Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / This DTC brand grew 500% last year through a partnership with SoulCycle & QVC, with Curie’s Sarah Moret

Transcript

This DTC brand grew 500% last year through a partnership with SoulCycle & QVC, with Curie’s Sarah Moret · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Sarah Moray for Female Startup Club. Hey everyone, it's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Today we are learning from Sarah, the founder of Curie.
• 0:21
  Launched in 2018, Curie is a female-owned, direct-to-consumer brand that sells clean, performance-based body care products. They're on a mission to make clean, safe, and effective products for people who move around.
• 0:36
  We're chatting through the bootstrap to funding model, how to get on QVS, tips to getting on QVC, and why you should prioritize building your network. Which, of course, is cue for me to mention our private network for CPG entrepreneurs, Hype Club. Do come and check us out.
• 0:55
  And if you didn't see that we're giving away $1,000 plus nine other epic prizes for small business owners in partnership with Flowium, do jump onto FSC to get in the mix. My hot tip to you is to make sure you spend time referring other entrepreneurs and small business owners. Go to femalestartupclub.com forward slash one triple zero hyphen cash hyphen giveaway.
• 1:22
  Let's get into this episode. This is Sarah for Female Startup Club. Sarah, hi. Welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited. Me too. I'm so excited for you to be here. I always love to start by getting you to give us the elevator pitch of who you are and what your business is. Okay. Well, my name is Sarah Moret. I'm the founder and CEO of Curie.
• 1:52
  We are a clean body care company based in Los Angeles, and we sell an assortment of, you know, clean body care products with a focus on delicious signature scents. So we have a
• 2:06
  aluminum-free deodorant, aluminum-free deodorant spray that you can use on your whole body, not just your pits. We have a hand sanitizer and a underarm clay detox mask. And we actually just launched our latest product last week, which is a scented body oil. Oh, nice. Very nice. It's amazing. I'm wearing it right now in white tea and it's like
• 2:31
  the perfect amount of subtle fragrance and super moisturizing absorbs right into your skin. I'm clearly very excited about this product. I love that. I was actually just admiring and sniffing your product. That is the orange neroli deodorant. And I love that. It's so nice. Really cool. That is one of our top selling fragrances.
• 2:58
  Amazing. Gosh. Okay. Well, so you're from sunny LA, but you're in wine country. You told me in a moment ago, what are you up to today this week?
• 3:08
  Give us a little bit of an overview. Yeah. So I'm currently working remotely from beautiful Healdsburg, California. But this week, main thing is honestly preparing for my next QVC segment, which I'm going to be doing on Tuesday of next week. Really excited for that. We just launched on QVC in January of this year. So it, what is this? I think our fifth appearance.
• 3:38
  which is really, really fun. It's wild. Filming QVC during the pandemic has meant turning my living room into like a set. I literally have like my QVC set up and takes lots of preparation, but it's been a huge, we can get into that a little bit more later, but that's been a huge needle mover for us. And that's become a big part of my role as CEO is also
• 4:05
  QVC on-air talent. So preparing for that. And we're just about to start fundraising. So also putting together all the fundraising materials, deck, all of the fun stuff. So it's a busy week. It is a busy week.
• 4:21
  I want to ask you some questions about the QVC thing, but let's come back to that, like towards the end when we get up to where we are today in the picture, because I have so many things that I don't know about QVC or what it really is actually. But let's go back to the beginning of where this story starts for you and what got you interested in entrepreneurship and what got you thinking about starting a business in the first place.
• 4:49
  Yeah, so I started my career. I'll give you the full story, but try to make it quick. Started my career as a CPA, which is I worked at a big four accounting firm for two years out of college. Absolutely hated it. Not the right career for an extrovert, I quickly realized. But it really did give me a great foundation in business and finance and, most importantly, accounting, which is, I think, one of the most underrated skill sets for a founder to have.
• 5:17
  is a really good grasp in financial modeling and accounting. So I'm happy for that experience, although I hated it at the time. I left PWC where I was at and joined an early stage venture capital fund. That was where I joined as a back office accounting hire, but that was really where I got my start in investing. So I ended up working in venture capital for about five years, no, four years.
• 5:45
  I'm starting in back office accounting, but then moving my way on to the investing team where I got to meet with hundreds of entrepreneurs as an investment associate. My job was to source new deals, bring in new companies for the partners to take a look at and decide whether we wanted to invest. And so I was kind of that first meeting, the first layer. I would get the companies to come in. I would do a one hour call with them. And I, like I said, met with hundreds of entrepreneurs and companies.
• 6:14
  was just so inspired by the hustle. And, you know, we were this, we were a seed stage fund. So a lot of the companies that were coming to us were early, early, early days, and some of them hadn't even started yet. And it was so inspiring for me to meet these entrepreneurs. And frankly, the biggest thing that I learned was like, there's really no difference between, you know, you and me and any entrepreneur out there. I think there's this
• 6:40
  being on the outside of it and not being an entrepreneur yet, you think that these CEOs and startup founders are like these special superhumans. And I think the biggest thing I learned was like, they're no different than me or you. Founders just have the guts to go out there and do it. And that is really what separates the average person from a startup founder.
