How 2 sisters turned a love of vintage lockers into an eight-figure business

• Becca and Jess Stern launched a locker brand in 2018 with $25,000 and no industry knowledge.
• The sisters built an eight-figure global brand by refusing to chase trends.
• Their “think x 10” rule pushed them to make big operational bets early on.

The same logic applies to hiring. “Bringing in great people early has been key to scaling the business,” Jess said, adding that hiring before they felt ready, particularly in areas where the founders didn’t have expertise, is what allowed them to focus on the strategic areas of the business.

Becca frames the business’s underlying mindset as a three-step cycle. “Be optimistic, then pessimistic, then optimistic again. You have to have belief and hope to get moving, then you have to break it down from every angle to find all the possible ways it could go wrong,” she said.

“Once you’ve planned for the worst-case scenarios, you lean all in and enjoy the ride.”