
“We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of the dreams.”
– Willy Wonka
Jenny Fleiss is an entrepreneur and intrapreneur, founding two scaled digitally native businesses from scratch: Rent the Runway and Jetblack. She joined Volition Capital in 2021 as the Company’s first Venture Partner, where she’ll focus on Internet applications, e-commerce, digital health, and next-generation consumer brands.
Jenny is currently on the boards of Arteza, Rent the Runway, Apollo’s SPAC, Shutterfly, and Party City.
PRIOR EXPERIENCE & EDUCATION
- During her time at Rent the Runway, Jenny wore many different hats, serving as President, Head of Logistics, and Head of Business Development.
- Jenny has been honored with numerous recognitions including Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30”; Fortune Magazine’s “40 Under 40” and “Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs”; and Fast Company’s “Most Influential Women in Technology.”
- She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated Cum Laude from Yale University. She currently resides in New York City with her husband and three children.
FUN FACTS ABOUT JENNY
- She was hooked on entrepreneurship since age 8 when she ran her first lemonade stand.
- She LOVES practical jokes (watch out!).
- Her 9-year-old daughter is training her in Tik Tok dances. She can floss with the best of them.
- She knows A LOT about dry cleaning and wooing UPS from her days running the warehouse at Rent the Runway.
- She can recite the lyrics to almost every Rogers and Hammerstein musical.
- She has been an avid runner since 5th grade and still runs almost every day (often as a running meeting!).
As an operator, I have seen directly how building and scaling incredible teams is the key driver of business success. I look for teams that show flexibility, hustle, a love of learning and optimism. Being flexible means you can evolve a business around customer needs, and that you have the humility to do any job that is needed. Hustle enables a team to work with limited resources and find scrappy ways to get things done. Entrepreneurs must have a love for learning – approaching the unknown with curiosity, finding experts to learn from and marrying best practices with hands on creative innovation. Perhaps most important is optimism, the will to persevere, the passion and belief in the business you are building and the positive energy you will bring to your teammates each day to make even the most daunting tasks fun. Dream big and go after it.
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Building Culture by doing it the hard way Early on in the journey of co-founding Rent the Runway, we created a set of Core Values that we continue to live by to this day But our Core... more2/25/22
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Welcome, 2022! The year that I believe will put the pandemic in the rear-view mirror but leave us playing catch up and digesting many changes that came with it We are more comfortable... more1/26/22
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Jenny Fleiss, Venture Partner at Volition Capital and Co-Founder of Rent the Runway, joins the Closing Bell Show to discuss the outlook of retail post... more4/2/21
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Jenny Fleiss gives a heartfelt shout-out to her Rent The Runway co-founder, Jennifer Hyman to kick off our week+ of honoring the women we admire here at Volition Capital Stay tuned all week... more
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Jenny Fleiss sits down with Larry Cheng to discuss her entrepreneurial background, the lessons she's learned from Rent The Runway and Jetblack, and why she's excited about joining the... more
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In our new series Ask Jenny Anything, Volition Capital Venture Partner Jenny Fleiss answers the questions she gets all the time from founders and entrepreneurs Today she's tackling an... more
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In our new series Ask Jenny Anything, Volition Capital Venture Partner Jenny Fleiss answers the questions she gets all the time from founders and entrepreneurs Today she's tackling an... more
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Today, Volition Capital Venture Partner Jenny Fleiss answers a question submitted by a friend: When should a founder consider stepping aside as CEO Do you have a question for Jenny Shoot... more
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In honor of International Women's Day and Women's History Month, we are interviewing the women we admire In our most recent video, In our most recent installation of Women We Admire, Karen... more
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Personalization has been a popular concept for decades, but after more than a year of living through a global pandemic, product personalization is skyrocketing to new heights The pandemic... more5/13/21
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I have long considered myself a ‘creature of convenience,’ prioritizing activities to maximize time, living near work and looking for life hacks to save time whenever possible Whether... more12/16/21
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Jenny Fleiss, Venture Partner at Volition Capital and Co-Founder of Rent the Runway, joins the Closing Bell Show to discuss the outlook of retail post... more4/2/21
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The rise of digital commerce has created abundant opportunities for consumers, adding ease and optionality to the way they shop Along the way, however, opportunity costs have accumulated,... more8/10/21
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When we raised funding for Rent the Runway, countless investors would ask us about our CAC (Cost of Customer Acquisition) For a long while, my Co-Founder, Jenn Hyman, and I would look at... more10/25/21