Latest / Skin Anarchy / Dew App Interview

Transcript

Dew App Interview · Skin Anarchy

• 0:05
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• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: She is an amazing lawyer.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: She has a law background and she's um building something really new and exciting for the skincare space.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Without further further ado, Mega, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and tell us tell us about the Do app, um, what it is and what your goals are.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, thanks for having me, guys.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so like you said, my name is Mega.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an attorney.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a mom.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: I live in Southern California with my husband and my son, and I am the founder and CEO of Do, um, which is an AI platform app that um analyzes a user's beauty products and ultimately gives them recommendations and insights on the products that they've purchased before in order to help them predict the compatibility of future purchases that they make.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: I really I've checked out your um website and I really, really love the layout of the app.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's just it's so nice, it's so clean, and I feel like you're really like providing something that's like can be linked up with other things.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's not just like a one thing app.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so can you tell me a little bit about what went into the algorithm and all the coding and stuff?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like what are the behind-the-scenes things about that, your process?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the things that's unique about do is how we gather your information.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So um we originally um we link with your email, and what that does is gives us access to all your purchase receipts, which we can extract purchase information from.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, right when you log in, we immediately grab every product that you've purchased in the last two years and every that you'll purchase going forward.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: We gather that information, like the brand, um, an image of the purchase, uh, what you paid for it, where you purchased it from, um, and the ingredients, and ultimately we compile this list of all the products that you've ever bought.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And as you go through the app and use them and um, you know, buy new products and repurchase things, we can slowly learn from your shopping habits and ultimately create a profile of the type of things that work best for that user.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe that user had certain chemicals that didn't work with their skin or certain products in their morning routine that didn't work with their eating routine.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: We use all that information to create this perfect group of products that you can, you know, purchase and use and try and hopefully you do better with.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's you know where the algorithm grew out of.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're basically looking at every single retailer and processing their information in a unique way to bring it over into the app to allow for the user to gain as many insights into their own shopping habits as possible.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really, really, I mean, that's very innovative.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: The fact that you guys are using actual data and utilizing it in a way that's very systematic.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's very, very, I want to say research-based, you know what I mean?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: Because I uh app, you know, development and anything in IT, I don't consider them to be separate from, you know, something like a scientific approach to something in a laboratory, you know what I mean?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like it's a lot of really good research.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: So wow, that's very, very cool.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: So um, what did you do in terms of when you were collecting your data and you really wanted to um make sure you were hitting the right target audience?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: What kind of research went behind this on your end um before you even went to the developers?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you know, a lot of it was trying to figure out first what um what users want.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, as I'm a typical beauty consumer, I'm not someone who's in the industry or a makeup professional.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a regular person who's going out and trying to find the best products for me.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And the what I wanted was a place where I could catalog what I was buying, see how often I'm buying it, and you know, ultimately try to find the best products for me without wasting as much money as I was.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so a lot of the initial research was just finding out where people are shopping, how much of their shopping is happening online versus in store, and you know, what users want to gain from an app like this.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, there's a lot of there are other platforms that use AI for fashion and beauty, um, but something unique about us was um, which I do think is kind of, you know, has a scientific foundation because we are trying to get that organic data straight from your email, um, straight from the purchases that you've made.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and ultimately that's what um, you know, is the foundation for the algorithm, and that's where we're getting our insights from.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so um it was just a lot of learning, you know, what what retailers are out there, what people are buying already, and how can we bring that information into the I love that this is such a consumer-based research model.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I really, really love that because I think that is really one of the big white spaces in beauty and this industry right now.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because, you know, you have these professionals, you have doctors, and you have all these individuals trying to bring light to you know, what is going to work from a dermatological standpoint versus just consumer habits, right?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like I love that you're focusing on consumer habits because we can focus on the science all day, but the real data isn't how people are thinking, you know what I mean?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's about what they think about, what they buy.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I have I can tell you I don't know countless products in my closet, you know, and I I can guarantee I've used, you know, maybe a handful that are really regular things that I use.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I, you know, I love that you're doing this where we can really kind of track our habits in another way, you know, our spending habits.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and yeah, and I don't think customers are um, you know, thinking about it in that, you know, as in what what product would a dermatologist recommend or a skin professional?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: We're getting all of our recommendations from, or most of us are, from Instagram and TikTok and other social media platforms, which aren't necessarily tailored to our skin and the specific needs that we have.