: [laugh].
Will: So, it sounds like it was a great job. What made you want to move on, and what were your next steps?
Anushka: So, my next step was business school, which was, sort of, an expectation in my family that, you know, I’d go to graduate school. So, I remember it was spring of 2008 and, you know, I was kind of saying goodbye to my team, and our business was doing so, so well, and started my first day at Columbia in September of 2008, and it was, like, the day Lehman went under, and, like, the whole market basically cracked right after that. And I was like, “Wow, I really got out of retail at the right time. That worked nicely.”
Raju: [laugh]. Jeez.
Will: Great time to be out of the job market and hiding out in business school.
Anushka: And to be learning about, sort of, like, you know, the fundamentals of the financial market at that point in time. So, I did my business school thing, and was really thinking about what was next. I did a CPG marketing internship, and I decided it was way too slow-moving for me. I needed [snapping fingers], like, the fast pace of something that was not CPG marketing where you had to wait, like, several months to get feedback on things. And so, I was really thinking about what was next when I met the founders of Rent The Runway in 2009, and they had just started their business.
And this was like in an age where sharing economy wasn’t a term that had been coined yet, it wasn’t, like, cool to be a business school student looking to work at a startup yet, like, people weren’t really talking about startups. It was still like, I’m going to work in consulting or finance after business school. And here I was meeting these two women that were passionately pitching this business that was going to disrupt the fashion industry, they were focused on dresses, they had this huge dream, and it was one of the only times in my career that I remember, like, it was like a visceral reaction. I was like, I’m so excited about what these people want to build, and I want to be a part of it.
And so, you know, I went up to them after this presentation and said, “I’ll come work for you for free. Like, just tell me when to start.” And they did [laugh].
Will: [laugh].
Anushka: This was when you could still have free interns, right?
Raju: Oh, wow.
Will: Wow. Wow.
Anushka: And so, I started interning with them when it was, like, all unpaid interns, and I think, like, two full-time employees. And, you know, did crazy things, you know, it was kind of like you can pack boxes in the afternoon, and you can put together board decks during the day, and everything in between. And I just totally fell in love with startups from the moment that I got started with them. And got the opportunity to join full-time after they raised their first round of funding, and had to sort of renege on a job offer I had accepted through the, sort of, Columbia recruiting program. And I remember being really apprehensive about that, and the co-founder and CEO, Jen Hyman, was like, “What do you mean? Just tell them you’re not going to come and come join us. It’s what you want to do.”
And it was this first moment where I was like, I’m going to break this rule because I’m going to follow this thing that I’m really passionate about. And I had apprehension about it, but it was totally the right thing to do. And that was my first startup experience. So, I worked there for four years doing everything from cleaning the toilets to negotiating, bringing vendors on board, to managing the customer service team to, like, building a data infrastructure, you name it, and it was an awesome experience.
And I only decided to leave because I was sort of ready for, sort of, the next bigger step. I felt like I had touched every area of the business. So, I made a decision that I won’t say I regret, but I think about a lot, which was, I took another job because of the money [laugh]. And I’ve now learned, don’t take a job because of the money because I left, and I went to run a big [P&L 00:11:40] at a department store, and I was like, wow, this, like, big company bureaucracy thing is not for me. And so, I did that for a couple years and learned a lot, no doubt, but it was not my future, that was for sure.
Will: One of the things that you and I talked about that I’ve always found incredibly powerful about the Rent The Runway story was really about giving power to women to be the person that they wanted to be, to lower the barriers, to access things that they want—ways that they wanted to present themselves. And to have gone from the role of the buyer, basically reinforcing what these things cost at retail, to really changing the business model as you did for owning fashion, I mean, that must have been an incredibly powerful, sort of psychically.