• 7:04
  I think there was this like kind of mystique behind it. And then I realized, hey, all you have to have is an idea and like the guts to go out there and make it happen. And that was really, really inspiring for me. And that's when I decided to start my journey as a founder and started Curie kind of as a side hustle, to be honest. I started working on Curie nights and weekends, put my own savings into starting it.
• 7:32
  built the website myself, designed our branding myself. It was very humble origins, but I'm really happy with the way that I did that. I didn't dive right in. I didn't go raise money. I really found, like made sure there was a market for the product before I went all in and, you know, running it for, running Curie as a side hustle for the first year was very challenging, but
• 7:59
  It kind of taught me discipline and it taught me to do a lot with pretty scarce resources. So for the first year, you were doing it as a side hustle. What led you to personal care in general? And when you were just kind of starting out, how were you actually validating the concept to yourself and, you know, getting that customer kind of insight that you were on the right track? Yeah.
• 8:27
  Yeah. So the, to answer the first part of your question, when I was at, I worked at two different venture capital funds. The second one that I worked for was based in LA and we were consumer focused, mostly consumer technology, but we did a little bit of direct to consumer brands as well. And that was where I got really interested in the clean beauty space. It was 2016, 2017,
• 8:53
  It was when Moon Juice like literally was down the street from us, had a line down the block for their adaptogens and all that. Beauty Counter was just starting. Goop had just launched their marketplace. Clean Beauty was becoming this like category. I think it used to be seen as kind of a niche category. It was like, yeah, you could buy natural products at like your Whole Foods or at the farmer's market, but it wasn't super mainstream yet. And that was shifting like right in front of me.
• 9:23
  We were seeing so many companies coming and pitching us with clean beauty and wellness brands and companies. And I started to get really interested in the science and doing tons of research. I worked for a biotech startup for a hot second. So I got really good at reading research papers and understanding the science behind some of these ingredients that we're used to putting on our bodies every day. So I learned a lot, kind of self-educated myself on some of the dangers of,
• 9:52
  these conventional ingredients that we all use. Um, these, I call it drugstore products. And I started to make the swap myself of, you know, swapping out my, my products where I could. Um, and deodorant was one of those products where I couldn't find anything that worked for me. It was like, when it came to, to natural aluminum free deodorant, like I was better off, like wearing nothing. Like I tried
• 10:19
  everything out there. And I, I'm a sweaty girl. So, so couldn't find anything. And that was where the journey started. I was like, I know, I knew that other people were having the same issue as me. And let's team up with a team of chemists that know what they're doing and make something that really, really works. I think a lot of the other brands at the time were
• 10:43
  kind of like it was still very much like I made this in my kitchen kind of deodorant formulas. And so what I decided to do that I felt like was something a little bit different than what everyone else was doing was I teamed up with this amazing team of chemists that had created, developed some of the most well-known, you know, skincare and personal care products today and gave them our no-no list and things that we didn't want in the products.
• 11:09
  And they ran with it and made our incredible deodorant formula. And so it just kind of expanded from there. And then I think I was lucky in that I was my first customer. This was a personal problem for me. I think a lot of brands kind of start like that, where the founder has a problem or a need and it's not being met. And I think being your own first customer is really powerful because I could test the formulas on myself.
• 11:37
  And I knew if something didn't work for me, it probably wasn't going to work for other people. And that was really helpful because I kind of got to validate the idea with myself. But then I did, I did do a lot of testing. We've iterated on the, on the formula several times since we launched. But one of the biggest things that was important to me was the fragrance. I wanted scents that were unique. I wanted scents that, you know, everyone, you know how you sometimes like get a whiff of your armpits during the day.
• 12:07
  Like your deodorant scent is very much part of your personal scent. And so I was sick of like these, a lot of the natural, the natural deodorants I was testing out, they all smelled like, you know, patchouli or like.
• 12:21
  pine trees. And I was like, that's not the scent that I want to be getting a whiff of throughout my day. I want something. I do not want to associate with pine trees. Yeah. I was like, I love pine trees, but I don't want to smell like one. So I paid a lot of attention to those types of details because it mattered a lot to me. And so we developed our signature scents with a scent house.
• 12:46
  that's been incredible to work with. They adhered to all of our clean standards and made some really incredible, unique scents. We have the white tea, the orange neroli, which it sounds like you've been using, and our grapefruit cassis. And these scents are really what has set us apart. And in terms of validating, going back to your question, how I validated the scents, because I knew that that was something that a lot of people are pretty finicky about. People have strong opinions about scents.
• 13:16
  And so that was something, you know, not only did I test out the product on, you know, probably hundreds of people before we launched, I also went to the mall. This is such a ridiculous story, but when it came time to finalize our signature sense, I was like, I need to get more opinions. I can't just have my friends and family telling me what they like. Like I need real people's opinions. I need people that are going to be my target customer.
• 13:44
  So I literally went to the mall on a Saturday morning with, I think, our top five signature scents options and had little vials of each of the scents and had, or actually, I think I even had sticks of deodorant that had the scent in them.
