Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / How Harvard’s 'Entrepreneurship Essentials’ program helped launched one of the world’s most progressive sexual wellbeing startups, with Eva Goicochea, Founder of Maude

Transcript

How Harvard’s 'Entrepreneurship Essentials’ program helped launched one of the world’s most progressive sexual wellbeing startups, with Eva Goicochea, Founder of Maude · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is episode 15 with Eva Goikachea. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Female Startup Club. Today I'm chatting to the founder of a sexual well-being company called Maud, a company that champions the path for modern intimacy, sexual health and education.
• 0:27
  Eva started the brand back in 2015 and has pioneered the path forward for changes in how we see and speak about our intimacy, mental health, and sexual well-being.
• 0:36
  We managed to squeeze this episode in after a few tech issues, which is the story of my life right now, and an important meeting that Ever had coming up. So it's quick, but it's got everything you need to know about building a brand in an industry that's typically regarded as taboo and shouldn't be, and the challenges that come with it. And while I have you here, I just want to give a huge thanks to everyone that's taken the time to leave us a review. It really helps other ears find us and have a listen. If you're loving these episodes as much as I am, please head to the app and leave us a review.
• 1:06
  This is Eva for Female Startup Club. I want to talk about what you were doing before Maud and why you decided to start a sexual wellness company.
• 1:16
  Yeah. So my career actually began in my early 20s. I studied marketing, but then in my early 20s, I fell into being a legislative aide in healthcare, which is a much longer story. I grew up in Sacramento. And so I actually moved to New York and then moved back to Sacramento. And that's how that happened. And as a state capital, there's a lot of policy groups there. So
• 1:39
  I ended up moving to LA and getting back into marketing and worked with a few agencies on a bunch of brands and then landed at Everlane as one of the first employees. And when I left Everlane about a year and a half later, I was really excited about joining a healthcare startup and I could not find one. And I've always been interested in sexual wellness. And so long story short, I think it was a convergence of this like healthcare beginning and then everything I had done for 10 years thereafter. Yeah.
• 2:06
  And this space has not been really changed in 100 years. So I'm really excited that Mod exists now. Yeah, absolutely. And when you were getting started, what was the first steps to launching this business?
• 2:22
  Well, the funny thing is that the idea came about in 2015. And in typical fashion, I built a website first, which was not the way to do it. I don't recommend that because we started getting inquiries about product and press, which was funny. But I think when you first start, you need to really think about the industry that you're going into and what the landscape looks like. My first recommendation is really to analyze what's happening in the space that you're going into. Yeah.
• 2:49
  Then starting to do some customer research. So we did a big survey early on. We purchased like some formal research so that we could understand. And I think you really have to build a foundation. And that took a year. Yeah. You know, you can go to market sooner for other industries, I think. But in this case, I really, really wanted to understand what was happening. Yeah. And so after that was the next step to look at getting capital and raising investment? Or was it to find a manufacturer? What were the next steps?
• 3:18
  Yeah, it was both. I think one was to work on the product to make sure that you kind of had like the business model and really what the unit economics were so that you could raise capital. So that's an interesting one because I've gotten asked a lot about pre-seed, raising and pre-seed. And I think there are some basics that you need to know. You definitely need to know what your unit economics will look like, what the costs will be.
• 3:40
  And then you can kind of build out a model. And so then I raised half a million, which was really hard. It wasn't easy. It was definitely a friends and family round. We had some institutional capital. And that was in 2017. And then we launched the business in 2018. Wow. And so what were the products that you launched with? And when you were trying to find like a manufacturer and all that kind of thing, how did you do it? What advice would you give for other people who want to go into product development?
• 4:10
  of typically unique products? Well, I think so. There are some really best-in-class manufacturers in our space that we went to. I think when you're starting to go into formulating products from scratch, as opposed to, you know, for instance, condoms are class two medical devices. You can't really like...
• 4:30
  You can't really build a condom from scratch. It would take a lot of money and time. So I think, again, it's the FDA. It's a medical device. So in our space, it's one thing because you're trying to find FDA manufacturers and you're trying to work with formulations that are really body safe and you work with chemists. If you're going into something completely new, I think there's much more research to be done. And I would recommend as much as possible to get in touch with factories that...
• 4:58
  that have chemists where you can start learning about it more than just saying, I'm going to go build something off the shelf. There are a lot of brands that produce things that are not their formulas, especially around vitamins. Wow. I didn't know that. I know. Yeah. If you wanted to start a vitamin company, you would call up a vitamin manufacturer tomorrow and have a vitamin company pretty soon. Yeah. Gosh. And so how long did that process take then to build these kinds of things?
