“I sit here with probably the most talented team in the mattress space.” Saatva CEO Ron Rudzin on the unstoppable rise of America's most admired luxury sleep brand

Saatva President & CEO Ron Rudzin isn’t one to brag. “My father taught me never to boast,” he confesses. But Rudzin has a lot to be proud of.

For the last 15 years, he’s grown his online luxury mattress brand into an omnichannel business with physical stores across the US.

Saatva has also become a one-stop shop for other bedroom essentials, including bedding, furniture and decor.

Even though Rudzin is busy with new product launches (including a series of lamps and nightstands) and the grand openings of Saatva Viewing Rooms in Arizona and Texas, he made time to speak to Tom’s Guide about the birth and evolution of Saatva, a company renowned for making some of the very best mattresses in the world.

The birth of Saatva

Rudzin started his career in home furnishings, spending nearly three decades with a major East Coast furniture brand and helping it expand by opening 219 storefronts nationwide.

A self-described “serial entrepreneur,” Rudzin came up with the idea to sell luxury mattresses online, direct to consumers, in 2007 after discovering he could manufacture the same product for a fraction of the cost of legacy brands such as Sealy, Simmons, and Serta.

Saatva officially launched in 2010 as the first company to sell luxury mattresses online at scale. To earn the trust of consumers who were hesitant to buy a mattress without being able to see it at a store first, Rudzin emphasized the quality of his product.

“Most people, when they go to a luxury hotel, generally walk out happy and feel that they had a good night's sleep. I knew that if I built a bed that had all of the features of a luxury hotel bed [such as individually wrapped coils and a pillow top] I could tell everyone…go to a luxury hotel, this is the type of bed I'm building,” says Rudzin.

“I was also able to make it more eco-friendly by using bio-based foams, natural thistle for the flame-retardant layers rather than fiberglass or other harmful chemicals, and organic cotton in the mattress cover,” he adds.

“Except you were going to wind up saving $1,200 [compared to buying an in-store mattress].”

Customer service was another pillar of Saatva’s early success, with Rudzin applying some of the "old-school" principles he learned while overseeing 219 brick-and-mortar furniture stores.

Saatva mattresses were (and still are) delivered flat via white glove delivery, just like a mattress purchased from a store. (Rudzin’s expertise is logistics and nationwide furniture delivery.)

Rudzin was also eager to “do things that were previously unheard of" in the mattress industry. “If you had an issue, I wasn't going to send a technician to question you; I was going to believe my customers," he says.

"When they called or were on our website, we were going to give them the best warranty and the best home trial, which nobody ever did with a luxury mattress before at the time. I did all of these things to provide incredible, impeccable customer service.”

• Read more: What is Saatva's free white glove delivery service?

Bringing Saatva offline with Viewing Rooms

As the online mattress industry began to boom in the 2010s, Rudzin’s focus on delivering quality products and customer satisfaction helped Saatva develop a large and loyal following.

By 2019, roughly 17% of consumers were buying mattresses online. At that point, Rudzin was ready to bring Saatva offline to capture the attention of the majority who still preferred to buy from a physical store.

The first Saatva Viewing Room opened in December 2019, a 3,300 sq. ft. property on Third Ave. in Midtown Manhattan. Much like his approach to Saatva’s online storefront, Rudzin wanted Saatva Viewing Rooms to be anything but ordinary.

“We worked with interior designer Vicente Wolf to make the Saatva Viewing Room beautiful and warm, as if Restoration Hardware was opening up a mattress store,” Rudzin says.

Customers are greeted by a sweet aroma, relaxing music, and an open layout that showcases Saatva’s product lineup. The experience is largely self-guided, as shoppers can learn more about products through kiosks that house a Samsung tablet.

Saatva Sleep Guides are on hand to answer questions, but they don’t work on individual commission so there’s no pressure to sell — or for customers to buy.

“The last thing I want to do is rush you,” Rudzin says. “I want you to take your time…walk over to one of the Samsung displays that are next to our beds, go through all the information, have you lay down on the beds, learn, research, and then make your purchase with us.”

This pressure-free approach to mattress shopping has been well-received by customers, and nearly five years after the debut of its flagship location in New York City, Saatva now has over 20 Viewing Rooms across the country, with several more to follow later this year.

At the time of our interview, Rudzin had just returned from the grand opening of the Scottsdale, AZ Viewing Room on Valentine’s Day and was preparing to open Saatva’s 22nd location in Austin, TX on March 14 (World Sleep Day).

• Read more: I visited a Saatva Viewing Room to find my dream mattress

From mattress store to home furnishings destination

The Saatva Classic, the brand’s very first mattress, remains its flagship model and Rudzin’s personal favorite.

