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

Eric Lewis

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 Casper — comparatively tiny at 100 employees and $100 million in sales last year — came 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 a chief marketing officer (Micheal Behrens) and a new head of retail and business development (Taryn Laeben).

Lewis says that three years at Google Express taught him a lot but that Casper's rapid 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's founders.

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 radar since its founder Tom Fallows left for Uber in 2014.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to become a 'Pokémon GO' gym master