SELLING SLEEP: BUILDING A BILLION-DOLLAR MATTRESS COMPANY.

• Author: McArthur, Alex
• Position: SILICON SLOPES

When you hear the word "Purple," your mind thinks of a lot of things: grapes and eggplants, violets in the sunshine, "drank." You typically don't think of mattresses.

But that's what we are: a comfort technology manufacturer that creates products that make life a little cozier. Our technology--which is how we refer to the stretchy, purple-colored Hyper-Elastic Polymer[R] that makes up our proprietary products--has been around for decades. But only recently did we turn it purple and launch a multi-million-dollar brand using it.

When first deciding how to bring Purple to the world--when nothing about our brand or product was intuitive--we had to think outside the box. Thanks to collaboration between hundreds of brilliant people, some truly exceptional products and a little bit of luck, we created a brand worth nearly a billion dollars in less than two years.

We found a couple Midas-touch strategies that really helped us get our products and brand out there. Using these strategies, we grew from 30 to 600 employees, we added a 574,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and we earned a $900 million valuation in 18 months.

Here are some of those key strategies:

TELL THE AMAZING FOUNDER STORY

We like to say Purple is an overnight success 20 years in the making. Our history goes back decades to two brothers who wanted to change the world. They were inventors and engineers, so they developed products they thought could make a difference.

If you've never seen a Purple product, I'll preface this by saying it's kind of weird. The gel-like polymer that covers our products is squishy, soft and oh-so touchable. You can't stop playing with it when you have a piece in your hands. Seriously, it's better than a fidget spinner.

Besides being just plain cool, our products have been used in the medical industry for years, first as a wheelchair seat cushion and then for hospital beds. To this day, licenses of our technology help bed-ridden patients feel more comfortable and avoid nasty, life-threatening bedsores.

The inventions of Purple's technology led to it being used in everything from backpack straps to snowboarding boots to children's toys. It has been licensed by brands like Nike, JanSport and Dr. Scholl's. Today, it sits on top of the Purple mattress, providing supreme comfort and support.

We tell this story everywhere we can because it's interesting and it helps consumers understand where we came from. Every company has a founding story they can share...