• 14:01
  Went to the mall with a clipboard and asked random women that were like walking in and out of Nordstrom to smell the different scents and vote on their favorites. And that is how our first signature scent that we ever launched, which was our white tea. That was how that.
• 14:16
  came to be. That was like the clear winner. And was it what you expected? Were you on the same path? I yeah, I mean, I loved our we had five, I could only afford to do one cent because each cent that we did was like a different minimum. And I could only afford to do one, one run. And so I had to choose one cent. I wanted something that was light, refreshing, and would
• 14:46
  That's really hard to do. And so I figured, let's go ask people that really have no skin in the game. They're not my friends. They're not going to be worried about offending me and see what they like. And because, you know, at the end of the day, that's all that really matters. And so there was a clear winner and it was the white tea, which still to this day is our number one top selling fragrance.
• 15:08
  Wow. I love that as a piece of advice. Just like go to the mall, find a store that is your current target customer in mind and serve them your product outside and ask what people think. That's amazing. That takes some real guts, I feel as well. That is a piece of advice for sure that I give a lot of founders is when you're starting out, if you're trying to get feedback or validation or yeah, even validating your idea,
• 15:38
  don't ask your friends and family. Like your friends and family, it's going to be really hard to get an unbiased answer. So go out and ask strangers. And even if you look ridiculous standing at the door of Nordstrom, it's worth it because strangers are going to give you honest advice. And I think that's kind of sometimes hard to get from your family, friends and family members. Wow, amazing. I love that. It kind of leads me...
• 16:07
  into a different topic that I wanted to bring up around. You said just a moment ago that you didn't want to start kind of by going all in and raising money and that kind of thing. You were bootstrapping it in the beginning, but then you were only able to afford one of the cents. What was your kind of initial capital that you invested into getting the brand off the ground right up until, you know, around the launch?
• 16:33
  Yeah. So our initial capital was about $12,000. Most of that, I think our first production run, including like packaging and labels and stuff like that was 10,000. And then the other 2000 was, you know, getting our trademark, getting incorporated, building the website, which Shopify makes it basically free.
• 16:57
  So it was $12,000 all in. Got it. Got it. And so then getting to, you were obviously bootstrapping it. You'd obviously come from a background working in VC. You had really crazy insights that other people just might not have. What was your vision in terms of like when you were going to take on additional capital or were you even thinking you would ever take on capital? Or what was your kind of like future thought on the money piece?
• 17:28
  I mean, I wish I could say that I had a plan. I really didn't. When I started, it started as a personal need. I figured, let's make this deodorant. Let's see what happens. I had no experience in building businesses and selling consumer products. I wasn't sure what was going to happen.
• 17:51
  And so I didn't really have a plan to be honest. Everyone asked me that, like, what was your business plan? You have this finance background. But frankly, I just started it and figured, let's see what happens. And we'll start selling. I didn't quit my day job.
• 18:05
  I worked on Curie basically as a side hustle with a full-time job for the first year. And during that first year, we saw a ton of growth, all organic. At the time, we didn't put any money into marketing. It was all organic, word of mouth, influencers, social media.
• 18:27
  And that really got the flywheel going. And as I saw the company grow and grow, we hit six figures in revenue in that first year. I got to the point where I was like, all right, I'm on to something. I think we've created something special here. We had customers that were repeat purchasers. They were buying more and more of the products. They were asking for more things.
• 18:47
  You know, everyone loved the signature scent, the white tea, and people were like, you guys should do a lotion and body wash and all that. And so I started to see the long-term vision here, which is what we are today, which is kind of a personal care company that is focusing on, you know, not only effective products, but these scents that just add some joy to your day. It adds, it makes these personal care products, not just a utility. It makes them something that, you know, adds some joy and makes you happy.
• 19:16
  And so that vision, I think, was crafted over that first year. And that was when I decided to go all in, quit my job and raised a couple hundred thousand dollars on a convertible note. Right. And what was that couple hundred thousand? Like, what did that allow you to do? And what was that spent on in that next kind of 12 months? Yeah. So the biggest thing first that I did was rebranded.
• 19:42
  The name was Curie all along. It still is Curie, but we, our packaging was way different. It was pink and white and very girly and not really, not really, I think what, what the brand represented to me. And it was very female focused. And I learned that there were a lot of men that were using our products too. So we decided to rebrand in, I think that was 2019.
• 20:08
  And that was what we used a big chunk of that capital for, was creating our new packaging and new website. I finally hired a professional to do our website. I had built our first website myself. So it was very bare bones. So we revamped our website, rebranded the packaging. We launched two new signature scents. So that's our grapefruit cassis and our orange neroli. So now we have three right now. We're about to launch our fourth.
