[Music] in this episode of New York next we at ernesta a company trying to crack open the $120 billion rug industry we have a No Holds Barred conversation with its CEO John Foley who was the pelaton founder he gets candid about his time at the company that Infamous Mr big heart attack as well as why he's all in on this new Venture and why his rider dies from pelaton followed him here [Music] tell us about ernesta tell us what you do what the vision is and how you got here I understand it started a couple years ago yeah sure so I've been uh a student of rugs for decades I love rugs I love inter design I love design and I've found that stores sell rugs that are standard sizes and what you want in your space is not a standard size Rug you want a rug that fits your specific space so oresta brings custom-sized rugs to the market at affordable prices in as little as two weeks so you've gone from Barnes & Noble to pelaton to now ernesta which is a rug company what is the through line in all of the work that you've been doing well broadly consumer Brands we have to to fabricate the rug we cut it on demand we cut it to your size we surge it or bind it and bring it to your home and so yes there's distribution of big heavy stuff last mile delivery we have inventory all this stuff you speak of but on relative terms it's much easier than what we were doing at pelaton to be honest getting to pelaton when you look back at that time what is your biggest regret certainly chasing the demand during Co we were so essential to people's lives during Co and in our effort to really get as many bikes and Treads to people we overinvestment became a liability so that was kind of the story it cost me my job it was uh you know pretty brutal in the public markets I've had to sell almost everything in my life I built a fancy house and I I had to sell it so I'm hungry and humble and uh I was able to raise some money for this new company that we're super excited about and I also think potentially the best days of John Foley are ahead of me so I love a good Underdog Story what's kept you sort of in the entrepreneurship space I think we did something special at pelaton for sure the team we worked super hard Capital raising and execution I don't think we were lucky at pelaton I think we were good and so if we are good we can do something similar and build a similar disruptive consumer brand and great outside shareholder returns in the HomeGoods categories can you comment on the Mr Big Moment it seemed out of left field it certainly felt out of left field at the people Pon I mean it was brutal on a human level for a whole leadership for everyone cuz we really did think we were doing something special for the world all of a sudden we were just being trolled personally and corporately and the stock and our story and it just everything was collapsing I mean there's no other way of explaining it it was tough did you have people you feel like wanted to bet on you after pelaton I had two people in particular that were excited about on me and I'm super proud and honored and appreciative um Leaf Excel addition and John Callahan at true Ventures they were both on the board of pelaton they also know my team a lot of the team we put together here at erest our former pelaton folks it meant a lot to me as I you know life had kind of collapsed on me to have some people that were there for me obviously met the world you've moved all over the us but you moved to New York and you have stayed here why if I were in Palo Alto I don't think I would be plugged into the flow of information around Trends and around sentiment around consumers the way they're thinking so while you can hire software engineers and raise money out in the valley I think in New York City entrepreneur has an advantage by the flow of information that they're in and the conversations and the and the dinner parties with diverse Dynamic conversation versus kind of again unfaceted I love New York I love the people I love the energy New York is the greatest city in the world I think it's just so wonderful and I love it and my family loves it [Music]