• 5:24
  So it took about another year. We really started working on it in 2016. And then from 2016 through 2017, we were still working on product. And the reason that we raised money, aside from the fact that this is a very large category, was the manufacturing. You have to have a lot of money to get it off the ground because the minimum order quantities or MOQs are so high. And that's another thing to consider when you're building a business. It's like,
• 5:49
  Can you make 100 of something or do you have to make 5,000 of something at once? And did you have to make 5,000 of something? Well, originally, the condom factory asked us to do a million units. Oh, my gosh. Wow. That's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. So we got them down to 100,000. And then if you put them in packs of 10, it doesn't seem so crazy. But it was, yeah, that's one of the biggest challenges of product companies is really dealing with factories who, especially if they're large scale,
• 6:18
  Factories, what you are dealing with when you're talking about medical devices, you're tiny. You have to really knock down the door to get them to pay attention to you. Yeah. And then I guess it's like you also had the condoms, but you also have the vibrator. You have the bath time products. You have such a big range of things now.
• 6:38
  Yeah. It's a lot to be placing orders for, well, minimum orders for all of that stock, which is also just a D2C brand, not having the wholesalers to also fulfill on those. Yeah. I mean, I think, well, so a couple of things. The first one was,
• 6:54
  he asked me what we launched. So we launched with two lubricants, a vibrator and condoms. And the idea was really to make these basics accessible in one place, because typically you have to go buy a vibrator, maybe at a sex shop and the other products at a drugstore. So we were trying to put them in one place and then also reposition a vibrator as a basic, because for a lot of people, it's really a basic necessity. So that's one. When we started to go into bath and potty, that's when we really started working with
• 7:21
  We formulated products from scratch. We weren't talking about dealing with the FDA per se. You're talking about dealing with a variety of bodies around, like if you wanted to make it 100% organic, if you wanted to make sure that the formulation of the scent was really body safe to be used in other products. So it started to bring about a whole other array of considerations today.
• 7:43
  But the reason that we did it was because we had customers saying, sex is great, but I'm really thinking about my intimate life in a broader way. Can you sort of make that better? And we want body products. We want scented products. We want other things. And so that's really why we did it. That's so incredible. I'm just wondering how you knew how to do all this stuff. How do you know that you need to go to the FDA to find these products and...
• 8:10
  You know, where do you learn that? I read that you went to an online school through Harvard to do entrepreneurship essentials. Did you find some of that stuff out there? No, I mean, I, you know, I had, my former co-founder was in product, but really when the company started taking off was when we hired our director of product, who's currently our director of product. He's fantastic. He's taken 300 products to market and he knows how to navigate.
• 8:38
  factories and he knows how to navigate these relationships because a lot of it is negotiation. It's sure it's also going through the process of actually making the product and knowing what questions to answer. But I think it's also about knowing how to like, you know, knowing where there's wiggle room with these relationships and then finding out, starting to do some back channel research about like how much you can trust them and who they are and who they've worked with. So it's definitely relationship building. No, Harvard was great for learning how to fundraise.
• 9:09
  And I really recommend it because it was, if you, I didn't go to business school. I studied advertising. I studied organizational communications, which is helpful to building a business in another way. But I think just in terms of how to raise and how to think about your business, it was really helpful. Yeah. I looked at the course. It looks great. It was great. And I think it's, it gave you a lot of case studies. And what's nice about it is that they chose case studies that were not, they were so different from one another that you got to pull a lot of
• 9:36
  It's just sort of presented things that you might not think about when you're kind of in startup world. Yeah, really cool. I want to talk about your marketing and how you typically launched the brand and how you've been acquiring new customers, given that it isn't a taboo space and platforms like Facebook and Instagram don't really allow for advertising on sex products. Yeah. I mean, it was a learning curve, I would say. I think one of the things that we did that I really recommend and...
• 10:05
  I've built brand books for so long that it was easy, but I do recommend working with someone or if you can do it yourself, great. We built a brand book that essentially outlined that we're not an explicit brand. That's actually just not our DNA. And the reason for that is we believe sex is human and it's an everyday thing. And there's a real need in this space for people to treat it that way. And so...
