Category Archives: Founder’s Vlog

Want Company Culture? Just Do Stuff

From time to time I am interviewed for various podcasts or magazine articles about entrepreneurship, business, and the like. Besides the inevitable telling of the infamous Lovesac story, I get asked a lot about company culture–often referred to as “corporate culture,” which I bristle to just by nomenclature alone. (It is for this reason that you’ll never see us refer to “Lovesac Corporate.” Instead we use “Headquarters.”) But I digress…

Company culture is in the eye of the beholder. If people who work at Lovesac think our company culture sucks–then it sucks. If people who work at Lovesac think our company culture is awesome–then it is awesome. What people on the outside think doesn’t matter very much–except, of course, when it comes to attracting talent. Either way, it is my fault. And what’s really crazy is that after all these years, I can confidently say it always both sucks and is awesome at the same time…because you can’t please everybody all the time. Just get used to that.

But I find the perception from the outside is that Lovesac seems to have a really cool, alive, and vibrant culture. So I get asked that question over and over: How do you build company culture? My anti-climactic response: Do stuff. I vlogged about it…
We do some weird things at Lovesac HQ to keep things interesting…

Have an idea? Think of something that sounds fun, or cool, or interesting? Do it. Try it. Spend a buck and go for it. Many “cultural” events don’t cost much or even cost anything. A week ago while I was out of the office visiting Lovesac stores one of our HQ Sac’rs took it upon themselves to throw a spontaneous “Chips and Dips” party at like 3pm on a weekday. They gave a few days’ notice, sent an email around to everyone at HQ and who knew–they had an amazing turnout of chips and dips and people from all departments just hanging out, having a good time on a random Thursday.

You know you have culture when you don’t have to “do” it all.

But until that day–just do things. Whether you are the “boss” or not. We all end up spending most of our waking hours not with the ones we love, but with those we work with. It is kind of sad you think about it–but it is the human condition. With all of the time we must spend at work, it might as well not suck, so be sure about how to go about presenting a companies vision and begin with making your workers not hate the culture they’re surrounded by. After all, as I remind all department heads at Lovesac when we have our Tuesday meeting (which itself is a brick in the wall of our culture here): If our culture at Lovesac rocks–it is your fault. If our culture at Lovesac sucks–its your fault.

The truth is: It’s all our faults. Every last one of us is part of a company culture, and what are we doing to make it not suck.

Get off the couch and go make something happen.

— Shawn

Lovesac Founder & CEO

The Lovesac Story Unabridged: Episode 2 / 50

The saga of the Lovesac story continues with this second installment on my daily CEO vlog called “Get Off the Couch.” I do my best to recount every gory detail that went into the earliest days of the Lovesac–before it was even called a Lovesac! It was really just this huge not-beanbag thing that I had made and people loved.

I had to put it away for 2 years to serve a mission for my church and when I came back I had the good fortune to meet Dave Underwood–who became the head of Product Development at Lovesac and is still here today, 18 years later. Whether you are a budding entrepreneur or just someone who likes a good story, the history of Lovesac won’t disappoint…and I’ve never told it like this before, to anyone.

Enjoy. And subscribe to my channel on YouTube!

— Shawn

The Lovesac Story Unabridged: Episode 1 / 50

My daily vlog called “GET OFF THE COUCH” has a different theme for every day of the week. Thursdays = Throwback Thursday, and it is my plan to draw from my past experiences to tell stories of value. While there is a 20 minute company history video available at Lovesac.com that tells the “whole” story, all I can say is that it is not the whole Lovesac story.  #ThrowbackThursday

The Lovesac story is a saga. The Lovesac story is gritty. The Lovesac story has more twists and turns than I could possibly cover in 20 minutes, let alone 20 episodes.

Shawn Nelson's 1969 Mustang Coupe

This sexy beast of a car makes the unabridged Lovesac Story…worth a listen

So enjoy this, the first of what will hopefully be many #ThrowbackThursday vlog posts allowing me to go deep, get into detail, and tell y’all how it really is (was). I am grateful to all of you who have supported me and this brand through all these years and all of our good times and bad. I’m especially grateful for the hundreds (thousands now) of Sac’rs who have given months and years of their lives in Lovesac Stores across the nation building this company one couch at a time.

Enjoy.

—  Shawn

This Lovesac Story Made Me Cry

Let’s face it. Lovesac’s don’t cure cancer. But every now and then we hear from loyal Lovesac fans who have experiences we could have never foreseen when we set out to make the world’s most comfortable seat. At our latest Lovesac store grand opening in Novi, Michigan we heard just such  a story.  You’ve got to see this.

 

And its not just random. We often hear from parents of children with autism, muscular dystrophy, and all kinds of other challenges where somehow a Lovesac can be therapeutic and helpful–at the very least, make their life more comfortable. And we love it. We are humbled to be a part of so many lives and homes.

Please share YOUR Lovesac therapeutic experience in the comments below. We’d LOVE to hear it.

— The #LovesacFamily