We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Justin Soleimani a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Justin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?

As Tumble grew, our direct-to-consumer model became a critical part of maintaining quality. By selling directly to end users, we get immediate feedback, which we’ve logged since day one—categorizing and detailing every customer complaint by product, issue, and resolution. This data allows us to track trends and continuously improve our products and customer experience. We then share this feedback with our manufacturers, so they can make timely adjustments and enhance production quality.

In addition to collecting and utilizing this data, we take a very hands-on approach to quality control by having full-time employees located near our manufacturing partners. This ‘boots on the ground’ strategy ensures we monitor and uphold quality standards in real-time, rather than conducting infrequent visits or relying on feedback shared from afar.

My advice for businesses regarding quality control when scaling up in the direct-to-consumer model is to focus on both data feedback and direct oversight of your manufacturing processes—these were a critical piece of our foundation for maintaining and improving product quality.

Justin , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We started Tumble to address the gaps we saw in the washable rug market, which often featured products that were thin and lacked cushioning. Zach and I wanted to introduce a line of washable rugs that excel in quality, functionality, and style. We designed our rugs with cushioned pads, corner pockets to prevent curling, and spill-proof coatings for easy maintenance. Additionally, we prioritize using premium, safe materials free from harmful ‘forever chemicals,’ which is especially important for families with pets and children. Our manufacturing facility holds an OEKO-TEX certification, and we work with independent third-party labs to ensure our rugs meet rigorous health and environmental standards.

Finally, we are committed to our customer experience. We offer a rug swatch program that lets customers ‘try before you buy,’ free design consultations with the Tumble team, an augmented reality feature to visualize rugs in their space, and free shipping and returns. Our goal is to ensure a smooth experience from start to finish.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

From the outset, our goal was to build Tumble as a profitable business without relying on outside investment. We had seen many brands take advantage of zero-interest-rate policies, raising large sums of money at high valuations. While that may have worked for some, it didn’t feel sustainable to us. We wanted to do things the old-school way—by running a profitable business from day one without raising venture capital.

Zach and I saved our own money to invest in the business, but we also turned to crowdfunding. This served two key purposes: first, it helped us prove product-market fit; second, it allowed us to pre-sell our products. With the prepaid funds from our crowdfunding backers, we placed a large purchase order and met the minimum order quantities needed to get the business off the ground. It funds production while testing demand.

Within our first month of business, we had the product in the hands of 3,000 customers, whose early feedback helped us make rapid improvements. Once launched, we kept overhead low by avoiding full-time hires and focusing on maintaining profitability, which gave us the flexibility to reinvest profits back into the business as we continued to grow.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Zach and I first met during college at Emory University. We became close friends and stayed connected, both living in New York City before Zach moved to Los Angeles to work for a home furnishings e-commerce brand. Meanwhile, I went on to get my MBA and eventually moved back to LA, where I worked for a management consulting firm.

Despite being in different industries, Zach and I always had an entrepreneurial itch. We’d regularly meet up for coffee to brainstorm ideas and eventually, we found ourselves intrigued by the washable rugs category. It was a growing category, but we saw room to make a better product at a competitive price point. We spent 18 months developing prototypes before going all-in, launching a crowdfunding campaign to bring our vision to life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tumbleliving.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-soleimani/

Image Credits

Tumble