A major selling point of the Saatva Classic is its customization. It comes in three firmness levels and two height options (11.5” or 14.5”), allowing shoppers to find a bed that suits their comfort preferences and the aesthetic of their space.

There’s also the Lumbar Zone at the center of the mattress to boost lower back support and help alleviate tension.

To meet growing demand for memory foam mattresses, which were becoming popular with the rise of online bed-in-a-box brands, Saatva released the Loom & Leaf mattress in 2015.

The Loom & Leaf borrowed several design cues from the Saatva Classic such as multiple firmness levels and a dedicated Lumbar Zone, and had a 5lb. body-hugging memory foam core. (The Loom & Leaf has since been retired following the launch of the Saatva Contour5 Memory Foam Mattress last year.)

Saatva’s main lineup currently has nine mattresses. Among them are the Saatva RX, a luxury innerspring hybrid for sleepers with chronic back and joint conditions; the Solaire, an adjustable precision-air mattress designed for couples with different comfort needs; and the Zenhaven, a dual-sided organic mattress made with natural latex.

To accommodate the whole family, Saatva also offers a crib mattress, a bunk & trundle mattress, and a flippable youth mattress. There’s even a Saatva pet bed designed for dogs, cats, and other furry friends that weigh up to 120lbs.

The latest addition to the Saatva lineup is a luxury Murphy Bed mattress, which was released in March.

Beyond its mattress offerings, Saatva now sells bed toppers, sheets, pillows, and a range of furniture and decor including bed frames, headboards, adjustable bases, and bedroom chairs. The brand recently released a line of nightstands and bedside lamps.

Given Rudzin’s background, it’s natural to wonder if the plan was for Saatva to evolve beyond mattresses all along. “I'm a veteran of the home furnishings category. I grew up working in a furniture store,” Rudzin says.

“For me, building out the mattress lineup was always priority number one [but] I wanted to build a home furnishings destination centered around the bedroom — a brand that both elevated and simplified the mattress-buying experience.”

• Read more: Which is the best Saatva mattress in 2025?

Saatva's keys to success

When it comes to crediting Saatva’s success upon entering its fifteenth year in business, Rudzin is quick to praise the team around him.

“I sit here with probably the most talented team in the mattress space,” he says. “I have great people around me, which allows me to go back to the beginning [my roots in home furnishings] and see how I can be innovative and creative for this business, because that’s what I love to do most.”

Another key to Saatva’s success has been a fearless approach toward creating great things. “I always tell the young folks in my life you got to do the hard stuff in life. I was never afraid to take that big step. I was willing to put in that hard work,” says Rudzin.

“[With Saatva], my partners and I worked so hard. We studied [e-commerce], performance marketing…we lost sleep at night because of the risk we were taking but we learned how to market and create great products.”

That effort paid off because the success of Saatva also lies in the products themselves, beginning with the Saatva Classic mattress. “It was successful from the day I started selling it. I built a great product,” Rudzin says with pride.

Of course, it’s not enough to have a great product. Customer service has been a priority for Rudzin from day one. The brand offers a one-year sleep trial, a lifetime warranty, free white glove delivery, and 24/7 access to customer care.

Rudzin’s not beyond taking matters into his own hands to ensure Saatva customers are taken care of, either.

“I email my customer base on a regular basis. I’m constantly in contact with them — and if they have an issue, they can email me right back and we’ll take care of it,” says Rudzin.

Educating customers on “Smarter Luxury Sleep”

Saatva started with a single product. Now it’s the leading destination for luxury mattresses and bedroom essentials online. The company operates 19 factories across the US, 150 delivery hubs nationwide, and over 20 Viewing Room locations in major metro areas, with eight additional sites scheduled to open in 2025.

For Rudzin, the company’s mission now is to “inspire the world to prioritize sleep.” Since founding Saatva, Rudzin has benefitted from treating sleep as essential to his success, not an impediment.

Now he wants to help others learn how to “unlock their superpower” with a good night’s rest.

“Most people are average, and the only thing that makes you above average on any given day is when you wake up after an incredible night of sleep — hence our tagline ‘Smarter Luxury Sleep,’” says Rudzin.

Today, Saatva has a blog dedicated to sleep and wellness. In 2023, it co-hosted an event with the American Heart Association at the Saatva Chicago Viewing Room to explore the link between sleep and heart health.

“You don't have to buy from us, but we hope to enrich your understanding of what contributes to a better night’s sleep,” Rudzin says.

“We're proud of our innovative sleep products, customer service, and our commitment to helping our customers experience the luxury of well-rested living.”