35. Sib Mahapatra | Branch (office furniture)

The Founder

Sib Mahapatra is the Co-Founder of Branch.
Sib got his start studying philosophy at Yale during his undergrad, realizing a love for systems and technology at an early age. After school, he spent time at real estate tech startup Redfin and had a versatile role supporting several functions across the business including developing and launching new products. He quickly realized that he had an affinity for building and knew that for his next project, he wanted to try his hand at making something from scratch, without having a major corporation as a backstop. He spent some time exploring a few different problem spaces before settling on real estate technology, inspired by his time at Redfin. He became an entrepreneur in residence at Notation Capital to begin incubating his ideas where he met his Co-Founder and started Branch.
Today at Branch, Sib and his team have created a modern office furniture brand that sells directly to businesses and consumers. What started out as a rapidly growing B2B business for furnishing offices with 25-250 people, Branch and its founding team hit a major roadblock when Covid struck in late February of 2020. A rich pipeline full of corporate clients went to essentially zero when businesses had to shut down their offices. Like any scrappy entrepreneurs, the Branch founders never panicked, and quickly pivoted to make high quality furniture for the home office. Today they’ve supplied furniture to thousands of professionals at home and are poised to scale a hybrid model as we return to normalcy in 2021.
Use code “Kallaway” to get 10% off all Branch products.
Tune in to hear Sib's story!
EPISODE TOPICS:

• (2:54) Branch snapshot today
• (3:48) Background and founding story
• (6:23) Analyzing markets and identifying startup ideas
• (9:59) Other startup ideas explored
• (13:03) Competitive analysis
• (16:40) Starting without expertise
• (18:57) Co-Founder matching
• (23:16) Redfin experience
• (25:31) Sourcing deals in corporate office furniture industry
• (28:53) Transitioning from B2B -> B2C in Covid
• (36:01) Office furniture industry outlook (next 3-5 years)
• (39:56) Hiring
• (43:46) Lessons to younger self
• (46:33) What motivates you?
• (49:20) Sib's wellness stack
• (51:13) Exciting trends
• (56:03) Sib's startup manifesto

Watch on YouTube - https://youtu.be/8U8WOkbncFY
Branch - branchfurniture.com

• Follow Branch (@branchfurniture // @officebybranch) on Instagram // Twitter
• Follow Sib (@sib_mahapatra // @sibjeet) on Instagram // Twitter
• Sib's content and learning recommendations

The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com

• Follow The Founder (@founderpodcast) on Instagram // LinkedIn // Twitter // Newsletter

Don't have time to listen to the full episode? Read the 5-minute version here