Anushka: It was awesome. And I think it’s what brought me back to the business, after leaving for three or four years to run the subscription program. And I remember I got a call from the founder and CEO, and she’s like, “We’ve started this subscription business. It’s like a tiny thing, but it’s going to be the future, and I need you to come find product-market fit.” And that new launch was truly—exactly as you said—sort of, scaling this concept of being able to allow women to show up the way they need and want to every single day without the, sort of, onerous cost that comes with that.
And so, I was so excited about that, I came back to the company to be able to run that business. And it was, sort of, my first time that, in a meaningful way, I had to sell, and it was not an external sales job. It was an internal sales job. I’ll never forget it. I came, and we were building out the strategy, and I quickly realized, like, you know, the founder and CEO had done the hard work of selling to the board that we should invest in this, but there was another, like, leg of the stool, which was selling the internal team that they should pay attention to me, give me resources and time and attention and, like, space on the website, and marketing, and all of that for this, like, cute, new little business that we were starting, right?
And, you know, meanwhile, like, I actually found that I really loved that side of the house, and being able to sell the story, and the dream internally, not externally. But you know, we were able to take that business from 2017 till early-2020 when Covid took us in another direction, we more than 10x’ed the business from when I walked in the door in early-2017. And so, it’s almost funny to think—and it is, sort of, 80% of revenue still today on that business, so it is funny to think that when I walked in, people, like, didn’t want to talk about doing anything for this business, and they didn’t want to put resources behind it.
Raju: You know, that’s interesting story about internally selling. I come from a technical background. You know, I sort of went to technical college and worked on technology for, you know, the first part of my career, and one of the things later in life I learned was salesmanship. And kind of, think about it in a, you know, ugh, salespeople, you know, that’s just like, that’s not for me. I want to be more grounded in numbers, and tech and, you know, the real, sort of, challenging, difficult stuff.
And early in my career, I also realized that if you really want to be exceptional in any role, whether it’s technical or leadership or whatever, you have to have those soft sales skills. And it’s interesting to hear you say the story about how you had to sell internally and how it’s become a valuable part of, kind of, doing what you do now [laugh], you know.
Anushka: Absolutely.
Raju: Yeah.
Anushka: Ultimately, I’ve come to realize, and you know, I’m sure you guys have too, but like, the more senior you get, regardless of what your role is, like, at least 50% of it is selling.
Raju: Exactly.
Will: Absolutely. Well, and for you at that time, you were in the resource-constrained environment of a still-growing business, reinventing the next business, essentially, what would go on to become the dominant business, and at the same time, you’re growing your career along with the trajectory of that. And I mean that had to be really hard at times because you were competing with a lot of legacy that was established and working, largely, in the market.
Anushka: But, you know, it was such a fun time. I look back on it so fondly. One of the things that I did when I started to realize, like, we had to be the startup within the startup—which was still operating like a startup, so it was like startup squared—and so I took—you know, I had gotten resources to build this thing, and you know, so we were, like, 35 people or something. It was not a super small team to build it. And I was like, we’re going to get out of this office.
So, we leased an office space across the street, so we still had access to the, like, the snacks and the, you know, all the good stuff—
Will: [laugh].
Raju: [laugh]. That’s important.
Anushka: —but we had to, like, take out our own trash. I’m serious, [unintelligible 00:16:18]. So, I found this little office space across the street, and I was like, we’re going to get this team thinking in a much more, like, early-stage startup-y way. And it was really successful. I mean, sure, there were people complained and stuff like that, but it was great to, sort of, have the serious amount of energy that you get when you’re building something that’s completely game-changing, which, you know, six years into the original business, that same level of fire, you know, obviously you start to attract different kind of people. So.
Raju: Did you have issues where, at some point you kind of, you know, turned the corner, and now you’re, sort of, have a business inside of this business that’s really taking off, and now, you know, there’s people on the other side of the street saying, “Hey, I want to come work at this business?” [laugh].
Anushka: Uh-huh [laugh]. And we moved back in because all of a sudden it was like, you know, the subscription business had surpassed the, sort of, core business. And then it was like, everyone works on subscription, you know? The first, like, 18 months it was, you know, which team are you on? Are you on the subscription team or not? And then over time, it was kind of like, “Guys, we all work on this business.”
