UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — "Dare to Disrupt" is a podcast from Invent Penn State about Penn State alumni who are innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders, and the stories behind their success.
The podcast is hosted by alumnus Ryan Newman, a graduate of the Smeal College of Business and a Schreyer Scholar alumnus who is now a managing director at Goldman Sachs.
In the sixth episode, Newman interviews JT Marino, who studied math and computer science at Penn State. Marino describes how he and his co-founder determined all the pain points of buying a mattress to create their customer-first, mattress-in-a-box solution called Tuft & Needle, which they grew to more than $250 million in sales.
“So, instead of having to go into a store, we would ship it to you. Instead of having 30 mattresses, we'd have one. Instead of multiple firmnesses, we'd have one firmness that works for everybody,” Marino said during the podcast interview. “So, we just used our gut. Like, what would the mattress brand have to offer to convince us to cross that hurdle of buying a mattress online from a company you've never heard of?”
He also discusses how Penn State’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem supported him in his initial entrepreneurial endeavors, leading him to meet his current co-founder, Daehee Park. Marino also talks about how Tuft & Needle made the decision to merge with Serta Simmons, and what disrupting an industry really means.
Listen to this interview to learn more about Marino’s journey.
At the end of each "Dare to Disrupt" episode, a current Penn State student is given the opportunity to speak with the successful Penn State alum and ask questions specific to the student’s startup and career goals. In Episode 6, Nathan Bonslaver, a senior at Penn State Berks studying mechanical engineering, joins the conversation. He is the co-founder and president of CarToCamp, which designs, manufactures and sells a universally fitting sleeping-platform product and storage system for car camping. Bonslaver asks Marino about how to maintain inventory and keep up with orders early on, as well as whether Marino would do anything differently if he could go back and change things.
Students can apply or be nominated to be on the show here.
Past episodes of "Dare to Disrupt" include interviews with Matt Brezina, Mo Bhende and Jess Weiner.
New episodes of "Dare to Disrupt" release monthly. Learn more at invent.psu.edu/dare-to-disrupt and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play.
Invent Penn State is a commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation and student career success.