DIY mattresses will be the next big thing, and will disrupt the industry. A mattress you can tune as you build it to give you the exact feel you’re going for. You could even have a different feel for both sides of the bed. And for way cheaper. We’re working on it.
Like glasses, it's an interesting disruption opportunity due to the sheer size of demand. Just about 100% of the population sleeps on a mattress. It's hard to find other industries with so much penetration of demand and such inefficient competition.
These days it doesn't seem like outbound distribution is too big of a deal (many mattresses are shippable in rolled or compressed-box form), it's the reverse logistics that are tricky. Once the genie is out of the bottle, good luck getting it back in. I'd love to be able to try out a mattress, like Zappos shoes or Bonobos pants, and return them for free if I'm not 100% happy. Maybe someone needs to invent an easily-compressable mattress so I can purchase online with total confidence.
While you guys are reinventing mattresses, can you do me a favor and invent the "square king" mattress that can be rotated and flipped in a bunch of different ways for even wear?
For all the talk of "changing the world" that comes in the software start-up scene, it's the physical inventions[1] that have more obvious & immediate impact on the world - and by "world", I really mean developing countries instead of our first-world problems(annoyances really). These fast-inflating/deflating mattresses would be very helpful in those countries.
I was just discussing this with the owner of an independent mattress/furniture store in Seattle (Bedrooms and More in Wallingford). He is now refusing to carry non-flippable mattresses because he finds them to be too wasteful.
> One thing that really stuck out for me was that _everyone_ had memory foam mattresses. The slums, the really slick holiday homes, everyone.
Interesting; I guess it could be explained in-universe by economies of scale, that is, (memory) foam mattresses being faster and cheaper to produce than other types of mattresses. I'm thinking of spring mattresses, which actually have parts and different materials, whereas foam can be just a single block I think? And when you think about logistics, memory foam can be compacted and vacuum sealed for transport.
Mattresses are something we do totally wrong. We could have much more ergonomic designs that were also affordable, washable, less bulky and recyclable.
I don't know if this has any impact, but thinking about it, a mattress is a possession that can't be easily transported in a car, or even, by someone who doesn't have a car. I imagine that as people become more mobile and choose to have fewer possessions, it might be easier to simply abandon their mattress and have a new one shipped to their new location.
"But, you see, what we're really trying to do here is redefine the mattress industry, from providing a passive product into more of a compelling interactive sleep experience..."
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