Will: [laugh]. That must have been a great moment.
Raju: Yeah. And then you own the website. You didn’t have a piece of it. You were the website.
Anushka: Basically yeah. That happened, like, 18 to 24 months later. Yeah. Yeah.
Raju: That’s cool.
Will: So, tell us about the decision to come to Nanit. We’ll talk about the company that you’ve taken over, and what you’re learning, and doing in a minute, but tell us about the decision, and what it took to take you out of a business that you had built, and why you were interested in stepping out to join Nanit.
Anushka: Yeah. I had said this to so many people internally when I was at Rent The Runway that, like, the company had gotten a little bit—like, I was missing the earlier stage a little bit, but I had such passion and attachment to the business that I hadn’t wanted to leave. And finally, one day, I woke up, and I was like, it’s time. It’s time to, sort of, get back to, like, really building and getting my hands dirty. And so, I had this you know, Will, you know me well, so like, I had this very clear list of criteria of what I was looking for, right? I had written it down and I knew. And Nanit actually checked everything off the list, which really rarely happens, right?
Will: That’s unbelievable.
Anushka: I wanted a private company at a certain level of revenue scale where there was strong product-market fit, real room to grow, and drive change in the business, both in the team and the strategy, and a super technical and data-driven product. And that last piece was the one that actually I knew was going to be the harder one to find in, like, a business that I could fall in love with from that standpoint. And I, you know, got the call to chat with the team over at Nanit, and it was like, yep, okay. Private, definitely. Super strong product-market fit.
The more people I talked to, the more I talk to, the more I was like, people are obsessed with this product. Very much a deep tech product. And, you know, I think an amazing business and business model, but also so much room to grow and drive more impact and change over, kind of, the next ten years of the business. So, it was like, it was actually—became pretty obvious pretty quickly that I was excited about the opportunity.
Raju: Wow. Well, and a unique set of skills that allows you to, sort of, think about how to create something inside of a private company. And I mean, Nanit, it’s a fantastic product, but, like, having a CEO that can actually think about, how can I extend this, how can I make this into something even better, or have an extension to it is pretty powerful.
Anushka: Yeah, I think the product orientation that I have based on the experience that I have was a really interesting fit for Nanit based on where it is. I think the product is so incredible, but also there’s so many more chapters of what we can build here, so it needs that, sort of, continued focus on the product evolution side.
Will: Well, and there’s a nice parallel with this, sort of, journey that you went through in helping women, kind of, present themselves as they want to be seen in the world. You’re certainly helping parents be the people that they want to be for their children. Which is a great way to, kind of, deliver and create value, certainly. That’s been a huge source of satisfaction, I think, for all of us who’ve been associated with the company.
Anushka: Yeah. I mean, both brands, interestingly, in different ways, are true category creators, right? Like, when you think about what the baby monitor—I don’t even like to call us in the baby monitor category, but like, if you know, if you just assume that we’re in the baby monitor category, and you think of what that category looked like ten years ago, or even seven years ago, it was like a really staticky monitor that may or may not have had very grainy video that, like, candidly, you couldn’t see anything useful on the monitor, so you might as well have just had an audio monitor. And then you’ve got this product that comes in that you can see from anywhere—which in the world that we live in today where parents are not home all the time, and mom’s not necessarily at home, she’s probably out in the workforce, too—the view from anywhere super, super valuable. And then the quality that’s delivered on the camera is, you know, out of this world, I would say.
Will: You obviously were taking over a very product-centric company. I imagine there were things, though, that were not as well-developed [laugh] as the product organization. And at the same time, you were also stepping into your first set of CEO shoes, in the sense that you were now just accountable to the board, you didn’t have a direct boss, there were, sort of, things that I’m sure just your whole operating orientation had to feel a little different than it had. I’d love to hear you just talk about, kind of, the first six—it’s now been a little more than six months. It’s right about six months, actually, I think, since you joined—maybe talk us through some of that journey, both for you personally and as you’ve thought about and identified areas that you want to strengthen the company.
