Setting Priorities and Acting on Them with Brian Elliott ‘14 and Andrew Wolgemuth ‘15, Co-Founders of Wove

This episode of On Point features a conversation with Brian Elliott ‘14 and Andrew Wolgemuth ‘15, Co-Founders of Wove, a 21st century jeweler bringing the jewelry designer directly to couples for custom engagement ring creation.

Brian Elliott is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for reinventing outdated consumer experiences. At Wove, he focuses on Digital Product, UX and Marketing. He previously worked in two former venture-backed, consumer startups. Prior to this, Brian served as a Platoon Leader in the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, leading a team of 40 Special Operators in unconventional environments around the world. 

Andrew Wolgemuth grew up in an entrepreneurial environment working at his parents' jewelry company. After attending West Point and serving as a Platoon Leader in the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, he attended Stanford GSB’s Ignite Entrepreneurship Program where the idea for Wove was born.

In this episode of On Point, Brian and Andrew speak about their varying paths to attending West Point, and discuss how years of military experience are applicable to entrepreneurship and help drive their work. They discuss how the tight knit West Point community helped support their vision and afford them their success. They also talk about how they’re disrupting the engagement ring industry by changing the way people buy engagement rings.

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Key Quotes

“I think it is so important for founders to find people that they're compatible with. And I think what really accelerated that for Brian and I is this shared background of West Point, and then even more specifically the range of regiment. I think there's a very specific standard, very specific type of person that usually ends up there. And I think that really allowed us to have kind of instant confidence in who each other were and probably accelerated that dating period quite a bit. I always think about it now, like if I had to go out and find another co-founder, I would be scared to death, because you know, you face a lot together and there's a lot of things you have to overcome, and I think having that sense of shared values is so important.” - Andrew Wolgemuth

“I think there's this question that is, how do I start a company? Right? And I think what I would challenge folks that are with that company is to reframe and say, you know, how do I test an idea? And if you remove the stress and the pressure of starting a company, which comes with all of these legal constraints and structural constraints where you're really focusing on the wrong thing, but instead say like, I have an interesting idea, what's the fastest way I can test this without a technical build. And you go out and test that idea, you remove the constraints, and the barriers, and the how am I gonna fund this, and you just go out and focus on the hypothesis.” - Brian Elliott

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Episode Timestamps

(02:18) Segment: AAR

(04:47) Experiences at West Point

(10:48) Choosing military branches

(16:48) Segment: Sit Rep

(22:52) Starting Wove

(25:23) Where Wove currently stands

(29:30) Most expensive ring sold

(32:29) The process at Wove

(39:44) Segment: SOP

(42:22) Segment: Giving Back

(44:24) What’s next for Wove

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Links

Brian’s LinkedIn

Andrew’s LinkedIn

West Point Association of Graduates

On Point Podcast