Jesse Horwitz

Jesse is Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Hubble, one of America’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer e-commerce companies. In 2016, Jesse and his co-founder Ben Cogan earned spots on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. Jesse is also the co-founder of Mockingbird, a baby stroller brand, and BZR, a one-stop shop DTC platform, as well as a board member for Andie Swim, a fashion and apparel company.

On his morning routine.

I generally wake up at 7, but to be honest I’m not a great sleeper.

Throughout the night I basically wake up every 2 or 3 hours. I’ve just always had difficulty sleeping, so I’ve accepted it and tried made the best of it. 

After I’m up, especially now that I’m working from home, I’ll have a coffee first thing. My coffee consumption is based on how often my husband brews a pot.

To be honest though, I don’t really need coffee in my life. I’ve definitely gone through days without coffee and my productivity isn’t terribly affected. 

On protecting his workout.

I always set aside time to work out.

Since the gym has been closed, I’ve been riding my Peloton. I prefer indoor cycling to running. I like that you can push yourself even while remaining stationary. I bike for 30 minutes every day and typically read a book. 

On his daily workflow.

A lot of behind-the-scenes work goes into running an e-commerce business. 

I’ll spend the first couple hours of my workday planning out what needs to get done. This usually involves jotting down immediate tasks and prepping info that I want to share with the team. I also look through various dashboards, Shopify, and Facebook Ads to see what needs to get done.

Then I’ll Slack my team different to-do items and run it from there. 

I try to block out times during the day to enjoy the outdoors, whether it’s walking or grabbing a slice of pizza by the park. I schedule most of my calls in the afternoon because it’s more pleasant for me. I’m usually done with calls by 5.

On lean business models.

Within a few months of Hubble’s launch, we had around 15 people.

Today, we have about 20 employees. I’m shocked when I hear about companies that have 100+ employees but only hit a slightly higher run rate than us. 

I think people are often unrealistic about what division of labor makes sense. We outsource a lot, which keeps our business lean.

In the DTC industry, there are many overlapping functions and services across businesses. Our job is to fit all the moving pieces together and make sure everything is running smoothly.

On focusing on mental fitness.

When we first started, we raised around 70K. 

Many people were in love with the direct-to-consumer industry and enthusiastic about our product. I like working with people I already know because I’m familiar with their strengths and weaknesses. 

Without being cliche, I also love the “roll up your sleeves” founders. 

They’re not afraid to give it their all to make sure their business survives. The first year of business is always hard, full stop.

We’ve definitely been through rough patches, but that’s any business! We had a particularly rough time in 2018. We were super-focused on growing the business and creating a positive cashflow. It’s definitely hard work.

But when you succeed, it’s so rewarding.

On his evening routine.

My goal is to get through a third of a book each day.

I start reading in the morning, when I’m on the Peloton, and I’ll read throughout the day. If I don’t hit my target, then I’ll read before bed.

Although, I don’t really like to read before bed. Pre-COVID, I would have dinner or drink plans most nights. Now, it’s Zoom calls with my friends. 

Finally, most nights I’m in bed by 11.