Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Fave hits: Building the jewelry brand that Megan Markle adores, with Kimai’s co-founder Jessica Warch (part 1)

Transcript

Fave hits: Building the jewelry brand that Megan Markle adores, with Kimai’s co-founder Jessica Warch (part 1) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Hey, it's Dune here. This is just a quick message to let you know that for the next two weeks, we're bringing you a roundup of our favorite episodes that you might've missed the first time around. Episodes from women like Leslie Carls, the founder of Midday Squares, Ju Ru, the founder of Hero Cosmetics, and Michelle Grant, the founder of Lively. I hope you enjoy these episodes as much as I did recording them. And if you learned something, please do shout about it by posting it to your Instagram stories.
• 0:30
  This is Jess for Female Startup Club. Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the show. It's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Today on the show, we're learning from the co-founder of London-based jewellery brand, Kimai. Kimai is a modern, fine jewellery brand that delivers true traceability by using lab-grown diamonds and recycled 18-karat gold.
• 0:59
  By using lab-grown diamonds, which are physically and chemically identical to those that are mined, and recycled gold, they cut out all mines and middlemen and control the whole jewelry process from design to delivery. They operate on a mission to prove that diamond mines are not forever and that the biggest luxury is knowing where your jewelry comes from and safe in the knowledge that it doesn't harm people or the planet.
• 1:22
  In this episode, we chat through the serendipitous moment that generated $150,000 worth of sales, her approach to fundraising, and how they built a new brand in the midst of a pandemic. And by the way, if you want to come to our London launch party for the book, remember to email me so we can pop you on the list at hello at femalestartupclub.com. Let's get into it. This is Jess for Female Startup Club. Jess, hi, welcome to the show. Hey, thank you so much for having me.
• 1:52
  I'm excited to have you on here today. Same. Really excited to talk about anything and everything. Do you want to start by introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about what the business actually is? Of course. So, hey, everyone. I'm Jess. I grew up in Belgium, in Antwerp, and moved to London, have been living in London for the past 10 years. So for those of you who don't know, basically, Antwerp is the diamond center of the world.
• 2:21
  So we basically grew up around diamonds and jewelry our entire life. And over the years, moving to London and kind of like getting out of our comfort zone, we started to become more and more conscious of our impact, more conscious of our purchasing decision. And that's how we started asking questions about the origins of our purchases. We were seeing...
• 2:41
  all kinds of industry evolving in terms of transparency, in terms of supply chain and looking at the diamond and fine jewelry industry, which was an industry that was really important to us personally growing up. We couldn't find any simple answers to our question. It was impossible to know where the diamonds we were buying were coming from.
• 3:02
  And that's basically how we launched Kimai. So I'm the co-founder of Kimai, which is a lab-grown diamond and recycled gold, fine jewelry brand. And so, yeah, so basically it started looking into that issue, started talking to different people, really to understand how can we solve it? How can we make that industry, not only from a transparency perspective, but also from a marketing and the way we talk to our customer, more approachable to us as a younger generation.
• 3:32
  basically the idea behind the brand and how we decided to use only lab-grown diamonds in all the pieces we make and I don't know do you want me to tell you everything straight away or I will I will guide you I will ask you some things I want to dig in a little bit first about more you know this time in your life where you were starting to
• 3:53
  explore the idea of having a lab-grown diamond company. Because you started a few years ago, and I feel like even now it's only just kind of becoming, I don't know if mainstream is the right word, but I certainly didn't really know about lab-grown diamonds. And obviously you come from the jewelry industry. I think your dad was in the industry and your co-founder's father was also in the industry.
• 4:16
  But what kind of got you thinking about lab growing diamonds and how did you become exposed to that specifically? Or did you know about it from a really long time ago?
• 4:24
  So there were two issues in the industry that we just felt that it wasn't talking to us anymore as younger customers. Firstly, like jewelry has always been important to us because it's something so sentimental. It's something you can carry over from one generation to another. It's something you buy yourself or get from someone to celebrate a special moment in time or that reminds you of a special person.
• 4:46
  So we wanted to figure out how do we make that industry that hasn't seen any changes over the years, that has known many controversies from blood diamond to child labor, how do we make it relevant again? And so we started talking to different diamond traders, started looking deeper into that issue and even asking diamond traders about the origins of the stones they were selling today.
• 5:09
  about anything about the supply chain, the working environment, it was really impossible to get any transparency at all. So we wanted to find an alternative that doesn't trade off on quality. And Loveground Diamond at the time, so the first time we heard about those diamonds was about four years ago. And at the time, it was really the first time we heard about it. Even looking up online, there was very, very little information available.