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm South Asian and a lot of the women who I follow on Instagram are not, don't have comparable skin to me, but often I use their recommendations to find my next purchase.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um sometimes they work, but sometimes they don't.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just because we're all different and we all have different skin.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and certain, you know, sometimes darker skin has different needs than other skin.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's different variations.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's not a one-size fit all for skincare at all.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I exactly.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I so I think that um, you know, if you have this objective source that's telling you, you know, based on your specific credentials what works best for you, that's the most, that's the most valid that, you know, we can make this process.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: Now, Mega, one thing I find to be so so interesting about this um product is that you're really taking this in a way, an innovative step forward where we're not focusing the conversation anymore on, well, you know, why aren't you representing my skin color anymore?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: Why aren't you doing we're taking that, I feel like, to the next level with this because now you have a source with your app of women that men all over the world that can use this.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: And regardless of, you know what I mean, like your your skin shade or anything, we don't have to sit there, I think in my opinion, and rally behind only this skin color, only this, you know what I mean?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's the inclusivity aspect is truly, truly apparent in your app because it's everybody, you know, anyone can sign up for this and and yeah, like match yourself with who you can relate to.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't have that, you know, growing up.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think ultimately that's the next step um in this conversation because there, there, you know, the beauty industry is slowly moving towards more inclusivity and diversity, and there's now products for every gender and skin tone and type of skin condition.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think that the way that we're purchasing those products needs to change.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: It needs to become more inclusive because the way that we're um, you know, the way marketing works, the way products are um created and then um shown to the world to be consumed isn't always done in an inclusive way.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's hard for people, you know, certain people to find the right products for them.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this is just the next step of that process of the entire industry shifting towards that more diverse uh version of itself.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I completely agree.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I also think the marketing component is so interesting, right?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because you brought up because marketing, you know, when I was uh doing my MB classes, marketing for me was one of the most interesting disciplines, you know, like because it was like how do you really know what's marketable?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, if you keep on marketing things and putting them in bubbles, we're never really going to be able to intermingle.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I think your app is something that's really taking away that um, you know, like inbuilt like bias that occurs when you are looking on social media or you're looking towards somebody or a group of people for some influence and some inspiration, you know, for your own skin health.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: I think that it's really opening up those doors and it's even in a way providing a brand new marketing strategy, in my opinion.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um Yeah, I agree.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're craving the most personalized experience that we can because that's what we're used to now with technology.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so as a as a consumer, you're going out there and you want to know, you're researching it on your own.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: You want to know that you're getting something that's specific to you.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that's hard to do from a marketing standpoint without these technologies.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that that's what Do is able to do is show you um products that are personalized specifically to make that um that searching and research and marketing period shorter.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think you know, it's fascinating.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't want to keep harping on the area of marketing, but you know, one thing, one question I have is that, you know, I think these things are not taught, you know, how to build something that you can market in your own way.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: So what I mean, with your background, did you feel like you had any um, you know, training in your, you know, your professional track for this, or did you kind of have to learn it um on your own and do the research and kind of go with a vision?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, I mean, I think just as a regular consumer, I've seen the you know how marketing has changed from when I was purchasing makeup and skincare by looking through magazines.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, ultimately where we're getting to this stage now where I'm influenced by social media or I'm using these AI, AR um capabilities on websites um like Sephora and um Ulta to help find the best products for me.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that's what made me see just as a typical consumer that there's there's a gap in the industry right now for consumers that are looking for the best products.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't think that um necessarily, you know, having you know any marketing help helped me because right now to me, it just seems the best way to um to find the right things isn't to use marketing, is to use your own data and to be able to solve it, you know, by yourself, unfortunately.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And and I had been tracking my own, the own, my own products that I'd purchased on my phone.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: I was using um, you know, just putting them all in my notes and um trying to figure out how often I was buying things and what I was buying because um I wanted to perfect my skincare routine and I wanted to make sure I was getting the right things.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately I realized that over social media, over any other resource, you know, just knowing and being aware of what I was purchasing was the best that you know helped me make the best decisions.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's like you're your best um uh muse, right?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like you have to go off of, you know, what your trial and errors.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that that's what really for me is so attractive about the influencer community in terms of skincare and beauty, because you're truly, you know, you have a group of people who really are in a way data gatherers, they're researchers in their own right, and they're collecting all this information and all this feedback from their followers and recommending based on that.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that this is such a multi-layered um, you know, concept in marketing for skincare.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: And to have this new approach, I think, you know, for companies like you know, big companies like makeup companies, like I always like to consider their side of it, right?