Olivia Hartman never planned to run a fast-growing company. Seven years ago, the trained industrial designer simply wanted to make good-looking, affordable desks for the small creative agencies she freelanced for. Her side project became Fernline, a Denver startup now valued at about $60 million after its latest funding round.

Fernline designs modular office furniture that ships flat, assembles without tools and can be reconfigured as a company grows. Its customers include architecture firms, startups and a growing number of remote workers who want stylish home offices.

Growing Without Losing Focus

Hartman credits the company’s success to listening carefully. “Our first customers were tiny teams with tiny budgets,” she says, standing in Fernline’s sunlit showroom. “They told us exactly what frustrated them about office furniture: it was expensive, ugly and impossible to move. Every product we make starts with a customer problem.”

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The company now employs 85 people and runs a factory in Colorado that uses sustainably sourced wood and recycled aluminum. Revenue has grown more than 70 percent per year for three years, and Fernline turned profitable last year.

Lessons For Founders

Hartman resisted outside investment for years, growing slowly with revenue instead. When she did raise money, she chose investors who understood manufacturing. “Money is the easy part,” she says. “The hard part is finding partners who share your patience.”

“Olivia is a rare founder who combines design taste with operational discipline,” says Meredith Lyons, a partner at Summit Ridge Ventures, which led the latest round. “She knows her costs down to the screw, and she still obsesses over how a drawer feels when it closes.”

Hartman also built a strong culture inside the company. Fernline offers paid parental leave, profit sharing for factory workers and a design apprenticeship program for local high school graduates. Employees describe a workplace where ideas are welcome from anyone. Several popular products, including a foldable standing desk, started as suggestions from workers on the factory floor during monthly brainstorming lunches.

The new funding will support a second factory and expansion into furniture for schools and libraries. For aspiring entrepreneurs, Hartman offers one lesson above all. “Do not wait until you feel ready,” she says. “Start small, solve one real problem and let your customers show you the way forward.”

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