• 20:37
  And then we also launched a new product, which is our, actually no, two new products with that capital. We launched our spray deodorant, which was, that was in January of 2020. We launched our spray deodorant and then we also launched our hand sanitizer in May of 2020. Oh my gosh. So it was a busy 12 months. Quite a lot. Now that I say that out loud, we did quite a lot with that capital, but
• 21:02
  Another thing was we also finally had the cash to be able to start testing marketing channels, specifically digital marketing channels like Facebook, Instagram. So we also used a chunk of that cash to start testing out acquisition channels and how we can reach more customers. Do you think that it was your kind of newness and new products that was the main contributing factor to kind of your growth from that point on? Or do you think it was
• 21:28
  particular channel like Facebook ads that was the contributing factor? Because obviously you said in that first 12 months, things were kind of picking up and word of mouth, but then what was it that kind of tipped it over the edge and gave you that kind of snowball effect, if you will? Yeah, that's a great question. I think definitely launching new products is always a great accelerator for a business. I will say though,
• 21:55
  that for other founders, like make sure I think having one product, you know, our sole product was our deodorant stick for the first year plus, I think it was about 14 months that we just had the stick deodorant. And I am really grateful that we did it that way because it let me scale easily, you know, having one product, once you introduce new SKUs,
• 22:21
  things get more complicated. So it just made us really lean, really nimble. We could just make more product when we needed it. We weren't sitting on tons of inventory. And it kind of helped us find that product market fit and figure out who our customer is before we started to add fuel to the fire. So I do think that was a really good strategy to start with a really limited number of SKUs. For us, it was one.
• 22:46
  But I think you see a lot of companies launching with like two or three, you know, a little set of products. And I think that is a really smart strategy so that you don't tie up too much cash in inventory and just add too much complexity to your supply chain early on. But we did learn, you know, in that in that first year who our customer was, the best place to reach them, where they're spending their time.
• 23:12
  And so as we started to launch new products, you know, we launched the spray deodorant in January, 2020, we launched the hand sanitizer in May of 2020. We launched our clay detox mask this year and also our body oil. And now as we launch new products, we have this really strong customer base that's using our stick deodorants every day. They're opening our emails and it just makes it so much easier to grow.
• 23:39
  quicker once you already have that core customer base and you're just adding on new products that make a lot of sense with the product line and with the brand. And so I think definitely launching new products, especially the hand sanitizer, helped accelerate a lot of our growth in 2020. We grew 500% last year and I attribute a lot of that. Yes. Oh my God. That's amazing. A lot of
• 24:07
  Keep in mind that I was still doing this as a side hustle the year before. So I went from side hustle to full time and was able to bring on a team as well. So, yeah, we had a ton of growth last year. And I think the biggest reasons were one, launching the hand sanitizer in the middle of a pandemic was tough.
• 24:27
  was kind of right place, right time. We've sold out of our hand sanitizer four times last year. And that really, I think that product really took off in 2020 for obvious reasons. It was just really unique. It was better than any other hand sanitizer. It has hyaluronic acid in it and prickly pear seed oil. And it just feels like a skincare serum on your hands. And it has our signature scents. And so our customers went wild for the hand sanitizer
• 24:57
  And we could not keep that product in stock last year. So definitely attributing a lot of that growth to launching new products and really accelerating our product development cycle. But I think also we unlocked some customer acquisition channels, some ways that we could acquire customers profitably that we didn't have before. And I think that's the key to really accelerating growth for any company
• 25:25
  is testing different channels and figuring out what works for you, what works for your brand. And most importantly, thinking outside the box. I think a lot of brands fall into this trap of like, oh, Facebook is all there is. Like we're going to just spend, spend, spend on Facebook. And honestly, right now it's a struggle to acquire customers profitably on Facebook, especially for brands like mine, where our average order value is, you know, in the high 20s, low 30s.
• 25:55
  which makes it really challenging. There's a ton of competition on Facebook. I mean, think about it, like Procter & Gamble and Unilever are spending tons, millions and millions and millions of dollars on these platforms for all their suite of brands. And like, as a small brand, it's really hard to compete with that. Facebook is an auction.
• 26:15
  So I found that early on that the best place for us to go to acquire new customers was the places that were a little more challenging, off the beaten path that nobody else, especially these big players of the big budgets, are looking at and doing it better than a lot of those companies. So those channels for us are one thing.
• 26:36
  influencers. And I think, you know, that isn't necessarily off the beaten path, but I think we have done it really well, um, in, in a really high touch, um, you know, relationship focused way that probably, you know, the, those big legacy brands probably aren't doing. So we're, we're lucky enough to be in Los Angeles. There's a lot of influencers in Los Angeles. So we've done a lot of in-person events. We've done digital events.
• 27:04
  I've taken several influencers out to coffee. I'll treat them to workouts. And that relationship building, like truly becoming, bringing them into the brand and making them feel part of what we're doing has made the biggest difference. And is that with you? Like all those, you know, like going to a workout is like they're getting to hang out with you and like you're building that relation directly? Yeah.
• 27:31
  It's with me. Yeah. Those are typically the bigger influencers that have several hundred or even millions of followers. Building that relationship and rapport with me directly, the founder, has been really, really beneficial for us and has made those relationships a lot less transactional. And I think that is why influencer marketing has such a high return for us because...
