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 remains a Rent the Runway board member and adviser, a board member of 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 5^th 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.