Anushka: Yeah. I mean, like, I’ll start by saying it’s a totally different job. You know, I did, sort of, a version of this job previously, but ultimately the CEO role is a totally different job. And so, back to that, sort of, point on selling, I think I, kind of, honed the selling skills internally, and now the job is, like, almost all selling [laugh] all the time, right, internally and externally. So, I’m happy that I, sort of, started to tune those skills over the last, you know, five or six years in a meaningful way. But that’s so much of the role.
I think, coming into Nanit, there was—I think there always is, for a new CEO—a need to come in and really think about who’s your team going to be, and who are going to be the players—some existing and some new—that are going to be your circle of trust. And so, I certainly spent time over the first six months doing that, really thinking about who are the folks that I want to bring to the table that are going to, kind of, round out my skill set too, right? I think each leader has a different orientation, and so I brought in folks that, sort of, helped fill in the gaps that existed in the organization, and also fill in my gaps that I have as leader. And so, that was, kind of, like my first laser focus was, how do I make sure I shape a team that allows me to pull out of the day-to-day in a meaningful way.
And I love being in the details. I think, like, I’m COO at heart, but you, kind of, have to force yourself to get out of them. So, the first part of that was having the right team. And then the second area of focus for me was really building that longer-term vision for the business so that we could get the right players at the table, and achieve much bigger things than the business would have otherwise been able to achieve. So, that’s been great. I think it’s been really fun. I was a little apprehensive coming in as a first time CEO. Am I going to like the pivot away from being in the details and operating? And I do, actually. It’s been even more fun than I thought it would.
Raju: It’s pretty humble for a CEO to walk in kind of acknowledging, hey, I’ve got certain strengths and I’ve got certain gaps, and I need to supplement. That’s kind of a rare thing. I don’t hear that a lot from new CEOs, and I appreciate it because ultimately, it takes sometimes a leader, you know, a few years to, kind of, come up to grips with, like, hey, I need to supplement myself with XYZ skill sets and have them around me. Amazing that you, kind of, walked in with that attitude.
Anushka: Yeah, I think it’s so critical. I mean, and listen, I think even in my prior role, that was super important for me to think about. Okay, what are the areas where, like, it’s really natural for me to go down four levels deeper, need a different kind of leader there than an area where you just so are not an expert that you need a different—some of it is just the soft skills, too. Like, someone that you know is going to come to you and tell you things proactively, even if you’re not super educated on the topic, versus the kind of leader that’s super hands-off and, like, not going to bring you into the loop.
I mean, even some of those side, the technical skills are obviously super important, but I think that one of the things that I learned to appreciate in my last role was having a good balance of extroverts and introverts, and knowing how to manage an extrovert versus an introvert—
Will: Interesting. Wow.
Anushka: —which is very different. Like, what I learned is deep appreciation for introvert—I myself am an extrovert—deep appreciation for introverts, and that you have to, like, approach the relationship in a different way. There’s a lot more that happens in a one-on-one than happens in an executive team meeting, for instance. But they’re going to be real value at having that balance of personalities at the table, too.
Will: Well. I know as a long-time board member and watcher of the company that you inherited a team that had also been pretty distributed geographically, and one might argue the company has had such strong product-market fit that certain functions hadn’t quite developed as much as might have been necessary for a company that had gotten to scale. You also inherited a team—a substantial team—in Israel, which has been through, socially, the wrenching ordeal of the war over the last year. I’d love to hear your thoughts on some of the things you’ve tried to do culturally with the organization, and to establish your own leadership mode for the company.
