# The Essential

> The Essential is a San Francisco online retailer that sells furniture and home goods made to order and shipped from factories, with an optional membership offering discounts and reserved products. It began as a grocery venture called Move and kept its core idea: remove retail layers and show buyers more of the supply chain.

- **Founded:** 2017
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Founders:** Chai Mishra (Founder and CEO)
- **Products:** Factory-direct furniture, Home goods and lifestyle products, Essential membership
- **Notable:** Selected for Y Combinator Winter 2017 batch., Earlier Move venture raised $1,182,697 from 1,246 Wefunder investors, according to its campaign page., The Haiku Stool product page claims more than 100,000 orders shipped; this is a company claim, not an independently verified metric.

## Products & services

- **Factory-direct furniture** — Made-to-order beds, seating, tables, storage and other furniture sold online with published production and transit windows.
- **Home goods and lifestyle products** — Lighting, rugs, decor, cookware, dinnerware and other household products.
- **Essential membership** — Optional annual membership with a 15% discount, reserved products, early access and shipping benefits; current annual fee was not independently established.

## Achievements

- Selected for Y Combinator Winter 2017 batch.
- Earlier Move venture raised $1,182,697 from 1,246 Wefunder investors, according to its campaign page.
- The Haiku Stool product page claims more than 100,000 orders shipped; this is a company claim, not an independently verified metric.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Published updated shipping and refund policies detailing United States and Canada delivery, made-to-order furniture and return terms.
- **2026-03** — Published annual membership cancellation terms.

## Links

- Website: https://theessential.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/move-co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_essential_store/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theessential.com

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/the-essential
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-30