Stitch Fix, the fast-growing online retailer and personal styling service, is on track for a 2017 IPO. Reuters reported in May that the company had tapped IPO bankers and Recode sources have recently hinted that the company’s S-1 filing could be days or weeks away — not months.
Why is Stitch Fix’s second-most powerful executive leaving right before an IPO?
Julie Bornstein has been COO for two-plus years.
Jason Del Rey has been a business journalist for 15 years and has covered Amazon, Walmart, and the e-commerce industry for the last decade. He was a senior correspondent at Vox.
With that backdrop, it was shocking when the company quietly announced last week that Julie Bornstein, the company’s chief operating officer for the past two-plus years, is leaving the company.
Bornstein is a widely respected e-commerce veteran who is Stitch Fix’s No. 2 exec, overseeing all marketing, operations and customer experience teams, and reporting to founder and CEO Katrina Lake. She previously served on Stitch Fix’s board of directors.
But the only explanation given for her departure across three separate statements from a spokesperson, Bornstein and Lake was that Bornstein was leaving “to pursue a new challenge.” Stitch Fix isn’t commenting beyond that.
Not completely satisfied with that explanation for a departure of this magnitude during this important juncture in the company’s life? Neither am I. So I came up with two possible explanations:
1. Bornstein is taking a CEO role elsewhere.
Bornstein has held senior roles for Sephora, Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom.com over the past 17 years and has made no secret about the fact that she wants to run a company as CEO before she’s done.
But multiple sources say that while Bornstein is in talks with potential new employers, she hasn’t yet signed on for a new role.
So why announce now before securing a new gig?
There’s perhaps a case to be made that if she’s confident one of these conversations will lead to a CEO role, it’s better for Stitch Fix to announce the departure before an IPO filing than afterward when it would spook potential investors. Either way, though, the move will raise questions.
2. There was some sort of falling out on the management team.
If this is the case, no one involved will say so. At least now.
“Julie’s energy, passion and vision for Stitch Fix were instrumental, and we’re grateful to retain her as a trusted adviser,” is what CEO Lake said in a statement. “She has an unparalleled ability to translate ideas into action and has been a key driver of Stitch Fix’s early success.”
Know more? Email me at jason@recode.net.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