Anushka: It was actually one of my biggest areas of focus when I walked in the door. And what I saw was, I’m like a real hardliner on being in—office, which does not make me the most popular person in the room always, but you know, before, the team didn’t have an office in New York, which is where, sort of, half the team is based. We did have an office over on the Israel side, and folks over there, despite all the challenges, have continued to go into the office. And so, before I even started, we had new space in New York, and I kind of communicated in my very first meeting, like, my intention was to bring the team back into the office because I didn’t want to, like, hide the ball. It was like, I’m going to be super transparent on what you can expect from me, and that is, like, I like face-to-face.
And so, I think that was setting a tone pretty early on, that, like, the level of intensity at the company was going to be maybe higher than it had been before. But I read this really great book, which, if anyone who’s listening to this is, like, going into a new role called First 90 which was this great book that helped me, sort of, formulate my first 90-day plan. And so, as part of that, they had this recommendation which I thought was amazing, which was basically to, sort of, like, meet-slash-interview everyone that you’re going to be working with at a certain level, and ask them all the exact same question. And so, I had this list of, like, you know, seven to ten things that I asked everybody. And it gave me this really interesting picture of the culture of the business and what the various challenges were, by team.
And so, I came in my, like, first two weeks, and I had a pretty strong sense of, like, what were the opportunities that we had from a culture standpoint, and what were the things that were so precious we had to hold on to. And so, we spent a lot of time thinking about what are the values of the business, and how do we codify those in a way that is both aspirational to solve some of the challenges I saw culturally, but then also celebrates the incredible things, right? Like, one of the things that every single person we talked to across the company talked about was innovation. No surprise, right? We’re a category-creating products that’s deeply technical, and so that’s something that we celebrate in a really, really big way, even more so than before.
One of the things that we had an opportunity on was more cross-functional collaboration and teamwork. No surprise, you know, there wasn’t as much of the relationship building and, sort of, face-to-face communication. So, tons of focus in my first several months on culture, which I think was important to do quickly because if I had waited too long, it would have been, I think, too late, and I would have, sort of, inherited the prior culture without the ability to make change.
Will: So, Nanit has had, I think, a pretty profound impact on the way people think about understanding the health of a new baby, and going through things like training that baby to fall asleep, and lots of other things. What should our audience know about where you’re taking this business and this capability? What’s your vision for Nanit in the world going forward?
Anushka: Yeah. I mean, we spent a lot of time as a team thinking about, okay, like, really taking it down to the ground, what are the things that make this business super unique? And there’s a couple of things that, like, were these really bright lights in the business, right? One is, we have this hardware product which collects unique first-party data that almost no one else can get, and then we do amazing things with that data, right? And so, that is an amazing strength in, you know, 2024 as you’re building a business for the future. So, that was one thing that we were sort of focused on.
The other was the level of engagement that people have in the product after they set up the hardware and they’re using it. 70-plus percent are using the product after four years, which is insane. I don’t think there’s any other product on the baby or early childhood space that has a stat like that, and I’ve checked the data eight ways till Sunday, and it is real [laugh] because I have healthy skepticism of everything. The other on the engagement side is that we have sort of DAU to MAU engagement that’s, like, up there with TikTok and Spotify, which is crazy. And then the length of that engagement on a daily basis is between four to five hours a day.
So, I’m like, okay, we have incredible data that we’re doing great things with on this digital platform, and people are super engaged on the digital platform in a way that is, like, kind of like, no one has these stats, right? So, as we’ve been thinking about what is the next chapter for this business, and how do we really grow, you know, a multi-billion dollar business out of Nanit, it is certainly the hardware is a hugely important component because it’s how we capture that data that we deliver insights on top of it, but how do we think about solving more of the challenges that the modern parent has, which are many, right? Tons of pressure that parents are feeling in this day and age, the level of engagement they need to have with their children, yet they’re trying to succeed at work, and there’s a massive proliferation of apps, and products, and services that are trying to solve this problem. But ultimately they’re in the Nanit app, so we can solve a lot of these challenges for parents.
