From chic to shabby: The rise and fall of mass market interior design
Quick note: We do lots of research for new ideas at Neighborhood Studios. In 2022 we began publicly sharing our research. We’ll pursue some of these ideas, but many we won’t. Either way we want more founders to build products to make our day-to-day lives better. If you are working on ideas around this problem, we’d love to chat — goodstuffnearby@neighborhoodstudios.com.
Here is the list of companies we have seen in the interior design space. The doc is 100% editable — feel free to add any companies we may have missed!
Out of all of the industries we have examined, interior design stands out as particularly unique.
This industry has seen numerous promising attempts — startups that have raised tens of millions from some of the world’s top venture capitalists.
And yet — seemingly overnight — many of them have vanished in dramatic fashion.
Triumphant rises. Epic downfalls.
These stories include:
- Homepolish, and how a hot $100 million home design startup collapsed overnight
- Modsy, which quietly shut down while some customers were still awaiting refunds
- Laurel & Wolf, with its bizarre unraveling at its end
It’s an alluring problem. Interior design is a $25B+ industry in the U.S. that largely operates with antiquated tech, word-of-mouth referrals, and a business model that only caters to the top 1%.
And yet, with all of these obvious problems, it’s a tough nut to crack. Just ask Homepolish, Modsy, and Laurel & Wolf. Lots of shots on goal — but few that end up in the back of the net.
In this graphic, we have included a breakdown of both old and new startups that we see trying to disrupt the interior design space. As we continue to explore this industry, we will:
- Dive deeper into the history of these startups
- Examine innovative models being tried in the space today (e.g., The Expert)
- Hypothesize on the novel model that actually can win in this space
If we missed a company on the list or if you have personal experience with any of these companies, we’d love to chat. Please drop us an email at goodstuffnearby@neighborhoodstudios.com.
About Neighborhood Studios
Neighborhood Studios is a venture studio that partners with tenacious founders to build hyperlocal startups from the ground up.
If you are building a business in any hyperlocal space or if any of this really grabs you, we want to hear from you. Drop us a note at goodstuffnearby@neighborhoodstudios.com.
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