• 27:59
  these influencers really know us and they care about the brand. And when we launch a new product, you know, like the body oil, for example, we sent it to those, to those, we think of these people, the influencers that are really bought in, we think of them kind of as ambassadors. And we're like, all right, let's send the first batch of body oil to these ambassadors, get their opinion. And it's working really well for us. So influencer marketing, but I will say,
• 28:25
  Figuring out how to make it your own is the key to good influencer marketing. Don't just go out and DM, you know, have an intern DMing influencers and seeding products with no story. You lose a lot of the heart and soul of the brand. And I wouldn't be shocked if that isn't very effective. So I would say influencer marketing, but very high touch influencer marketing has worked really well for us as a channel.
• 28:52
  And then another one that's an example of kind of an off the beaten path, you know, testing where can we acquire customers? Where are our customers spending their time? And we started to form partnerships with fitness studios. So one of our biggest partnerships is SoulCycle.
• 29:10
  And we just launched. Oh, cool. Yeah, we just launched our spray deodorant in all SoulCycle locations. So if you're a SoulCycle fan and you're listening, go to a studio. You can use our spray deodorant in any of the locker rooms for free. You can spritz it on before class, after class. And that partnership has been huge for us. Just in terms of getting exposure and getting people to test out our products. And I think it's actually, it's the orange neroli.
• 29:40
  scent that's in SoulCycle. And so people get to use it, get to experience the product, and then we convert those people into customers. So that's just an example of one of those channels that's like off the beaten path. Like how can we get creative here in terms of getting in front of our customers that isn't just running Facebook ads? And those are two that have been really profitable for us.
• 30:05
  I love that. And congratulations. Obviously, that's huge. Thank you. That was super exciting for me. Yeah, I bet. I'm wondering how you organize that kind of partnership. Like, obviously, that's a huge, huge business. Like, how do you attract their attention to even have a meeting and to show that, like, you're relevant to them and, you know, all that kind of stuff? Like, how does this actually work when it's a big kind of business like that?
• 30:36
  Yeah, I think this goes back to network. I think having a good network is really, really important as a founder. And I've always been really good at networking and maintaining relationships. And that's in most cases, like when people ask, you know, how did you get into SoulCycle? How did you get into Nordstrom? How did you get on QVC? All of those relationships have been huge for huge needle movers for us.
• 31:04
  Curie and all of them have been the result of an introduction from someone in my network that, you know, maybe I haven't seen in a couple of years, reached out, got an intro. So I think having a really strong network and building that is it really just comes down to, you know, going out there and prioritizing networking.
• 31:27
  I spent years when I was in venture capital, you know, going to events, you know, meeting founders, getting introductions to other founders, having coffee with founders. And really built my network up over those couple of years so that when I did start Curie, I had a really great network of entrepreneurs and company builders that I could lean on.
• 31:49
  for various things. And so that is a piece of advice I will give. Even if you haven't started a company yet, you want to start now building your network because that has been just so critical, having other entrepreneurs and builders to lean on for advice and introductions. But basically SoulCycle came about through an introduction. Someone who
• 32:13
  that I knew had worked for SoulCycle. They introduced me to their, and I had this idea of like using fitness studios as an acquisition channel because we had, I'm a big, I love fitness classes. Like I'm a big fitness studio junkie. And so I had this idea while I was taking a class somewhere and was like, what if we just offered the spray deodorant for free? Like people can use it in the bathroom.
• 32:41
  When people smell our products and when they use them, they generally love them. So let's try it. And so we started working on this concept actually back in 2019, pre-COVID. And SoulCycle was kind of, to me, that studio that I saw. You know, tons of crossover with the customer base. They have such a loyal following. Their amenities is really part of the experience.
• 33:10
  So they were top of my list in terms of partnership. So found an introduction there, talked to their amenities team back in 2019. We did a pilot with them, signed the contract, and we were supposed to launch in literally April of 2020. And that ended up getting delayed due to COVID for obvious reasons. And so we actually waited a year and just launched with them last month.
• 33:38
  Oh my gosh, what a journey. That's such a, it's like so exciting, but then such a low to follow and then so exciting again when it finally happens. That was so depressing. I mean, everyone was going through their own personal crises during that time, March, April and COVID started. And then just to add on top of that, like that disappointment of waiting so long for this and then having it.
• 34:07
  not happen was definitely really, really depressing. A low for me. Goodness. I want to talk about your other needle mover, the QVC partnership that you mentioned in the beginning and a few moments ago. I'm from Australia. I live in the UK. I don't totally know what QVC is. Is it like a TV shopping network?
• 34:32
  I'm thinking like Joy style, like the movie Joy, where she's like selling her mop. Yes, that is exactly what it is. That is exactly QVC. So QVC and HSN are the original like home shopping networks. I think back in the day, you would just call in and order things. And now they have a huge digital presence as well. So you can buy it on their website. You can tune in, I think.
• 35:00
  all hours of the day it's running. Wow. QVC is always on. Turn on your TV right now and it's probably playing. But QVC was the original home shopping network. It's all about storytelling. So if you were to tune in right now, maybe they're selling, they sell everything from personal care to jewelry, to clothing, to home goods. You can really get anything on QVC.