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's like we love talking about consumer standpoint, but from also from the uh brand standpoint, I think it helps them a lot.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think they're craving, I mean, I want to believe this, but I think they might be craving some of this data, you know, they want to know uh what do their consumers want.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: No brand doesn't, you know what I mean?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well a brand doesn't want to be blindsided about and like for example, I think we've talked about this, but like subscription boxes, you know, if uh if a company um that was a subscription box had the information of what else is in your beauty drawer at that moment, they could give you such a better box that you'll actually use because I've tried beauty boxes and it's it's been hard for me to actually find things I love.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: There's no way to, you know, especially when we go back to the the conversation on skin tone and being able to kind of appeal to the entire audience that you have in mind as if you're a beauty box uh CEO, you know, like it's you want to be like one of the biggest complaints in this influencer community is what you just said.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's that you know, I'm saying why am I getting my two out of five products that are not even usable for me?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: That that argument.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: So but the the thing that I find to be very intriguing is we always hear the influencer and the the consumer side of it.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I feel like your app is truly become it's like a liaison almost, right?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's you know, you're connecting the brands with the consumers and you're providing data.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: Have you thought about this um going forward in terms of working with brands to um I don't know, I guess provide more information?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, ultimately I don't want to I want to protect the data and the users that I have.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: I want to make sure that that information is protected.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I I need to figure out a balance of you know being able to share that information in a way that's effective, but also um, you know, is secure and keeps the user's data protected.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I think this is all really valuable information.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you learn so much about a consumer by everything they own.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: And these brands don't have that information.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Their journey with the consumer ends, you know, at the checkout counter and know anything else about them.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: So this should help you um, you know, just ultimately create, you know, better products and happier consumers.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that that should in turn help brands.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I'm not trying to suggest that beauty consumers should consume less makeup.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: I just think you need or skincare, I think you just need to choose the right skincare and makeup for you and buy and use just as much as you want to and need to, but that that you're using the right things.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I came across a stat that 87% of purchase makeup isn't used.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um and yeah, and that's just crazy.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: But when I look at my own makeup and skincare usage, that's I think that that's true because I don't use a lot of what I buy.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, even though I I've researched the product, I think I'm gonna use it, I just don't end up using it before it expires.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: And just putting this data out there and making the user aware of it is the most important thing.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, you know, the entire beauty ecosystem should be shifted by it because it's valuable data for everyone.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: No, I could not agree more.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, honestly, one of the biggest questions that pops to my mind um is what is your goal with the data that you are actually going to be now collecting via your app?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, do you want to eventually um you know have a discussion that starts with your, you know, on your app or maybe, you know, through your app in some way?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: Have you thought about that in the in the long run?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like yeah, ultimately I would love to be an e-commerce platform where you're purchasing makeup right and skincare right in the app that you're recommended or that you like.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that, you know, your whole shopping journey can happen right on the app, that you're getting the um recommendations that you need, you're getting the data that you need, you're, you know, have this community of users who um either look like you or have skin like you or um have similar products to you.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately you're able to shop and um, you know, find the things you need in one resource and just take out those extra steps of going from platform to platform.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I love that.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a, you know, we were coming into this reality of a multi-u-step approach to or a multi-faceted approach, I should say, to everything.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I think skincare is uh no exception to that rule because right now, you know, all over Instagram, what I'm seeing from a consumer standpoint is that people are buying more into the minimal skin skincare approach.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: They they want those three products that they can really depend on.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I know in our last episode, when we spoke to Jackson Lane, um, you know, Alex brought up a great point that when you're going to the airport and you want to bring your favorite cleanser, it's very, very hard to do that.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: So when you have basically when you have this limitation of you know what you can do with like 50 products, right?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's you can't carry 50 products with you to your conference next week or you're you have to know exactly what you want.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I think this is really, really helpful for people who are busy and professionals because you know it it's just organization, it's another form of organization.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and there's there's those inherent limitations, and there's also new ones with COVID and um with more brands you know going straight direct to consumer and e-commerce being more of a platform where people are buying their makeup and skincare.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: There's all these limitations uh for trying products and finding products and finding what's best for you.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: So absolutely, I think when you have those limitations, you are um you need a better way to be able to figure them out.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, yeah.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, so I want you to walk me through the process of um how you reached out to the people you wanted to build your app.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what resources did you use?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: Was there anything on social media that helped you, any, you know, any person you reached out to?