• 5:35
  And that's why even today we talk to many people that haven't heard about those diamonds yet. But there's definitely been a huge awareness since then. But at that time, when we decided to use those lab-grown diamonds, basically to give people a context of what those diamonds are, today, thanks to technology, we're able to replicate the mining environment in the lab and we're able to grow diamonds in the exact same way as they would under Earth, but without the social environmental impact of mining.
• 6:05
  When I say exactly the same way, it means that those diamonds are chemically and physically identical, that a diamond trader can differentiate one from the other. And no one can really see the difference besides with a very specific machine that has been developed over the years. And it's not even 100%.
• 6:24
  So when we first heard about those diamonds, we really saw this as our best solution to bring not only the transparency we were looking for, but also the modern and innovation side that the industry was missing. And so we knew that it was a challenge because, as I said, like that.
• 6:43
  There wasn't many articles available online. The diamond industry has a lot of money and can pressure any new technology through marketing, etc. Like marketing fees, publishing companies, etc. But we found it as the best way to modernize that industry.
• 7:07
  And so it came with as well, a lot of education. So when we launched, most people could see those diamonds as fake diamonds. What does it mean lab grown? So it's definitely a learning curve for customers. And we're not here to tell them, okay, you should only buy lab grown diamond. We're here to give them the information and educate them on the topic. And we've definitely seen a huge difference.
• 7:33
  The industry has definitely shifted in the past three years. So when we started, we launched with fine jewelry, thinking, OK, it's going to be easier to educate customers with pieces that are below $1,000. Not even thinking of engagement rings, because engagement rings are more traditional purchase. It's going to take longer for customers.
• 7:52
  to accept that change and make that switch for such an important purchase in their life. But with education, with customers becoming more and more conscious, people are really looking for an alternative. And the more information you've got on the topic, the more you understand that that is the best alternative today and that you're getting the exact same results. So we launched Engage Run Ring a year ago, and we're definitely seeing that trend continue to grow.
• 8:20
  That's so amazing. Just a side note question. How long does it take a lab-grown diamond to form? So it takes between 6 to 12 weeks, and it will depend on the size of the stone that you're trying to grow, etc. Wow. And when you're looking at the machine, can you see it growing? Yes.
• 8:44
  Yeah, you can see there's a very tiny hole in order for you to see it grow. But I can send you a video afterwards. That is so cool. Oh, my God. Yes, please send me a video. I would love to see it. So obviously, jewelry industry, you need a lot of capital. That's no secret there. What kind of money did you need to invest to get started and launch the brand?
• 9:07
  So when we started, to be honest, we had zero understanding of what it means, fundraising. And also we had zero confidence in going up to investors and asking for money just based on an idea.
• 9:22
  On top of it, we didn't know any investors at the time. So for us, when we came up with the idea, we wanted to test the product market fit before going for any big investment. So we were lucky enough that because we come from that industry, we didn't have to commit to any inventory in advance.
• 9:42
  And we could really produce one piece of each design. We started with a small collection of 20 pieces. We could pay the suppliers much later and were able to launch with a very simple website without any strong branding, without any strong launch day, really testing it out with friends and family and figuring out ways to get the word out there.
• 10:05
  And then basically at that point, our only strength, because we didn't have money to invest in marketing and honestly, our branding side of things was very basic. We took the simplest like Shopify website. We're like, OK, so what do we do now? And so at that time, like our strength was really like emails. Emails are free. Get in touch with people.
• 10:27
  and figure out ways to get the word out there. There was also another tricky part is that compared to like other D2C brands where their price point is usually average order value at a hundred dollars, you can kind of like, let's say take the risk of gifting a few people and hope for the best because at that point you won't be
• 10:46
  able to pay any influencer to wear your pieces. But for us, because our average order value is more in the 600, 700, and today it's getting even higher, it was even gifting someone was like a big kind of risk. A hundred percent. And I always think this about high price point products, like how you approach influencer marketing and gifting, because it's such a big piece of the puzzle for regular D2C brands.
• 11:12
  Definitely. And that's definitely something we're still working on. Like we haven't done much gifting just because of that. And also today, like it's so crowded in the industry in general. Like if you look at one influencer, like you'll see one product after the other and you kind of like disappears in that messaging and it doesn't feel as authentic. And for us, what is important is,
• 11:33
  We want people that align with our brand to wear our pieces. And we want as well, like on top of just showing that the designs are nice, which we're trying to work on. It's about telling a story. It's about educating customers on what they're buying. So getting back to my point, basically, when we started, we launched a brand in November 2018. And so we started sending cold emails to people and trying to figure out who would be the best ambassador.
• 12:04
  Like who? Like entrepreneurs, influencers, but like really aiming high. So basically we looked at Meghan Markle as the perfect kind of match for our brand. Because at the time, like she was wearing a lot of young brands, a lot of female founded companies. And she kind of like was also...