• 35:28
  And what they do and what they've done that's made them so successful, like multi-billion dollar revenue company, what they've done that's made them so successful is really focused on storytelling and using storytelling to sell products and create, you know, this affinity for these brands. So what they, how they do it is they bring the founders or sometimes it's just a representative from the company, but they bring someone from the company on to the show and,
• 35:57
  to help sell the product and tell the story. And that's been their kind of bread and butter for, I don't know how long they've been on air, 30, 40 years. Oh my gosh. That's amazing. It's a behemoth. So how did you get on QVC and what is your advice to other entrepreneurs listening who are like, oh my God, I want to do that? Yeah. So I actually, I always wanted to be on QVC. I had
• 36:28
  I remember meeting, I met with a company when I worked in venture capital that had gone on QVC. And I think they told me they had sold like six figures of products, like revenue in five minutes or something like that. Oh my God. And I was like, what? It's huge. I mean, they're, they have millions and millions of viewers that are tuning in because they want to, you know, discover new things and discover new products. And so,
• 36:57
  It's a behemoth, I will say that. QVC has done a lot of volume for us this year, and they've been an amazing partner. And I'm so, so grateful to have had that opportunity. How it came about was they actually do this kind of like Shark Tank style show called The Big Finds.
• 37:22
  where they like discover the next big, you know, QVC brands. And it's an opportunity for startups to come and pitch. They pitch judges and then you can, you either get on or you don't. And if you, if you win, you get a segment on QVC or HSN. And so I auditioned for it because I was like, I want to be on QVC auditioned for it. I actually didn't get on.
• 37:47
  But through the process, I met another founder who was on QVC, who had kind of helped give me some advice and stuff like that. And so I was like, hey, like, could you just make an introduction for me? And so she made an introduction. Again, the power of having a network and maintaining a network, it's worth it. It takes time and energy, but
• 38:09
  You know, if I hadn't had that relationship and, you know, she helped me out when I was getting ready to pitch on the big find. And I sent her a gift, a thank you gift and a thank you note. And that goes a long way. And when it came time for me to ask for an introduction to to QVC, she was there to make it. So she made an introduction and we got on the show, you know, I think six months later.
• 38:34
  And what do you think QVC are looking for? Aside from the story, are they looking to make sure that you have the supply chain and the fulfillment potential, or is it literally just the story and you figure everything else out if you get on? They don't give you a ton of insight into what makes a product successful on QVC in their eyes. I think for us, it was
• 39:00
  this category was starting to grow for them. They were seeing, I think they started their QVC clean category two years ago and it was growing really quickly and they didn't really have a clean deodorant company that was doing well on the show. And so it was partially just like right place, right time where they all of a sudden were like, oh, this is a huge growing
• 39:31
  we got that introduction, like right at the right time. So I think that, that is another lesson here is just timing is everything. I, you know, I didn't get on the, I did the big fine pitch them, didn't get on the show, but it's like, you know, that just wasn't the right time for us. And no, isn't a no forever. Exactly. Six months later we got on and same thing happened to us with Nordstrom. They said no twice until finally they said yes. So yeah.
• 39:57
  everything is all about timing. And when it comes to retailers, there's specifically, there's so much that we don't see that goes into merchandising that a lot of it is truly just market driven and trend driven and being at the right place at the right time can get you that. Yes, sometimes. So that's what happened with QVC. And I think the story was definitely important. I think they look at,
• 40:25
  What category is this? Is this a category that's doing well for us? Does this product or brand have a compelling, interesting story that our viewers will want to hear? And then also, I think having me feeling comfortable in front of the camera was also important to that decision as well, since I am the one that's going on and representing Curie.
• 40:49
  On the like unit economic side, and I'm not sure if you're able to share your specific commission that they take, but is there a kind of ballpark commission that you can share as what they take from the sale? Yeah, I can't share that, but it is really similar to a normal wholesale commission. So most wholesale commissions are like around 50%.
• 41:16
  So it's roughly in that ballpark. But keep in mind that when you do go on QVC, you do have to, when you go on air, there's typically a deal that you're giving people for the 24 hours after you go on air and while you're on air. So from that movie, Joy, you'll remember like there's, you know, the price of the mop and then she's offering it, I think like 30% off or something like that. And that's what really gets people involved.
• 41:45
  You know, making the purchase that really drives that urgency to make the purchase is there's a special deal that you offer. So that's something when I talk to companies that are considering doing home shopping networks like QVC and definitely need to keep in mind is you have to have pretty good margins in order to make it work.
• 42:07
  Yes. Great insight on that one. I love that for you. That's so cool. Oh my gosh. I love that you've got it set up at your house as well. That's amazing. It is so much fun. And I think the biggest, like, it's been a really surprisingly like great learning lesson for me. Um, because you are on, and there is so much pressure when you're on, like my segments are typically 10 minutes.
• 42:35
  You go on air and you get your 10 minutes. They give you a goal that you have to hit, a sales goal. And it is so much pressure. You have producers talking in your ear, telling you updates on where you are in terms of sales. And you really have to be nimble and be agile and let the host, whenever you go on air, there's always a host. And the host kind of drives the conversation and is the one that asks you the questions and stuff.