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I um I started by just doing research on my own.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was still working full-time.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: I knew I wanted to create um, you know, this product or something that would solve this problem.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so a lot of it was just at first, you know, going through Reddit boards and on Instagram and trying to find out what people wanted and and what the real problems were.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: And from there, you know, um, I, as I mentioned before, I'm not, you know, I'm not technical, I don't have an engineering background.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so I actually was able to use context that my husband, who's um in fintech, was able to help me find engineers and kind of start working with them, figure out what I needed to do.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: And everything just happened really quickly from there.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, initially it was just gonna be something that I was working on and trying to flush out and see if it was possible.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: And um, as soon as we started figuring this algorithm out, I, you know, I applied for a patent and I started, you know, talking to the engineers to see how we could build this.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I've been really lucky to find really great people to work with.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and these engineers helped me create it from day one, um, sitting down and looking at my designs and trying to find the best way to convey that.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I've spent, you know, a lot of time on Instagram just reaching out to people um in um, you know, skin and beauty influencers and other founders, um, and trying to learn and gain as much insights as I can, you know, as I start this process.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it's, you know, I've been working on it for a few years now, and we're at the point now where I'm launching.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I have a whole new set of things I need to learn.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: But um, that has been really helpful for me is going um on Instagram and Twitter and just reaching out to people and trying to get their opinions and insights on what I'm building.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like go straight to the source.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: I I you know I commend you for going that route because I think many people often rely on, you know, hearsay or you know, and uh just you have to go to the source, you know, and it's like something like you know, medicine and science, we learned that immediately.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: But I think in all industries, it's very, very important for people to understand that if you need a network, if you need this or if you need something, you got to go to the experts and um for you to reach out directly.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: So were was were people very um open to giving you, you know, some feedback or help or whatever it was that you were uh inquiring about.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you know, I I've attended a lot of panel, and that's you know, one one piece of advice I can give is just try.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much free information out there, um, and just try to access that and absorb as much of that as you can.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I attended a lot of seminars.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: webinars on not only entrepreneurship, but on the beauty industry and on where it was moving and where it was going.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I would reach out to speakers on different panels and try to meet with them and, you know, just send my deck over and see what they think.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: And people were receptive, you know, people, people see a problem and they're trying to, you know, they want to be a part of the solution or they want to, you know, know what the solution is or how it's going.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think I've I've been lucky in meeting people and finding people who are really receptive and helpful and helping me figure out the path that I should go forward on.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I love hearing that because you know my goal here at Skincare Anarchy, the real fundamental of it is to connect individuals and entrepreneurs like yourself with people who are in this professional industry and they are, you know, they're very open people.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: They're very, very, you know, welcoming and they love to have a good conversation.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like, you know, all of us connecting is I think something that's very important because, you know, we all have a great idea at some point in my life.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: I want I want to really believe that.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I think when you have the resources readily available to you, you're more likely to act on that and you're more likely to you know put that first step forward and be like, you know what, I I think I can do this.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I, you know, so that network um aspect of it for me is extremely important.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why I ask you that because I, you know, being an influencer on Instagram before I even started this podcast, um I found that a lot of times when I would reach out to people I would it was very very difficult.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know so now that yeah you know you're on Instagram for a while and then you know on social media for a while, yeah, you make connections.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: But to have something readily relatively available for people and then just say hey go to the source.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: That's so important.