Why this former Google and Amazoner decided to ditch big company life to join a mattress startup (GOOG)

Eric Lewis had a long history of working at giant companies.He's an alum of Black & Decker, Amazon, and most recently Google, where he worked on its Express team, overseeing the launch of its same-day delivery service to seven different metropolitan areas.But when the mattress startup Caspercomparatively tiny at 100 employees and $100 million in sales last yearcame knocking, he didn't hesitate."From my first discussion with Philip I knew that I wanted to be a part of[it]," he tells Business Insider, of his talks with Casper founder Philip Krim.New York City-based Casper is known for delivering fluffy mattresses in boxes the size of golf bags, and has raised $70 million in venture capital funding since launching in 2014.Lewis, hired as the VP of global operations, rounds out the company's executive team as it launches in the UK."The opportunity to grow this business across the globe was the 'pillows on the bed,' as they say," Lewis quips.With Lewis' hire, the company also snapped up achief marketing officer (Micheal Behrens) and a new head of retail and business development (Taryn Laeben).Lewis says that three yearsat Google Expresstaught him a lot but that Casper'srapid scaling and"very strong demand" enticed him. At massive organizations like Amazon and Google he got to work on wide-reaching projects, but now he has more control. Plus, his new startup life means moving very quickly and having a direct line to the company'sfounders.Express,run by executive Brian Elliott, is the company's competitor to Amazon, and delivers both groceries and other goods to people in about 10 different areas. It has flown a bit under the radarsince its founder Tom Fallows left for Uber in 2014.SEE ALSO:Google is expanding its tests on the way to blanketing the US in super-fast wireless internetJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: How to become a 'Pokmon GO' gym master
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