Steven Conine

Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, Wayfair

Search every verified Steven Conine interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a January 2026 appearance on the Zinnov Podcast, Conine discussed the long-term partnership with co-founder Niraj Shah, noting that they met in college and that their strong personal relationship, built on trust and shared "ground truths," has been a foundation of their business. He described the company's approach to bootstrapping for a decade, stating that "scarcity is often a great driver of good execution, prioritization, focus." Conine also addressed the company's technology operations in India, explaining that they have moved from building engineering teams to creating "full stack teams" where product leadership and machine learning capabilities are co-located, allowing teams to be "very close with whatever business group they're working with." Conine has previously described Wayfair as a technology company that takes on "technology execution risk more aggressively and innovates faster than others." He has emphasized the importance of company culture, stating that "culture is a manifestation of the people you have, and the way you define the culture is by who you hire." In earlier remarks, he noted the company's bootstrapped origins and the decision to collapse a portfolio of about 250 microsites into a single Wayfair brand in 2011-2012. He has also spoken about the importance of celebrating small wins, advising entrepreneurs to "be excited about the small wins along the way" as a business grows.