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I think like your app, that's what really for me when I found you it intrigued me because it was another way another way of networking.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know networking and finding um people who are authentic because you know we're aggregating this data from their email and and it's authenticated, it's real and you can find people who you know are are similar to you are similar skin tone complexion or have similar environmental factors that affect them or medical conditions or or however much you want to disclose um but ultimately you're able to connect with them in a different way and it's completely focused on beauty.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that's what you know makes it homed in on something makes it so specific it can make it more accurate.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and you know one thing I I I want to emphasize is that that you know the stats that you find on Sephora under a product description about 90% tested this and loved it I would love to see that replaced with 93% of the people that bought it retained this product.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: So it's you know what I mean I think that data and that variable of retention is extremely important um in terms of figuring out what consumers want.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: I mean you can't we we know we can't just bombard we have to be very systematic right as it's like and I think giving somebody or a brand or anyone the information that this is what people really like is genuinely a step forward in formulating amazing products.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean just like different strategies like to really include everybody.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that commends you on the and that stat that's on you know so under Sephora products Sephora and Ulta have done you know a great job of you know using technology on their websites to try and reach more users but both Sephora and Ulta have these skincare uh quizzes where you enter your information to find the best skincare routine for you and neither one of them takes into account your skin tone or complexion at all.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah and that's astonishing to me.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: So um the fact that that doesn't exist and the fact that there is a disparity between um what people's skin tone is and how products uh will work for them is a huge hole in the industry.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: So absolutely or you know even though they're collecting the data it's almost as if I can go on sometimes I've gone on to like for example Sephora and I've put in like my foundation shade say I'm you know in Pat McGrath I'm wearing this shade put it in.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know how they ask me for foundation uh match or whatever and so I'll put it in and there oh my gosh it just does not work for me.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean you know to match those color those shades across brands is an extremely difficult thing to do.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that Sephora was actually very innovative by you know wanting to have this happen but I just don't think the adequate data is there enough for the algorithm to really work for their exactly so so I see an app like yours and I'm like this integrating this into whatever Sephora's already got you know on the back end that is going to be so so so helpful I think for them as well yeah I hope so I mean if that you know everyone is accessing your data except for you.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: All of this data is out there and um we're just not interpreting it and using it.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think this is just one more problem that can be solved.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so why not solve it?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know for me it was beauty is the thing that I was the most on and it used to be close and and it that's shifted in the last five years for me personally.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so as I'm spending more on beauty and and like you said I I want to have a minimal beauty routine.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I I don't mind spending more but I want to make sure the products are right for me and they're good quality and you know they're consistent with my values types of brands I want to support.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: And with that all included I I think that this is a much better resource for that.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah I agree with you and so I want to focus a little bit of attention on your Instagram feed because I really really love what you're doing with it where you're doing the top five picks of you know certain um CEOs of companies or you know just you're asked asking people um about what they recently bought and I really love that because you're collecting real consumer data on that level as well through your Instagram.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: So when I I want to ask you that question because you're asking everybody that question right so what are your uh top five products or your the most recent purchases um so yeah that's I that's a really good question and I really should have thought about this before because I'm not sure but um yeah so um okay so I just recently bought I use this bare minerals loose powder um their foundation powder this is that stuff is so yeah and that this is one of the products again that I learned from tracking my habits I know that I'm gonna use um you know one um one bottle of it every six months and I've been tracking it so I know like clockwork when I'm uh using it um so yeah I just purchased that I just um bought some super goop um sunscreen I love their yeah this is the first time I'm trying that then I just bought um oh um so quarantine has like done a number on my eyebrows so I just bought uh the benefit tint and um brow tint and brow pencil and comb.