• 10:27
  We navigated those platforms by making sure that our messaging was true to those, you know, values. And it ended up allowing for us to advertise more. Like we're not we're not trying to push the envelope of being explicit around sex. We're actually trying to do the opposite, which is to destigmatize it.
• 10:45
  by not being explicit. So now we're able to advertise. We definitely cannot advertise the vibe. And of course, it frustrates us to no end. But the opportunity is also to make a vibrator, a basic. And that's what we're trying to lead the way on anyway. So it makes sense that there are challenges. Do you think that's something that also given your background, working in things like policy and things that you're trying to push with those platforms directly yourself and sort of champion that path?
• 11:16
  Well, I actually agree with some of the policies. And the reason why I agree with them is because it's, they're blanketed policies to essentially prevent the stuff that shouldn't be on Facebook to not be on Facebook.
• 11:30
  Instead of fighting that particular language, I think that what we're working towards is building new language. So separating, say, adults, products, and services, which in their case might be, I don't know, it's for everything. It's like porn, it's strip clubs, it's all of it. And saying, look, there's an actual category that's really sexual wellness and health, and that's a separate category. How can we define this? And mental health.
• 11:59
  And mental health. And I think that we're still really nascent as a category in terms of how we're thinking about this. So absolutely. Yeah. And in marketing, what's working for you at the moment in acquiring new customers and finding new audiences?
• 12:17
  Press works really well for us. We have a great affiliate program and we also build a lot of content. I think that giving your customer things, always giving them a takeaway is really important when you're building a brand because it's really easy to forget that people don't care about your brand as much as you do. You need to be relevant to them and you need to be giving back to them in a way that makes it relevant. So...
• 12:39
  That's what works for us is like constantly updating content and creating advertising that resonates with them and nixing the stuff that doesn't. And then also really building up press relationships. We have worked with some agencies before and it didn't work because a lot of the writers just wanted to talk to us directly. So I recommend holistically thinking about the message that you want to send and trying to build the relationships to do that.
• 13:03
  Yeah. I was reading a piece of your content today about the 50 euphemisms of sex. The squat thrusts in the cucumber patch was hilarious. I read them out loud to my roomies. Oh my gosh. I mean, it's funny because that's kind of a departure for us, but it was funny too. I think there's a need for levity right now because I think we are all feeling a bit overwhelmed. And I think we wanted to sort of insert some type of
• 13:31
  comedic really. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's a nice lead into what I wanted to talk about next, which is what's going on in the world at the moment with COVID-19 and what that impact has been on your business and what's happened as a result for you guys.
• 13:49
  Yeah, I mean, so it's actually affected us in a really positive way, to be honest, because before we were dealing with our customer really after 6 p.m. If you think about it, people aren't really unmod during the middle of the day. They don't want to open it up, even though the website's not explicit.
• 14:06
  So suddenly our relationship with our customer kind of became 24-7. And the way that we work internally is that every person has a day to do customer service. So we're all on the front lines. And now we're talking to our customer all the time. So that's one thing that's changed is just the cadence of communication.
• 14:23
  The other thing that's changed is I think people are really faced with, literally faced with, their sex lives and intimacy, whether they're alone or they're with a partner. You're thinking about it because you're home and you're really analyzing, what does this mean in my life? So it's been a really interesting shift for us, but it also helps us think about
• 14:46
  How do you create messaging that is talking about how you incorporate intimacy into your everyday, whether it's sex or not? Yeah. So it's been a good thing for us, but it is really hard to navigate just on the operational side. Because you're selling out of stock or because you can't order new stock?
• 15:04
  Yeah, we're selling out of stock. We've dealt with supply chain delays. The vibe has been so popular that we're like, we're actually all emailing customers directly and just trying to give them updates. That's one thing. I think it's also navigating how you get your team to feel safe. Half the team goes to work because there's, you know, we're fulfilling and half the team isn't and making sure everybody's okay is really important.
• 15:26
  Then another thing we've done, which I think is fun, is we took Staycation, which was our last year. We did an activation with 24 other brands and it was in real life. It was a studio space. And this year we put it online and it's essentially content for how to navigate staying home from now it's 30 brands. And they're all related to home, home or wellness. So there's been a lot of pivoting, but I think it's a good way to reflect on what it really means to interact with your customer.
• 15:55
  Yeah. And I've been reading a lot of the press that you've had coming out recently, which is just a lot on all the big platforms. And it seems like it really is a topic that's super prevalent for everyone at the moment.
