Goumi Kids is built on a simple, powerful truth: small moments matter. Over time, these moments accumulate into something significant, shaping both families and experiences.
Lili Yeo, co-founder and CEO, and her team don’t just see themselves as product designers; they see themselves as fellow moms. Goumi Kids was born from firsthand experience: as mothers, they recognized how much better baby clothing could be.
We sat down with Lili to discuss her inspiration, the brand’s philosophy, and the lessons learned throughout Goumi’s journey. See how Goumi reduces operational waste and complexity, and provides baby apparel that works, lasts, and is built to be passed down.
What inspired you to start Goumi Kids?
I started Goumi because I couldn’t find newborn products that actually worked: mitts or boots that stayed on or sleepwear built for function at 3 am, not just aesthetics on a store shelf.
But the more honest answer is that what shaped me as a founder wasn’t the start. It was the rebuild.
We hit real distress. I had to rationalize a product line from over 3,300 SKUs down to roughly 150, restructure the team, and rebuild the operating model almost entirely.
That process clarified everything:
- What the brand actually was
- What problem did we uniquely solve
- What discipline looks like when you don’t have the luxury of being wrong
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What gaps did you identify in the market?
There were two gaps: product and operational.
Product Gap: The newborn category was full of items designed for the retail shelf, not for parents using them at 2 am. Function was an afterthought.
Operational Gap: Most baby brands over-SKU (carry too many units) and over-season (create additional ‘seasons’ beyond spring/summer and fall/winter), trying to manufacture reasons to buy.
We were constantly chasing the customer’s attention with newness. It looked like a growth strategy. It was actually a margin-destruction strategy, creating enormous operational waste and complexity that the customer never asked for and doesn’t benefit from.
We went the opposite direction: From 3,300 SKUs updating eight times a year to 150 on a capsule model, which resulted in:
- 85% evergreen
- 2 seasonal refreshes a year that create new combinations within the existing capsule rather than replace it
The result? The customer gets versatility. We get operational sanity and margin integrity.
How does Goumi’s mission reflect your values as a parent?
Do fewer things better. That’s the operating principle at home and in the business. Doing fewer things better isn’t just our product philosophy; it’s our way of life. This stance defines what responsible baby apparel actually looks like.
Early on, Goumi tried to be a full baby-apparel brand. That was the wrong thesis. The business that’s profitable today knows exactly what it is. A tight collection of newborn essentials, each one designed to solve a specific functional need in those first weeks of life.
Reduce waste. There’s a second problem Goumi is solving in baby apparel that doesn’t get talked about enough: waste. The industry’s default is seasonal churn: buy, discard, replace.
Our capsule model is a direct rejection of that. Evergreen pieces that mix with seasonal additions, built to be passed down rather than thrown out.
The most pro-parent thing we can do is not overwhelm families with options. We give them pieces that work, last, and don’t cost the earth to produce or discard.
What role does customer feedback play in product development?
Customer feedback is an input, not a directive. Early on, I made the mistake of being too responsive. Every request got a SKU. That’s how you end up with 3,300 products refreshed 8x/year and an eroding margin.
The discipline now is filtering feedback through a clear product thesis. Feedback tells you what’s broken. It doesn’t tell you what to build.
When customers told us mitts fell off, we fixed the closure system. When they asked for more colorways than our model could support, we held the line.
That distinction between fixing real failures and chasing preference fragmentation is one of the harder operating lessons I’ve learned.
How has Goumi evolved? What milestones are you most proud of?
The visible milestones (Shark Tank, Target, Nordstrom) aren’t the ones that shaped me. The milestone I’m proudest of is one that doesn’t photograph well: returning to profitability after genuine distress, with a model that’s structurally sounder than anything we’d built before.
- Gross margins are healthy
- AI operations are running on a fraction of our previous infrastructure
- A SKU count I can defend
That’s a foundation story—and foundations are what growth gets built on. The model is structurally sound. The discipline is in place. The next chapter is about scaling what works.
What advice do you have for founders?
Find your irreducible problem. This is the specific thing you solve better than anyone. Resist every pressure to expand before you’ve fully owned it. Stay narrow longer than feels comfortable.
Get AI-literate now, not eventually. I run Goumi with a lean team in part because I invested early in understanding how to leverage AI tools across operations, marketing, and strategy. That’s not a future advantage, it’s a current one.
Realize that profitability is not the enemy of your mission. A solvent business serves families far longer than a well-funded one burning toward zero.
