Warby Parker’s founders share their secret to a successful co-CEO partnership

The co-CEO leadership model is famously fraught.

Oracle used to do it, along with SAP, but like many others, they have since decided to move away from that framework. In 2022, only seven Fortune 500 companies had co-CEOs. 

Warby Parker’s co-CEOs, however, say the leadership style works just fine for them. 

Founded in 2010, the company was an instant hit, forcing the founders to move from their apartment into an office with a showroom, then a pop-up, then a dedicated store. The eyewear company now has around 250 retail stores, and it’s still growing.  

Warby Parker started off as an idea among four business school friends, who were involved as equal partners: Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, Dave Gilboa, and Jeffrey Raider. “We didn’t have titles, we didn’t have hierarchy between us,” Gilboa told Fortune on the Leadership Next podcast. 

When they all graduated from business school, Blumenthal and Gilboa stayed on to run day-to-day operations. “We said, ’Why don’t we continue operating in this way until there are signs that it doesn’t work or that it’s frustrating for one or both of us?’” says Gilboa. 

The trick to making the model successful, he says, is being very clear about who is doing what so that there is no confusion about who is leading in specific areas. That avoids the potential pitfall that goes something along the lines of, “if mom says no, someone goes and asks dad,” Gilboa adds.   

Both Gilboa and Blumenthal each have their own direct reports, update each other “dozens of times a day,” and will often join each other’s meetings. “We both feel responsible and accountable for the brand, the business results, the impact that we’re having,” says Gilboa. 

Leadership Tip of the Week 💡

Innovate or die trying. At least that’s the story at Nike right now. The sports-gear maker’s stock took a tumble after a lackluster earnings report last week. CEO John Donahoe will have to “restore a culture of innovation,” writes Fortune’s Phil Wahba, if he wants to bring it back to its past prominence.  

Leadership Next

Co-CEOs of Warby Parker Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal started the company as a business school project in 2010.

The premise was simple: shake up the old-line optical business by selling frames online, and at a lower price than traditional retail. Today, Warby Parker is one of the biggest players in optical, a robust online business leveraging e-commerce but with a growing retail footprint of some 250 stores as well.

On this episode of #LeadershipNext, Neil and Dave talk about Warby Parker's founding story, changing consumer behavior, and how to remain innovative as a company matures beyond startup mode.

Listen to the episode and subscribe to Leadership Next wherever you listen to podcasts, or read the full transcript here.

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-Azure Gilman, Fortune’s Deputy Leadership Editor