And so, you know, kind of, the next phase of growth for us is really building out that digital platform in a much, much bigger way, bringing in the dozens of apps that people have to download to solve these, sort of, the point solutions of, how much did my baby eat? How much did they nap? What should the sleep schedule be? You know, all these various things. You know, what are the learning milestones I should be thinking about? How do I potty-train? Whatever, the list goes on and on. How do we bring [laugh] things that I’m sure you guys remember well or have blocked out of your memory, maybe. But how do we bring all of those products, and services, and recommendations, and content, and community into our app in a bigger way? And I think the team has actually done an amazing job of starting to build out these various areas of the platform, but it’s going to be a big area of focus going forward.
Raju: Wow. That’s amazing. I wish I had a Nanit when my kids were born. I really do.
Will: [laugh].
Anushka: I hear that a lot.
Raju: [laugh]. I could have used it.
Will: I think there’s a lot to inspire people to want to be parents, just in the parenting experience of the product. So, hopefully you’re already serving an enormous user population that’s growing every day, and I know you also take that trust really seriously. And maybe you want to say something about just your relationship with your parents and families.
Anushka: Yeah. I mean, I think probably the first and most important thing, especially in the space of, like, in the IoT space is privacy and security, is, like, number one focus, always. You know, the way we describe our product is, like, bank-level security. We take it really, really, really seriously, and even in the way we develop and deploy software, we go slow and steady to make sure that there are no issues. So that, I would say is, like, indicative of the broader way we think about our customer, which is like, we’re like, kind of, co-parenting with families.
Like, it’s a serious responsibility, and we take it that way, right? So, the brand was founded in science, and we don’t think our job is to, like, give people a lot of opinions because, like, there’s enough opinions out there in the world of parenting. We think our job is to provide support, and data, and insights, and allow people to have the tools at their disposal to make the best possible decisions that they come for their family, right? Like, we’re not the experts. No one’s really an expert in parenting at the end of the day, right? Ultimately, every parent, sort of, tries to make the best decision with the information they have at that moment in time. And with Nanit, you have a lot more information at your fingertips than you did before.
Will: That’s very clear… and amazing. So we’ve, kind of, reached the point in the program that we call the Gatling gun—
Anushka: Love it.
Will: Moment. There’s always in every discussion some obvious go-to questions that I know our listeners are interested in the answers to. Raju, you want to kick this off?
Raju: I’ll kick it off. I’ll kick it off. By the way, no actual guns involved.
Anushka: [crosstalk 00:34:02] okay.
Raju: This is just—yeah.
Anushka: [crosstalk 00:34:03] guns in America, we’re good.
Raju: It’s a euphemism. It’s a euphemism. Just a generic observation, we have a declining birth rate in this country, and obviously that has an impact on more than just Nanit, but, you know, the world. I mean, any thoughts on that? I mean, do you guys talk about that inside, and you know, do you feel like that’s going to change anytime? I mean, this is—
Will: Full disclosure, Raju has four kids. He and Hattie are—
Anushka: Good.
Will: Doing their best to, sort of, compensate—
Anushka: More.
Will: For the—
Anushka: More, please.
Will: Shortcomings of the rest of us.
Raju: Yeah, yeah. I mean, based on this conversation, I might talk to Hattie about number five.
Anushka: Yeah. I mean, listen, Nanit basically is like a third parent, right? So, you can—
Raju: I know. I mean, it’s like a piece of cake [laugh].
Anushka: Yeah, I mean, listen, from a business standpoint, we certainly talk about it and think about it, and it doesn’t scare me, purely from a business standpoint because we are in such early innings of, sort of, converting the category from, you know, the really terrible, staticky piece of plastic that people used to use to this, like, completely different way of parenting. So, we have a huge amount of headroom to grow, and I think also capture a larger percentage of the share that’s spent with parents in those first, kind of, four to five years. So, I think, from a business standpoint, actually, not that worried about it, given what part of the category that we’re in. I think from, like, a broader perspective, it’s maybe indicative of, you know, the world that we live in, and people just feeling like things are super unstable, and questioning whether they want to bring children into it.