• 43:06
  And you have to just listen and, you know, listen to their cues, understand where they're going while you're listening to the producer in your ear and keeping a smile on your face and making sure you're holding the product. Like it is a it's been a really cool experience for me in terms of learning to to be present and to sell, to sell. Yeah, to sell and to be present.
• 43:32
  and not let that pressure get the best of you. It's just, it's an insane amount of pressure. Yeah, that sounds so stressful, but I can see why it would be just the ultimate kind of... It's an adrenaline rush, honestly. Throw you in the deep end and you become like quick, smart, good at selling or else you've got no more opportunity there. Yeah, it's an adrenaline rush. It is for sure. It's like,
• 44:02
  I prepare, like I joke, like I prepare like an athlete going to the Olympics. Like I like, when I have to go on QVC, like I know I have to be on. So like, I don't drink any alcohol for the week before I like cut down on carbs and sugar so that my mind is like, you know, the best it can possibly be. Shop. Laser focus. Yeah. Laser. I am laser focused. And I think you kind of have to
• 44:32
  and to have like that kind of, that kind of experience that I've never done before. Oh gosh, I bet. Is there anything exciting you want to shout about upcoming in the future? That is your, you know, thing that you want to plug? Oh gosh. I mean, we are launching some new products this year. There's the body oil, which we launched last week that we sold out of that we will be restocking in a couple of weeks. So definitely go out and try the body oil.
• 45:01
  Um, but we're launching another product that we've been working on. You know, I think we started developing this product like two years ago. Like we've been working on this for a long time. Um, and we are launching that in October. So sign up for our email list. And, um, so you get notified when that launches. Oh my gosh. Very exciting. I can't wait to see what it is. And then also go follow us on social media at Curie Bod on Instagram.
• 45:30
  Yes. Perfect. Love your Instagram. Okay. Six quick questions. Question number one, what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing? Great question. I've been asked this before and I think my why is connection. Like I love connecting with people, as I mentioned about networking and kind of how I've done influencer marketing. I love connecting with other humans and
• 46:00
  hearing people's stories and having conversations and, and having, you know, that, that deep level of connection with another person. And I think with Curie, why I've, I absolutely love what I'm doing is because our customers are cool. Like our customers are, you know, around my age, our demographic is mostly females. Again, super typically really active people. And I think
• 46:29
  the most rewarding part of running my company has been getting to connect with those people and hearing our customers' stories, having them email us. I do calls with our customers every quarter where I'll email a handful of customers and set up 15-minute calls with them just to get feedback and pitch ideas to them and stuff. And that is my favorite part of my job, is getting to connect with people and meet new people and
• 46:59
  see the impact that we're having on their lives. That is so cool. I love that. Thank you. Question number two, this is one we may have covered, but what has been the number one marketing moment that made the business pop? I think hand sanitizer launch was our biggest marketing moment. We launched our hand sanitizer in May of 2020. There was a huge hand sanitizer shortage.
• 47:27
  Everyone was, you were seeing memes on Instagram and stuff about how hand sanitizer, like all the hand sanitizers all of a sudden smelled like tequila for some reason. So we came out with a product that was better and that was really, really special and in a time that people really needed it. And it blew up. We sold through like 150,000 units in six or seven months.
• 47:56
  which was more product than we had ever sold in the history of the business. So it was a huge moment for us. And we donated half of our first batch, actually, to frontline workers. And we allowed people to nominate frontline workers. Frontline workers, not just hospital workers, but also delivery men and women and restaurants and people that were still having to...
• 48:25
  out of necessity, be on the front lines. And we donated half of the first batch, which was really awesome and important for me to kind of give back to the community in a time that people really needed it. Totally. I can imagine that would be so fulfilling. Yeah, it was just really exciting to see the product take off and to have that like rewarding feeling of being able to give back in a time of need. So that was the highlight of the business for me was that hand sanitizer launch.
• 48:55
  That's so cool. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to that other founders need to know about? Twitter, honestly, is a huge, a huge place for me to learn and connect with other founders. There's like this whole network on Twitter of direct to consumer brand founders and investors
• 49:25
  are constantly, you know, tweeting tips. I do the same, like I'll tweet, you know, we did a pricing survey a couple months ago and I tweeted, you know, the results and how that whole thing worked, how I did it. And so Twitter has been really great for meeting other founders, expanding my network and also learning new things. Also in terms of newsletters, I read 2 p.m.,
• 49:54
  which is a paid newsletter. I think it's like $50 a year, but it's chock full of really, really cool articles and insights about what trends. I think the author is Webb Smith and he just, he researches, he's super plugged in and knows every consumer brand and the whole newsletter is for D2C brands. And he does,
• 50:23
  you know, he'll summarize what, what trends that he's seeing and he'll do these really cool in-depth analyses of different companies and strategies. So 2 PM has been great. Also lean Lux is another newsletter that's really similar. It's kind of a daily digest of what's going on in, in directing and Zoomer. So lean Lux and 2 PM, like anytime we hire somebody, I sign them up for lean Lux
• 50:53
  It's just kind of that deep dive way to get in and get really knowledgeable fast. I love that. Getting your team to sign up to them as well so that they're across it. That's really clever. Thank you for that. I'm excited to go and check you out on Twitter. I'm going to link your account as well in the show notes for anyone else who wants to check you out there. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM and PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated?
