Taryn Jones Laeben
Advisor, Leader, Strategist, and Growth-Obsessed Partner to Start-ups Founders
Taryn Jones Laeben is the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of SoulCycle, the revolutionary indoor cycling brand, founded in New York City in 2006. Before her time at SoulCycle, Taryn was the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Casper, the fast-growing sleep company, where she led rapid expansion across retail, wholesale, partnerships, customer experience, and strategy at large. Prior to joining start-up Casper, Taryn spent many years generating industry leading results in fashion & retail. Taryn led NYC-based jewelry brand Alexis Bittar as President after having run the North America and International businesses for Kate Spade New York as Senior Vice President of North America and Vice President of International, respectively. At Kate Spade New York, Taryn led multi channel growth across 120+ retail stores, 500+ points of wholesale distribution, and the e-commerce channel. She was a key member of the executive team that lead Kate Spade New York to become the eponymous global lifestyle brand it is today.
Above all, Taryn is a builder. In early 2019, Taryn recognized a prevalent need across early to mid-stage start-ups for embedded executive day-to-day guidance, more than a board or advisor could typically provide. Capitalizing on Taryn's years as a seasoned executive and day-to-day operator, with the ability and passion to quickly fuel growth, Taryn founded an integrated advisory firm, IRL Partners. Taryn and her team work with a select number of startups across consumer and wellness, including MIRROR, Parade, Real, and Daring. Since founding IRL Partners, she and her team have partnered with companies to generate ~$1B worth of enterprise value creation and supported early-stage companies in raising over +$350M in capital. She has recently joined Victress Capital, a fund focused on investing in high-growth early-stage consumer companies, as Operating Partner. She believes in empowering founder vision with practical operational and strategic expertise to realize outsized results.
Katie Williams
Rachel Blank