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah yeah that was so good that yeah so this is all you know new stuff because as I've been in this quarantine period where I'm not going into work every day but I do have meetings and I do need to get ready and I do want to put on makeup it's changed the types of products that I've um uh purchased so I also just purchased the skin suiticals face wash oh yeah um yeah and then you know I I'm not sure what my fit and see this is a perfect example of you should be because it's like yeah no this is this is so true this is and and I've had other people say this to me is that you you really don't know what you buy and this is something you should be aware of um because you're spending probably hundreds of dollars every month on beauty products and you're and you're consuming these things regularly on your face on your body you should know what they are um so this was just a perfect commercial for that I mean I know that this is you know obvious but when you know when I'm talking when I was talking to you um initially and I was um asking you about your you know just the the journey you had with everything I know you had um mentioned something about a startup um like there are there are places that help people who want to start a skincare line and um are are they incubators like what are those yeah not not specifically a skincare loan but yeah there's um incubators that are um you know um investment groups that are out there that are helping you know first time founders or even not first time founders you know they take um you know they give you an investment for a certain amount of equity and then they give you this community of people and a place to work and help finding mentors and advisors and you know help building your team and ultimately helping you for you know these the programs are for different variations of time but you know uh from a couple weeks to six months of helping you create the business and start working and hopefully take you to the path of being profitable.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah I yeah I can and you know the thing is I I my biggest question I think for all new founders is what is that one thing that you really wish you had um in terms of a resource or something that you could just utilize better to kind of promote your your product and what you're trying to do you know what area do you think um for your product is something you need more information?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think um for me it's definitely um you know press and PR and just getting the word out there I um I you know I I chose to um create the app um you know without taking an investment because I I didn't I thought that it would be easier to convince a consumer to use the app than it would be to go out and find investors initially and so what I wanted to do was just I knew that people wanted something like this or needed something like this.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so I thought if I could just get it to market quicker um ultimately I could just get this product out there and start from there.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the biggest thing is just be having a way to get the word out and and you know there's so many resources on Instagram and meeting people and finding people that are helpful.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: But that I think has been the biggest challenge for me is being able to spread the word in in this beauty world where it's so oversaturated already with products and apps and recommendation tools and things like that.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: So just getting the word out I think is what it would be the most effective yeah I'm I completely hear you on that I think that is one of the hardest aspects of you know again marketing you know yeah it really comes down to uh marketing and so yeah I mean I I I agree with you but I mean even on an influencer level not even a founder level I can completely see where you're coming from I mean getting that exposure getting the right and you know it's not about just you know so you're connecting you're connecting one professional to another and I think that interaction is so important.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: We as a professional community of people in internationally I think have to be more connected you know what I mean because there are some amazing ideas and this idea of yours is I consider to be truly truly uh amazing it's it's it's really great and I'm so excited for you to be doing this um and and taking this conversation a step further because you're helping people I think on levels with this whole concept of what they need to make their job a little easier.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like you're you're adding to that conversation um unknowingly so um I love it.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: I love everything about thank you so much.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well thank you so much for taking the time out and speaking to me today.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: It was so so wonderful to hear about your app and your journey I wish you nothing but the best and I know you're gonna do amazing this is a phenomenal thank you so much thank you for having me thank you so much I'll talk to you guys next time everybody out there if you guys are listening please do not forget to subscribe first of all and then rate us on Spotify iTunes Google Podcasts or any of the seven platforms that we're available on currently we would really really love your feedback your advice any kind of comments and also please utilize our Instagram uh feed because we upload our concept art on there so that you can leave comments or questions about the episode that you just listened to so we look forward to hearing all of your comments and messages thanks guys and thank you talk to you next time bye bye hey guys so I hope you love that episode please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform we are available on so many different platforms so wherever it is that you're tuning in just go hit subscribe you will be immediately notified when we publish new episodes this way you're able to tune in to amazing insights from experts brand founders industry leaders authors all the wonderful people that we host and that's very important for me because I love to hear from you guys and really understand what you love and what you want to hear more of.
• 35:41
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• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you