• 51:23
  I wish I could say I was one of those founders that has a strong morning ritual, but I don't. I'm working on it. It's a goal of mine. I love to sleep. And even though I love what I do, it doesn't make getting out of bed in the morning any easier. So I have a hard time still with the morning routine thing. I'm not a morning person. Definitely drinking a cup of coffee is the first thing I do when I wake up.
• 51:50
  I've been starting to meditate for like five minutes in the morning. That's a new ritual for me that so far I've really enjoyed. So the coffee, the meditation, and then usually I just get right to work. I really should have a better morning routine, but getting out of bed, man.
• 52:12
  It's tough sometimes. I'm with you. I want to be that person that gets up at five or six, but I'm not. I know. Anytime I read articles of these people that have these amazing, elaborate morning routines and before 7 a.m. they've already exercised, meditated, journaled, read a book. And I'm like, God, I don't think that'll ever be me.
• 52:35
  Question number five is if you were given $1,000 of no strings attached grant money, where would you spend that in the business? If no strings attached money. Right now, a lot of our capital is going towards product development and inventory. So realistically, we'll probably go there. But what's working right now that we're starting, we started testing,
• 53:05
  two months ago and we're starting to allocate more of our budget too is, um, tick tock like ads. Yep. We've been doing tick tock ads and, you know, seeding products to tick tock influencers and creators. And, um, I think last month, like 30% of our revenue or something came from, from tick tock. So what? That's crazy. Yeah. Oh my God. It's really taken off. Um, so we're,
• 53:34
  putting a lot of our ad spend into TikTok right now, a lot of our energy into TikTok, but mostly product development, making new products. And ultimately we wanna be, I sometimes use Bath & Body Works as an example of what I aspire to be in terms of size and breadth of product line, Bath & Body Works, but clean, cooler, and mostly direct to consumer.
• 54:02
  And so that's really where the direction that we're trying to go is launching more products in the clean body care space and focusing on our signature scents, developing, keeping it fresh, always creating new scents and new products for our customers to enjoy. Lovely. Love it. Heaven. And last question, question number six is how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach when things don't go to plan?
• 54:30
  Oh my God. Well, as a founder, you better get used to dealing with failure because you have, I think that that has been one of the biggest like personal learnings and journeys that I've been on over these last like two and a half years is learning to get comfortable with failure, learning to take rejection and not let it derail you.
• 54:54
  I used to have a really, really hard time with that. I used to look at our product reviews from customers. And if we ever got a bad review, it would ruin my day. Or if I ever got a no from a retailer in the early days, it would ruin my day and I would get so downed.
• 55:13
  And I think that's been my biggest area of growth is learning to not let that failure and rejection derail you. Because as a founder, like you need to protect your energy and nothing drains your energy, like taking rejection and being, you know, pouting for weeks about it. You need to keep your energy and you need to keep that momentum and always be moving forward.
• 55:42
  And so I've learned to just let that stuff slide, roll off my back. You know, I'll get disappointed. We got a no recently from a major retailer that I, it's a huge goal of mine to get into this retailer. I got a no recently and you know, I got, I got upset about it. I was disappointed for a day, maybe, maybe even like a couple hours. And then was like, you know what? No is never a no forever.
• 56:08
  Like I said, we've gotten no's from everyone. You know, QVC started with a no. Nordstrom started with a no. And now look, it's all about timing. And so I think letting those things just roll off your back, keep moving forward. No is never a no forever. And keep pushing forward. That's just so, so important to get to that place where you can do that. One book actually recommendation is,
• 56:34
  that has helped me grow in terms of dealing with rejection and dealing with failure is, um, untethered soul by Michael Singer. Um, I downloaded the audio book, my, my fiance now fiance, when, when we first started, uh, dating, he recommended the book to me cause I was dealing with, I think a rejection, you know, that was, that had me really down.
• 57:00
  And he was like, you should read Untethered Soul. Like, it's a really great book. You can download the audio book. So I downloaded the audio book, listened to it. And I have probably listened to this book 15 times over the last two and a half years. Sometimes I just put my headphones in and go for a walk around the neighborhood and, like, listen to random chapters because it's that good. And it's really helped me get it.
• 57:26
  Yeah, it's really helped me get that mindset of just, you know, protecting my energy and not letting anything ruffle my feathers because I need to be moving forward. I can never stop. And that book has really changed me. That's so awesome. Thank you for the recommendation. I'm also going to link it in the show notes for anyone else who wants to check it out. I know I definitely will be. It sounds great.
• 57:54
  Sarah, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show and share all of your learnings and your off the beaten path marketing approach. And I'm excited to see what you come out with next, what the next product is. Thank you. This was so much fun. This just flew by, but thanks for all the great questions and you clearly did your research. Thank you.
• 58:21
  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.
• 58:46
  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.
• 59:09
  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.
• 59:25
  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.
• 59:50
  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.
• 1:00:12
  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.