- Clothes Made the Man: Dunn co-founded menswear retailer Bonobos with Brian Spaly in 2007. (He is seen above at the Madison Avenue store in New York City.)
- Big Checks: The company landed $127 million in venture funding before Walmart acquired it for $310 million in 2017.
- Parting Company: Dunn stayed at Walmart as SVP of digital consumer brands, working on a direct-to-consumer brand effort. He left in February.
How did the deal with Walmart materialize?
An old business school friend suggested I talk to Walmart executive Marc Lore, who had been a mentor. We mind-melded on the future of e-commerce. Then we went out to dinner with the CEO, Doug McMillon, where I learned how he was transforming Walmart. After that, I was literally praying that the deal would happen. The price discussion was easy. The harder part was, "Do they want to do it?"
What was the biggest lesson you learned from your time at Walmart?
How to do leadership at scale. Internally, 2.4 million people are watching what Doug says. I observed how thoughtful his communication was. If you're a leader invested with real power, you don't need to talk to have authority. In staff meetings, it's smarter to just ask a lot of questions and speak only when needed.