Shaan Sethi
Age 0 · El Segundo, California, United States · founder & CEO of Jaanuu
$15 million of growth equity and multiple $500,000 revenue days, built off 5,000 front line clinicians telling Jaanuu exactly what to make next.
№ 098Exhibit AThe Setup
Shaan Sethi did not start as a fashion or healthcare insider. He came out of private equity, where he focused on scaling multi billion dollar consumer brands, so he was trained to look for under exploited niches with big repeat purchase behavior. His sister, pediatrician Dr. Neela Sethi Young, saw first hand that residents and nurses hated their boxy scrubs and wanted something that felt like real apparel.
In 2013 they teamed up and launched Jaanuu as a direct to consumer medical apparel brand aimed at healthcare professionals who cared about style as much as function. Shaan brought the capital discipline, merchandising instincts and growth playbook from private equity, while Neela brought clinical credibility and a pipeline of early adopters from her hospital network. That pairing let them move faster than legacy uniform suppliers and speak to clinicians in a way traditional retailers could not match.
The Evidence
Instead of guessing at designs, Jaanuu embedded consumer research into its core. The company ran surveys and focus groups with over 5,000 participants, many of them practicing clinicians, to shape style, fabric and fit decisions for each new collection. That constant loop of feedback into product gave them a roadmap that was hard for slower competitors to copy and built loyalty among customers who felt heard.
By 2018 those loops translated into serious numbers. Jaanuu reported exponential growth, multiple $500,000 revenue days and a trajectory that had the team projecting more than double year over year sales in 2019. On the back of that momentum the company closed a $15 million growth equity round that Shaan framed as fuel for three things: faster product and fabric development, an omnichannel expansion that treated Jaanuu as a lifestyle brand, and heavy investment in predictive analytics and real time programmatic media buying to keep customer acquisition efficient at scale.
The Mechanism
1. Precision targeting of an overlooked professional niche. Shaan and Neela took a generic category, medical scrubs, and repositioned it as fashion forward technical apparel for nurses and doctors, then concentrated their early efforts on the digital channels and hospital networks where those professionals already spent time.
2. Data as the product steering wheel. The team did not treat surveys and focus groups as a one time launch exercise, they institutionalized ongoing consumer research with thousands of participants and fed those signals directly into design, inventory bets and marketing creative so each drop felt tailored to frontline clinicians.
3. Instrumented growth and capital timing. They built an engine around direct to consumer e commerce, layered in predictive analytics and real time programmatic media buying once they had product market fit, and only then raised a sizable $15 million round to pour into proven channels and omnichannel expansion rather than using capital to search for a model.
The Steal
- Start with a narrowly defined professional user who buys often, then design branding, fit and channel strategy around that one archetype instead of a generic consumer.
- Turn customer research into a standing operating system, with structured surveys, focus groups and data capture that continuously update your product and marketing roadmap.
- Do the hard work to validate unit economics before raising a large round, so new capital can be aimed at proven acquisition channels and repeatable merchandising bets instead of experiments.
Case Questions
- How did Shaan Sethi grow Jaanuu?
- Shaan Sethi grew Jaanuu by combining his private equity experience in scaling consumer brands with disciplined consumer research and direct to consumer execution. He and his team engaged more than 5,000 clinicians through surveys and focus groups, used that data to guide product development and merchandising, then amplified what worked with predictive analytics and programmatic media buying once they had a clear signal of demand.
- What does Jaanuu do?
- Jaanuu is a contemporary medical apparel company that sells fashion forward scrubs and related garments to healthcare professionals. Co founded by Shaan Sethi and his sister Dr. Neela Sethi Young, the brand focuses on stylish designs, performance fabrics and fits informed by extensive feedback from nurses, doctors and other clinicians.
- How much funding has Jaanuu raised?
- In November 2018 Jaanuu announced a $15 million growth equity financing round from institutional investors. The company positioned this capital as fuel for accelerated product and fabric innovation, omnichannel expansion and heavier investment in data driven marketing and predictive analytics.
- Where is Shaan Sethi based?
- According to his professional profiles, Shaan Sethi is based in El Segundo, California. From there he leads Jaanuu as founder and CEO and continues to work on scaling the brand's presence in the broader medical apparel market.