• 16:09
  It is. I mean, and it's interesting the way the press covers us. I posted a lot on LinkedIn because it's often the way that our investors and shareholders are getting the information, although it's a lot for other people. But I think it's interesting how we're getting positioned with some of the products, like the bath products. We just were in a couple of press pieces for the tub kit for Mother's Day.
• 16:30
  I mean, we wouldn't be talking about the vibrator per se for Mother's Day, although all moms deserve a vibrator. But I think it was interesting how successful it was. But it starts to, it really, I think, blurring the lines between self-care and intimacy and personal care and all of these things is really what we've been trying to do. And so now has presented this time to have all the products get their own moment, which has been interesting. Yeah.
• 16:55
  And with the Vibe product we're talking about in the house earlier, the coloring and the branding and the feel of your brand is so special and unique in that it's obviously not the hot pinks. It's not the black. It has such a nice feel to it. It looks good visually. Thank you. Thank you. Why did you decide to do that?
• 17:18
  Well, the idea was really to bring inclusivity to the table in a way that meant... So we've been asked, like, are you gender neutral? Are you for women? Are you for men? And the answer is not. It's actually that we're for everybody. And the reason for that is because of what I said, which is sex is human. It's not about being so forward thinking that we're constantly challenging gender norms. I think that's absolutely a part of the conversation, but that's not really the point. The point is...
• 17:45
  to create products that feel universal enough for anyone to use, no matter what they look like or how they define themselves. So that's why we really chose to have a neutral palette and kind of use the language that we use. And we don't show a lot of people in campaigns. We show them through our content. So inclusivity is our number one pillar that we think about. I love that. That's where the design comes from. Yeah, you can really feel it in the brand. Thank you.
• 18:15
  What advice would you have for other women wanting to start a brand in a taboo space or, you know, traditionally taboo space that's a little not as saturated? I think the first thing you have to ask yourself about any brand, doesn't matter if it's taboo or not, is, is it needed in the world?
• 18:35
  Is there an audience? And are you solving a problem? Because if you're just doing it because you think you would like it, it's such a hard path to navigate starting a business that I think you need to make sure that there's a need for it. The second thing would be to go through the exercise of your brand book or at least go through the exercise of what your language is going to be because the language becomes the key component to how you can navigate taboo.
• 18:59
  taboo sort of spaces. And one thing I've done very thoughtfully, I think, is saying no. We've been asked to be on sex tech panels. And in order for us to change the industry, we can't look like the industry all the time. So even though it may seem obvious to participate in some of that stuff, if that's your category, I'm going to be able to change the industry.
• 19:22
  try to define your category. Maybe try to get on panels that are not about it explicitly. So that's what I would say is define what you're doing and why and stick with it. Yeah, that's nice advice. And for looking towards the next few years, how do you see the industry changing and what would you like to see change?
• 19:47
  I think the industry is rapidly changing where we've said for a long time that the sexual wellness aisle is kind of the last frontier in personal care. And you're going to start to see that aisle change. Literally, physically, you will see the aisle start to change. I think the way beauty has changed, the way you can shop for beauty in bigger retailers, but this category is next. Yeah.
• 20:09
  That's one piece of it. I think that will also lead to the destigmatization and sort of normalization of talking about these products on a regular basis. And then the other thing I'd like to see from the industry is what I said before. I want people to understand that sexual health is so intrinsically tied to your mental well-being and your physical well-being that it needs its own category. And can that change policy around advertising platforms or actual policy out in the world around sex ed, which is a topic we could have an entire discussion about, Sepfid.
• 20:37
  Sex ed is a really tricky one. I've had plenty of conversations about this and what it's like in schools. Well, when I went to school, which was 10 years ago, and how it feels like it's really, really outdated. It might be different now, obviously, but from when I was in school.
• 20:53
  No, it's really outdated. And it was interesting because if you look at the history of this category, it was actually more forward thinking 100 years ago than it is now. And the basic reason for this is because at the time, there was more of a consideration for how sexual violence.
• 21:14
  like sexual education affected your physical health and what that meant in terms of, I won't go off on a tangent because I could, but what that meant for like in particular, like military populations. They were getting a lot of STDs and they're basically like, okay, now we have all of these soldiers out of commission. Let's talk about sex ed. So it's really fascinating to think that.