I think what I’ve loved to see over the last year or so is that it’s raised the conversation in a really significant way about how we can provide parents and families more support, you know, whether it’s tax credits, whether it’s paid family leave, whether it’s all the things that, like, having gone through this myself as a mom, it’s kind of nuts that there would be someone expected to go back to work after six weeks, and super frustrating that dads, you know, or second parents, whoever they may be, are not going to be there to support the early, at least for, you know, four to six weeks of birth. So, that’s great. I think, like, there’s at least a lot of attention on the issue now, which I think is actually very helpful to generate change. And it seems to be bipartisan, so you know what? When does that happen?
Raju: Yeah. Actually, I feel like Nanit, kind of, alleviates some tension. I think if everybody had a Nanit, there would be more babies.
Anushka: You know, we were talking about this just yesterday that, you know, aspirationally, one of the things we’re thinking about as a brand, is like, wouldn’t it be great if people learned about Nanit, and wanted to have a child because they knew that Nanit was there. And I know it sounds like a little bit lofty, but I think it’s true, right? When you think about the world that we live in now and how challenging it is to be a parent, more so than ever before, if you know you have a technology tool like this, where it does so many things than, you know, these products used to do five or ten years ago, like, maybe you actually want to have a child as a result of that.
Raju: Oh, my God. That would be so cool.
Will: [laugh]. Better than having to ask your mother-in-law, for sure.
Raju: Yeah…
Anushka: Definitely [laugh].
Raju: I avoided mother-in-law questions in all of this Gatling gun. So okay, what are your thoughts on baby reveal parties? You know, is that just, like, another reason to have a party? Like, a baby kicks party.
Anushka: Listen, I am not mad at having another reason to have a party, so I support any reason to have a party. So, for that, I’m supportive. I think, you know what, it’s a sign of the preciousness of having a child these days, right? It’s like you used to be, like, well, someone’s having another kid. Big deal, you know? It’s a boy, it’s a girl, whatever. You know, now, it’s like there’s this preciousness about everything. And I think the gender reveal is, like, an artifact of that.
Raju: Yeah, yeah. [unintelligible 00:37:52] be surprise party. It’s like, the surprise at the gender reveal is that we’re not going to tell you the gender [laugh].
Will: [laugh].
Raju: People just show up to drink.
Anushka: It indicates that people cared that much [laugh].
Raju: Okay. I know you’ve only been there six months, but I’m sure you’ve seen some video clips, and data, and stuff like that. What’s the most common thing that surprises most parents that Nanit unearths?
Anushka: I mean, this is not the most surprising, but I will say, like, you know, we have this very technical product, we give all these insights, all this data. It’s amazing. I’m a data person. I love it. But the thing that, like, gets my heart to stop every single time is the memories that we capture.
And the ones that really get me the most, it’s not like the baby standing up for the first time—okay, that’s really cute—the thing that really gets me is that we capture these moments the siblings, where the older sibling will be like—there’s so many examples—there’s like, the cribs are next to each other, and one’s climbing into the crib with the other one so that they can cuddle. The other one is, like, the older kid is helping the younger one break out of the crib so they can go [crosstalk 00:38:59] cutest things you’ve ever seen in your life, and it’s like a sibling bond that you get to see captured on the Nanit is, like—I’ll send you guys some clips so you can see it.
Raju: Oh, my God, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. Okay, so if you’re able to discuss it, one or two of the funniest things that a Nanit camera has captured.
Anushka: Mmm… I mean, this was a clip that went viral. I wouldn’t say it was, like, the—it was pretty funny, but we had a video clip capturing a dad and his daughter, and she was singing the “I’m Looking for A Man in Finance” song [crosstalk 00:39:36] the dad and the daughter are going back and forth, singing the song. It was so cute and so funny [laugh].
Raju: That’s cute. That’s cute. Okay, based on Nanit data, what percentage of parents crawled into the crib with the baby?
