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Reimagining the consumer experience | Joey Zwillinger (Allbirds)
Watch on YouTube ↗First seen on the TechTO stage in 2020. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Joey ↗
In their words
I have an absolute constant paranoia. In retail they call it the retailer's nightmare — you wake up every day and hope somebody shows up in your store.
We sat the first seven employees in a room and said: it's the summer of 2016, put yourself forward 10 years to 2026 and write down what happened and why we were successful. We've never really veered from that.
We developed a new midsole material out of a sugar cane waste stream, and we didn't patent it — we open-sourced it to the world. In doing that we turn an industry more sustainable, which helps our mission.
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Quick answers
Who is Joey Zwillinger?
Co-founder and CEO of Biologica, a women's hormonal-health company he launched in 2025 with his wife, Liz. He co-founded Allbirds with Tim Brown in 2016 and was its CEO through the 2021 IPO, stepping down as CEO in 2024.
What did Joey Zwillinger talk about at TechTO?
In a June 2020 TechTO Retail fireside with Jason Goldlist, he covered building Allbirds from renewable materials, a pre-mortem exercise where the first seven employees wrote the company's future success story, and open-sourcing a sugar-cane midsole material rather than patenting it.
Is Joey Zwillinger still CEO of Allbirds?
No. He stepped down as Allbirds CEO in March 2024, staying on as a board member and advisor, and later launched Biologica with his wife.