• 21:35
  When people realized it was affecting everyone, sort of similarly to COVID, they did something about it. Now you have all of these stigmas and you have all of these differing philosophical and religious beliefs around sex, and that's what's affecting basic education. Yeah. It's a really tough one. It's a big topic. Something I actually have noticed though,
• 21:58
  Especially recently, a few of the women I follow on Instagram influencers have really started opening up that conversation and becoming ambassadors for sexual well-being and speaking out for women everywhere, I guess. It's been so nice to see and read and follow along and share with your girlfriends and share with your partner and that kind of thing. I definitely can see it rapidly changing as well. Yeah. I think the biggest thing on a day-to-day level is...
• 22:28
  Allowing for people to feel less guilt and shame. If you can start having these conversations with your friends and you recognize that you're all maybe going through similar situations or you have questions, it's great. I think it's important for us to feel like there's information sharing in a really positive, healthy way. Yeah.
• 22:47
  Wow. Well, thank you so much for that part of the podcast. I usually do a six quick fire round of questions that we jot through. So number one is what's your why? I mean, my why is almost why. I ask why about everything. I think that that's how I started Maud. That's how I go through life. Challenge convention, challenge the norm. Always, always. That's my why.
• 23:17
  Number two is what was the number one marketing strategy that made your business pop or marketing thing that made your business pop? It was having a social and press presence well before launch because it allowed for us to create community and really start to get that feedback loop. You need to make really great decisions when you launch. Yeah. Number three is where do you hang out to get smarter?
• 23:45
  I mean, I wish I could go to libraries right now, which is a really obvious answer. But I think it's usually just reading. It doesn't matter where I am. I think reading, physically reading a book or a paper is where I feel like I'm getting the most information because there's no distraction. I can't open a new tab. Yes, true. Do you have a book that you recommend?
• 24:06
  I mean, there's a lot. I think the one that I recommend right now is reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving in has been helpful because I think that what we're going through in COVID, I think we're reevaluating what matters to us. It's a quick, short read. I know it's been on every top list, but it's really helpful to sort of reevaluate what matters to you. Yeah, I need to read it. It's on my list.
• 24:29
  Yeah, I mean, it's a silly answer, but I think it's a good way to check yourself and say what matters to me and how do I want to prioritize coming out of this. Nice. Number four is how do you win the day? If I can start early and have a bit of a routine, then I win the day. Right now when I have tech issues, I'm like, I don't feel like I'm winning the day. What time is it? Where are we? Same.
• 24:56
  I've been reading about the book, The 5am Club, and what other people are doing to start at 5am. And I wish I could be that girl, but I don't know if I can be that girl. Number five is if you only had $1,000 left in your business bank account, where would you spend it? And it's kind of to talk about your key kind of focus on resources. I would give it to my team.
• 25:22
  That's, I mean, this has been really interesting to think about preserving team. And we've been able to do that. And they are my number one focus and their health and well-being is my number one focus. So I would give it to them and then we would close down because we only had a thousand dollars left. Let's hope that never happens. Number six is how do you deal with failure? And that can be around your personal experience or just your general mindset and approach.
• 25:53
  I'm not one to think of failure as failure. I don't think that you're never going to know why you went through it. I don't necessarily think that life works that way. I always say life is not a VCR. You can't just put the tape in and hit rewind and fast forward. So acknowledging that you're going to learn a lot from whatever happens is really important. And then I think it reframes what failure is entirely. I have screwed up so many times, too many to count, but you move on.
• 26:24
  Yeah, you do. Yeah, move on and you're okay. And then one last note on this, nobody can read all your failures on your forehead. Only you know them, really, if you're walking around. So every day is an opportunity to not feel like a failure because nobody else is like, no, it's not a list, you know, scrolling on your head. So it's okay.
• 26:46
  And definitely things that matter to you don't matter to other people. No. You know what's a really funny thought is when you walk around and you realize everybody is the center of their own world. Yeah. And you're like, oh, wait a second here. Yeah.
• 27:01
  Oh, well, thank you so much. Thank you so, so much for that. Where can people find you personally and where can people find your brand? Personally, on Instagram, and my name is very long, so you might have to add it in the notes, but it's Eva. I will. Okay. It's Eva Goikochea. That's my Instagram. You'll see a lot of my animals. I have five. I've seen them.
• 27:24
  Your cats are so cute. They really do. And then we actually just adopted a dog on Sunday. So now we are up to five. And then the company is GetMod because we couldn't get just Mod. So it's GetM-A-U-D. Yeah. Amazing. Well, thank you so much. Thank you so much.
• 27:48
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 28:12
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 28:35
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 28:51
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 29:16
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 29:39
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that. Thank you.