Executive Briefing

What Casper’s IPO filing says about the ‘DTC’ playbook — and about Casper’s future

Can the mattress startup become ‘the world’s most loved and largest sleep company’?

Casper mattress
Photo: Courtesy Casper

Casper, the pioneering direct to consumer mattress startup, filed to go public last Friday.

Casper is the first of the iconic, 2010s-era direct to consumer product brands — the “Warby Parker for x” set — to file to go public and reveal its finances, unless you maybe count Peloton.

So while each of those companies — Warby Parker, Away, Harry’s, Everlane, etc. — is different, Casper’s filing may offer a temperature check for that sort of business, how well it’s living up to its promise, and where things are going.

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Dan Frommer

Hi, I’m Dan Frommer and this is The New Consumer, a publication about how and why people spend their time and money.

I’m a longtime tech and business journalist, and I’m excited to focus my attention on how technology continues to profoundly change how things are created, experienced, bought, and sold. The New Consumer is supported entirely by your membership — join now to receive my reporting, analysis, and commentary directly in your inbox, via my twice-weekly, member-exclusive newsletter. Thanks in advance.

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