Founders Everywhere: Ben Parsa
Ben Parsa is the co-founder and CEO of CABA, a forward-thinking furniture company that is building the next generation of home brands powered by community and technology.
Welcome to Founders Everywhere, where we highlight the incredible people behind the companies we’ve backed at Everywhere Ventures, a global pre-seed fund supported by a community of 500 founders and operators.
Historically, the furniture industry has been characterized by traditional methods, but with the dawn of the digital age, new opportunities for innovation and disruption have emerged. CABA is a forward-thinking furniture company that is building the next generation of home brands powered by community and technology. By blending cutting-edge design with a commitment to sustainability and efficiency, CABA is reshaping the way consumers perceive and interact with furniture. CABA develops sustainable, high-quality furniture brands while giving customers unparalleled choice in design through customization and modularity.
Co-founder and CEO, Ben Parsa, studied industrial design and has a strong background in branding, marketing, and product vision, with a knack for building efficient and scalable solutions. He’s a serial entrepreneur with a track record of founding successful companies, including Dot & Bo, which was acquired in 2016. He co-founded CABA with Andy Beering, Cristian Petrus, and Andrew Sigfrids and together they’re changing the furniture industry with their innovative approach to design, manufacturing, and customer experience. The team is composed of experts from the architectural, arts, fashion, furniture and automobile industries. They present you with options you never knew you had and ultimately a unique product made to last a lifetime.
They’re transforming homes, one CABA Design at a time!
What is CABA's North Star?
Our North Star is to deliver high-quality furniture brands that challenge traditional furniture design norms and to do it in a pragmatic, scalable, and profitable way. At the same time, we’re really focused on reducing the waste in the furniture category, while providing innovative and customizable products that cater to consumer demand.
What sets CABA apart?
We provide environmentally friendly options without compromising comfort or quality. I think consumers want certain things that are unwarranted. We look at this as an opportunity to educate consumers, because a sofa doesn’t need to weigh a ton, devour excessive amounts of materials, and be assembled with staples, glue, and a plethora of chemicals, rendering it unrecyclable. That mindset was born out of excess from past decades, but we're operating in an environment where excess is no longer a possibility. We have a real waste problem on our hands and we can no longer consume at this rate. We know consumers have certain wants and expectations, and we’re meeting those expectations. And at the same time, we're trying to change the rules by approaching problems with a unique perspective, prioritizing what's right for both the environment and our customers.
Tell us about a recent milestone that CABA crushed?
While I'm hesitant to say we’ve hit profitability, CABA has made significant progress and we're trending towards profitability in a pretty aggressive way. It’s top of mind and we’re pretty excited about that.
What have been some of the biggest challenges founding CABA?
I don't think we could have started a furniture business at a worse time in multiple decades, given the turbulent state of the ecommerce sector. Just six months before the onset of the COVID pandemic, we relocated to a larger facility in Sacramento, only to find ourselves grappling with the unprecedented challenges of operating a business with physical requirements; you can’t build a couch remotely. As consumer demand soared, we faced supply chain disruptions, volatile market conditions and regulatory changes around customer privacy. We've overcome this with a combination of new product introductions, reducing our expenses, and running lean. We operate seven brands right now with about 30 people and we feel really good about that.
How has your background influenced you as a founder?
My family fled Iran when I was two, and we settled in the Netherlands before moving to the US for high school. Witnessing my parents' hard work to provide us with opportunities instilled a mindset of resilience in me. When it comes to problem-solving, I have a tendency to aim for significant improvements rather than incremental changes. I believe in continuously striving for improvement, whether it's in product design, operations, or company culture. We're always open to tearing things apart and rebuilding them from scratch if it means making meaningful progress.
Fun fact: In high school in the Netherlands we studied 6 languages: Dutch, German, French, Latin, Greek, and English and I speak Farsi natively so English is technically my 4th language.
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