Andy Dunn
CEO & Founder
Something miraculous happened in the spring of 2007. Andy's housemate and good friend Brian launched a line of pants called Bonobos – and Andy watched with his own eyes as those pants became just the type of cult consumer experience he was looking to develop. An enthusiastic photographer and blogger, Andy started taking pictures of Brian in the pants and writing the company's blog. Soon he was pitching in on all fronts, as a real company began to take shape.
Seeing the potential to build a revolutionary brand beloved by its customers, Andy dove headfirst into the emerging Bonobos enterprise. He soon found himself selling the pants out of his trunk, launching the web store, recruiting employees, raising capital, hiring talent, and building a company at the intersection of several of his sources of energy – consumer, technology, and creativity.
Prior to Bonobos, Andy worked at Bain & Company out of the Chicago office. Later he did a six month stint for a Bain client while living in El Salvador. During these formative years right out of college, he developed a passion for consumer-facing businesses. He spent a couple of years investing in those types of companies, first as a private equity associate at Wind Point Partners and later as an associate at Maveron, a consumer-focused venture capital firm.
While at Stanford, Andy evaluated a number of consumer concepts, from making the market for Biltong in the US to launching a personalized magazine company. He was hard at work on the latter when Bonobos fell into his lap.
In Bonobos, Andy sees three things that he loves. A cult of passionate consumers. The potential to create sustainable business model innovation in a stagnant industry. And the opportunity to build a company in a market that Andy knows well – one where he himself is the target customer. Andy is a self-described ‘wannabe' fashionable guy who doesn't enjoy shopping or have a talent for it. What's authentic about Bonobos for Andy is not in the design of Bonobos, but in their consumption. No, we're not talking about eating monkeys here, that's gross. What we are talking about, though, is Andy building a company for consumers just like himself… guys who want awesome pants, but not enough to go shopping for them at a store.
Andy runs Bonobos from Union Square in Manhattan. When he's not working, he's running negative splits on the East River, shopping at Trader Joe's, or catching Cubs games on WGN.