Anushka: Oh… I don’t know the answer to that one. But it’s—I haven’t seen a lot of it.
Raju: Oh, okay.
Anushka: Yeah.
Raju: All right, I would.
Anushka: Which I think is a sign that, like, it empowers you to not need to crawl into the crib.
Will: A hundred percent.
Raju: I might crawl in when the baby’s not there. It’s like, a great place to just, like—I mean, you just feel swaddled.
Anushka: Yeah, it’s great [laugh].
Raju: [laugh]. All right. Best commercial with children? I’ll give you two choices, but you can pick a third that I didn’t even mention if you want, but is it the E-Trade baby or the Life cereal commercial where it’s like, “Give it to Mikey. He won’t eat anything. He hates everything.”
Anushka: The Life cereal. Life cereal.
Will: [laugh].
Raju: Yeah… yeah. But I mean, that’s—you and I are of the same age.
Anushka: I was going to say, we’re like—yeah.
Raju: Yeah, that’s—
Will: The demographic on this call all remembers Mikey, [laugh] for sure [laugh].
Raju: Yeah. I mean, that commercial was profound.
Anushka: It was so good.
Raju: “He hates everything,” and he’s munching on—all right, given the proximity to Halloween, scariest baby movie ever: Chucky or Rosemary’s Baby?
Anushka: Mmm, Chucky.
Will: Chucky is pretty scary.
Raju: Yeah, Chuck is pretty scary. Yeah, okay, I get it.
Will: I hope we haven’t picked up any, like, autonomic dolls on the camera.
Anushka: [crosstalk 00:41:03][laugh]. [crosstalk 00:41:06] by now.
Raju: Wow. Yeah, that would be… terrifying, actually [laugh].
Will: Anyway. We talk a lot about robots on this show, so you know it’s like [laugh]—
Raju: Yeah, we do. A lot of robots.
Anushka: Okay, all right. Yeah.
Will: We worry about this stuff [laugh].
Raju: This one, just make a guess. You may actually know, but if you don’t, what’s the most popular US Baby boy’s name in 2024?
Anushka: Ooh, baby boys. It could be Spencer. I’m going to go with Spencer or Hudson.
Will: Wow. Really?
Raju: No, I think they were on the list. The name is actually Noah.
Anushka: Noah. Oh, okay. Yeah, I think I’m like three or four years behind on this data.
Raju: Okay, so another guess. Most popular US baby girl’s name in 2024?
Anushka: Ooh. I feel like Chloe was on there… yeah.
Raju: Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s Anushka. No, no, no [laugh].
Anushka: Very unlikely [laugh].
Raju: Okay, okay, sorry. It should be Anushka. It should be.
Anushka: Rare moments [crosstalk 00:42:04] my name [crosstalk 00:42:07] what are you doing here?
Raju: It should be Anushka, but it’s Olivia. It’s Olivia.
Anushka: Olivia, oh.
Will: Oh, is it still Olivia? Olivia is back on top? Wow.
Raju: Yeah, it’s back on top. It’s just like neck-and-neck with Chloe and the other one [laugh]. So, it’s a good one. So, I don’t have anything else, but this was fabulous. You are an amazing participant. Really, honestly.
Anushka: Thank you. This was fun.
Raju: Really good.
Anushka: This is, like, the easy stuff.
Will: Well, Anushka, you’re doing an incredible job, and all of us at RRE are proud to be associated with the company. And you know, as you’ve shared with our listeners today your vision for the future and where you want to take Nanit, what you want to do for the parents and families that we support, I think, is incredibly powerful. So, thank you for joining us today. Thank you to our RRE POV listeners for joining us. And those of you who are parents, who are becoming parents, please look out for Nanit, and the ways that it can help you on your parenting journey. Thanks, Anushka.
Anushka: Thank you.
Will: Thank you for listening to RRE POV. You can keep up with the latest on the podcast at @RRE on X or rre.com, and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. We’ll see you next time.