Barn and Willow

Trisha Roy had a vision: to be the Apple of home decor. She noticed that beautiful, high-quality window treatments and home accessories were prohibitively expensive for most consumers, with traditional retail markups making premium products inaccessible. In December 2014, she founded Barn and Willow to democratize home decor by working directly with manufacturers, controlling the entire supply chain from design to distribution, and selling directly to consumers at roughly one-third the traditional retail price.

The name itself came from a real place—a beautiful two-acre property in Woodside owned by a close friend, which featured a barn and willow tree that inspired the aesthetic she wanted to embody: rustic, elegant, and aspirational yet approachable.

Barry and Willow was built on Shopify as a vertically integrated brand. Trisha partnered with manufacturers in Belgium for fabrics and in India for custom stitching, allowing her to offer made-to-order draperies tailored to each customer's specifications. By maintaining full control of the supply chain, she achieved an impressive 85% gross margin—if a product cost $100 to make, it would sell for $185.

The team remained lean and focused: a product strategist with 20 years of home furnishings experience overseeing product design and operations, a community manager, and a developer. Trisha personally managed offshore coordination across Belgium and India, often working until 1:30 or 2 a.m. to align with manufacturing partners' time zones.

Instead of relying on paid advertising, Trisha took a relationship-driven approach. She identified lifestyle influencers and home decor bloggers whose personal style aligned with Barn and Willow's aesthetic, reached out to introduce the brand and its vision, and offered them free products in exchange for features on their blogs. This word-of-mouth and influencer strategy became the company's primary customer acquisition channel, with a customer acquisition cost of just $70 per $1,000 order.

The strategy worked. Within 9-10 months, Barn and Willow had shipped over 1,500 orders and was generating $20,000-$25,000 in monthly revenue. With an average order value around $1,000, the company was already generating significant top-line revenue while remaining cash-flow positive.

Influencer partnerships proved remarkably effective because Barn and Willow didn't offer affiliate commissions—just free products. Trisha discovered that home decor bloggers were willing to feature the brand simply because they loved the products and the company's vision aligned with theirs. She scaling this channel to approximately one major influencer partnership per month.

Secondary channels like SEO, customer reviews on House.com, and organic social media (Instagram and Pinterest) also drove meaningful traffic. The repeat purchase rate of 25% showed strong product-market fit: customers who bought draperies for one room typically returned to purchase for additional rooms like kids' rooms or dining rooms.

By the time of this interview, Barn and Willow had joined 500 Startups, securing seed funding while maintaining its bootstrap-first mentality. The company was cash-flow positive but recognized the need to scale marketing, expand the team, and upgrade technology infrastructure to reach its next growth phase.

Trisha was also exploring offline strategies to deepen customer connection, including pop-ups and in-home tours where customers could touch and see the Belgian linens firsthand—a premium experience that reinforced the brand's commitment to quality over quick sales.