It was Friday the 13, in March 2020, and Steven Miller was staring at a suddenly irrelevant budget. Hours earlier Warby Parker had shuttered every one of its 280 stores to protect employees and customers. “Remember that plan we just approved?” he asked the leadership team. “Forget it.” In its place he introduced PAR—Pause, Adjust, Redeploy—a framework that let finance review cash daily, pivot marketing dollars to booming e-commerce, and preserve innovation spend while the world locked down. The episode crystallized Miller’s philosophy: data guides decisions, but agility preserves advantage.
Read MoreRaised as a strategy consultant at Monitor Company, Miller learned early to hunt for competitive leverage. A New York City Urban Fellows stint deepened that lesson when a commissioner advised him to “read the budget if you want to know a society’s values.” The line sent him chasing the intersection of money and mission—from Flatiron’s venture trenches to Majestic Research, where the 2008 crisis forced layoffs and, ultimately, a sale to ITG that began with his cold call. Warby Parker appealed because it made a tangible product and pledged social impact.
Miller joined when the firm had 20 employees and no stores; today it approaches 4,000 people and, he tells us, opens “40-plus new locations a year.” Eight capital raises and a 2021 direct listing later, his remit is constant: align capital with purpose. By measuring four-wall EBITDA, inventory turns, and cost lines against revenue, Miller ensures every dollar advances a simple mission—help more people see clearly around the world daily.
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CFOTL: Most people know Warby Parker for its “buy a pair, give a pair” program, but what is the company really about today?
Steven Miller: Warby Parker is a vertically integrated, direct-to-consumer, holistic vision-care provider, and our core product is eyeglasses. We operate in a large, fragmented, $68 billion market: roughly half is controlled by national chains; the rest by independent (A.C.P.) eye-care professionals with one to three locations. We began by disrupting the eyeglass category and have since evolved into a holistic vision-care company, offering eye exams, contact lenses, and prescription as well as non-prescription eyewear. Every item is Warby Parker–branded—we sell no outside lines—and we reach customers directly through our website and our (280-plus) retail stores, a fleet that continues to grow.
CFOTL: Over your 13-plus years as CFO you’ve guided hyper-growth, retail expansion, and a public listing. Are there other “chapters” we should note?
Steven Miller: I think you captured them. When I joined, the company had about 20 employees and no finance team; today we’re close to 4,000. We started with no stores—now we have (280-plus) and open more than 40 each year. Early on we had raised very little outside capital; ultimately we secured over $500 million across eight private-equity rounds and, in September 2021, we went public. The arc runs from an internet-focused eyewear start-up, to retailer, to omni-channel brand, and finally to public company.
CFOTL: The company amended its S-1 to pursue a direct listing, a less common and lower-cost route. What factors drove that decision?
Steven Miller: From the early days we kept saying we’d go public within 12–24 months, repeating that goal almost every year to build the “muscle memory” of a public company. In 2018 Spotify’s direct listing caught our attention. A firm really has three options: a traditional IPO, a direct listing, or a SPAC. We ruled out the SPAC and studied direct listings closely. For us, it was the better route because (1) we didn’t need to raise capital—so why accept IPO dilution.
Warby Parker | www.warbyparker.com | New York, NY