Interview With Bear Mattress Founder Scott Paladini

For those with an active lifestyle, sleep is a time for recovery and recharging your batteries. Scott Paladini is the founder of Bear Mattress, a bed-in-a-box targeting athletes that you can purchase online. The mattress is made with Quick Response foam, Graphite gel-infused foam, and Celliant™ technologies and is designed to improve sleep and increase energy levels. With Bear Mattress, you will sleep cool because the foam technology helps regulate heat transfer from your body to the mattress. Their return policy is simple. Put the mattress to the test for 100 days, and if you don’t like it, you can return it hassle free.

Bear Mattress recently launched several accessories including the Bear Pillow. The best differentiating factor of Bear Pillow to traditional pillows is that Bear Pillow remains cool and provides optimal support for your neck and head as you sleep. It is made with Loft-X foam on the inside and Double Ice Fabric Technology on the outside, which offers the contouring support of memory foam along with some resistance and bounce that you would not get from a conventional pillow. Choosing a pillow is a personal process, so they allow you to try it out to see if it is the right fit.

Along with having professional athletes like Cole Beasley of the Dallas Cowboys promoting their product, Bear Mattress has partnered with Good Sports, a nonprofit that gives opportunities to kids to participate in sports. With each Bear Product sold, 1% of the proceeds will be donated to Good Sports, allowing children to partake in athletic and fitness opportunities. The donations support schools, community programs, after school programs, and equipment for over 3200 organizations across the country.

Scott Paladini opens up about Bear Mattress.

What keeps you motivated?

I draw motivation from a number of places both personally and professionally, but the biggest overall influence in my life is my family — my wife and my newborn son. Branching out and starting your own business is one of the biggest risks you can take and my wife has been there in support every step of the way. Having a newborn is exhilarating, exhausting and comes with its own set of added pressures, but at the end of the day I want to make this business work for them as much for them as for myself. They help me stay motivated and keep things in perspective.

Why mattresses?

A good mattress is essential to getting a better, healthier sleep. It was while training for a marathon that I noticed the important role that rest played in muscle recovery. I saw a need for an affordable mattress specifically created for athletes, and set out to create a mattress designed to help promote muscle recovery. After over a year of product development and testing, we launched Bear Mattress in September 2015.

Utilizing eco-friendly materials and the latest advancements in sleep technology, Bear Mattress improves muscle recovery, promotes cooling and elevates overall sleep quality. Bear Mattress has quickly become the brand of choice for professional athletes, weekend warriors and casual fitness lovers alike.

That said, Bear is more than just a great mattress. We have grown tremendously over the past year and recently launched a line of sleep accessories that help people get a cooler, healthier and more restorative sleep.  

What makes your customers different from traditional mattress customers?

Our customers are a new generation of mattress customers. They are conscious of their time, money, and understand the value that a great night’s sleep provides. They don’t have the time to go to the mattress store, and they don’t want to pay the middleman.

That said, I don’t think there is such a thing as a ‘traditional’ mattress customer. In fact, we’re actually seeing an influx in Baby Boomers purchasing the mattress online. These customers are looking to increase muscle recovery time (and often times reduce back pain), and are convinced by our nearly 500 genuine 5-star reviews.

What helped you the most when starting Bear Mattress?

I think my experience in the mattress industry, coupled with my interest in health and athletics, has been instrumental to Bear’s success.

What is your team like?

For the first year in business there was no Bear “team”- I ran all operations myself. I was very conscious to grow the business at a manageable and realistic rate. When we surpassed seven figures in revenue I knew to get to the next level we needed more hands on deck, and we began the hiring process.

Today the Bear team is comprised of industry experts who aren’t afraid to think outside the box and roll-up their sleeves to get things done. We have a team mentality in the office, and genuinely enjoy working together. Everyone has a voice and brings different ideas to the table.

Who inspires you?

I’m most inspired each day by the real-life feedback we receive from customers. From the beginning, our goal with Bear has been to help people sleep better, but at the outset I didn’t fully realize just how tangible the positive impact of our product could be. Literally everyday we receive calls and messages from satisfied customers, many of whom have struggled with chronic back pain for years. They tell us all about their story and the different ways in which Bear has helped to improve their quality of life across the board. These are special interactions that make us feel good and inspire us to continually evaluate how our products can be optimized to meet customer needs.

What are some things we can look forward to in 2017 from Bear Mattress?

In 2017 you can expect to see new, innovative products from Bear. We recently launched Bear Pillow, Bear Protect and Bear Foundation, and are looking forward to introducing new products that will improve muscle recovery, promote cooling and elevate overall sleep quality. We’re also eager to expand our customer base into Canada this year.

What is some advice you can give to entrepreneurs?

I guess my advice to other entrepreneurs would be to not rush into things, particularly when it comes to investments from VC’s and others who may take an interest in your business. It’s important to remember that business is more a marathon than a sprint. If you believe in the product then take your time. Don’t jump at every opportunity that presents itself. Work towards creating a company with a solid foundation that’s built to last — not just to be sold.