How to build a cult-like brand | Laura Modi (Bobbie)

**Laura Modi** (0:00)
So, our head of Growth, who, I mean, this girl is just fabulous. She was watching our inventory levels very carefully, and also watching how quickly we were growing. And I'll never forget that moment.
I can like visualize it sitting in a meeting, and she pulls up her screen, she goes, here's the dilemma. We are depleting inventory far quicker than our ability to replenish and the customers keep coming.
You know, you sit there and your first reaction is, this is, I mean, this is great, we're growing. She's like, it's not that great actually, because here's what's going to happen. We are going to run out of product for the babies that are on Bobbie today. We have about six days before we get to a place where we won't be able to serve those who've already made a commitment to Bobbie. She's like, so we need to turn off our site and stop growing the business.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (0:56)
Welcome to Lenny's Podcast, where I interview world-class product leaders and growth experts to learn from their hard-won experiences building and growing today's most successful products. Today, my guest is Laura Modi. Laura and I actually worked together at Airbnb for many years, where she was Director of Hospitality, leading all of the work around strengthening the host community and also improving marketplace quality. After leaving Airbnb, she went on to found a company called Bobbie, the only female-founded and mom-led organic infant formula company in the US. Which basically every mom I know uses. I rarely have CEOs or founders on this podcast, and when I do, it's because I'm confident that product leaders and growth teams and other founders can learn a lot from this person. Laura is a great example of this and I've been incredibly impressed with watching Laura execute and build this company. In our conversation, we talk about how to build and maintain momentum within your organization, how sometimes slowing growth down is the best way to grow long-term, why the most innovative ideas often come from people with no experience in the problem space, how to lead through tough times, why manufacturing fake deadlines is so powerful and effective, and so much more. Laura is such a great leader and such a great human, and I'm really excited for you to learn from her. With that, I bring you Laura Modi after a short word from our sponsors.
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Laura, welcome to the podcast.

**Laura Modi** (4:22)
I'm so happy to be here. It's a Friday, Lenny. This is amazing.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (4:25)
Oh, my God. Already starting strong.
I was looking forward to this chat for a few weeks already. I knew that we booked it a couple of weeks ago. In just this context, we worked together at Airbnb for a while and not something I expected, but you went on to now become a magnate in the baby formula industry, which I'm excited to dig into. And so thank you again for being here.