• 12:25
  changing a whole kind of like more traditional way of doing like in the royalty family etc so she was the dream but of course like when you dream of Meghan Markle you think it's never gonna happen but what we've done is like looking into her clothes network trying to figure out how can we get in touch with her and how can we sell her our story um and basically through sent through a
• 12:54
  No way. That's so cool. Yeah. What? Wait, I need more information here. Like, what do you mean cold emails? Like, what did you send and who were you sending them to? Like a business account or just like her friends or like, what do you mean?
• 13:10
  Honestly, I am a strong believer in cold emails. I cold email everyone, even investors, but we'll get to it later. But whenever we started raising funds, we didn't know anyone. So just looking online, figuring out what are their emails, guessing them or finding them.
• 13:26
  And with Meghan Markle, it was really about looking into who are her close friends that aren't as mediatized as she is. And then going on their Facebook, going on their LinkedIn, like figuring out what their email. So it was more of a personal email and really super, super straightforward, super simple. Just telling them about who we are, what's our story, why we're doing what we're doing. And that I would love for Meghan to wear our pieces.
• 13:55
  Oh my gosh. And so she wears your pieces. What happens? Like what's the impact of doing something like that? So basically we get an email. We think it's, of course, it's spam. Like it's not real. Like it's not possible. Like for two hours, we're looking into that email. Is it true? Is it not? And basically she can't accept gifts. So like they bought the pieces.
• 14:19
  and that was like in December and so they said okay she's probably gonna wear it anytime soon but then you never know right like you don't know what happens with those pieces and then every day checking the news every day being like is there a new outfit posted exactly where is Megan where is Megan we're obsessed and then in January I think it was mid-Jan
• 14:46
  She did her first official outing with her baby bump and she wore the pieces. And basically the pieces she wore were like a very unique design. And usually she's more traditional in the design she wears. And it was also an event that was really meditized because of the fact that like first time she comes out with her baby bump. First time in the new year that she does an official royal outing.
• 15:12
  And so press really, really picked it up. And on top of it, first time that royalty is seen wearing lab-grown diamonds. And back then, two years ago, three years ago, most people were still questioning that industry. What's going to happen? Is it the future? Is it not? What's happening in that space?
• 15:36
  You know when something like that happens, all these pictures come out. How do they know it's your brand? Have you already told the media or do you have to backtrack and be like, that's our brand and like piggyback off those photos? To be honest, like I think they must have someone in-house that kind of communicates with press because we didn't have to do anything. And also the press that came out were focusing on Lab Grand Diamond. Like Meghan Markle, where's Lab Grand Diamond?
• 16:00
  That is so cool. Yeah. Oh, my God. It's really something that people picked up. So we're super lucky, which made us sell worldwide super quickly without any investment at first. But it's really true, like hustling and getting things done. So that enabled us to kind of get money in organically.
• 16:26
  Right. And because you made everything and you still make everything to order. So you had no inventory costs. You started with a small amount of money, kind of like super bootstrapped it. You have this crazy moment. A lot of orders flood in. And this opens the window to...
• 16:42
  more people exactly no definitely so we started with five thousand dollars each into the business um and that's it and so today of course we we don't make everything to order just because in order to scale up and in order to ship faster like our pieces that are performing best we have some inventory on hand limited compared to like any other bread because we don't want to have like we
• 17:07
  find ourselves with waste at the end of uh the year but but yeah at that time like we basically when we we we sold the earrings to megan market we're like okay let's produce five earrings just in case she wears them but we were so out of like we were so far off how many kind of of that particular earring did it sell like in the kind of immediate aftermath
• 17:33
  In like two, three weeks, we've done $150,000 without any marketing. Okay, so it's super impactful. That's crazy. Wow. Yeah.
• 17:46
  Okay, so what happens next? You get this money in. You're obviously losing your minds with excitement because this is, of course, one of those moments that, yes, you have to plan and be strategic and be doing all the things. But also, you actually can't plan for this and for that outcome. It's a bit of luck.
• 18:05
  Yeah, impossible to plan. And definitely the month after that happened, like we had to fulfill those orders. Right. And we didn't have any inventory. And of course, we didn't have a team. Like we were as my co-founder was still in a full time job. Like we were making the packages ourselves at night, like dealing with customer service and where's my package. So it was a very intense month.
• 18:29
  But yeah, from there, we kind of took advantage of that situation to go and fundraise because we're talking to different people. People were telling us it's the right time to fundraise. You've proven your concept. Now, in order to scale up, you'll need cash and take advantage of what you've been able to do now because you never know what happens afterwards.
• 18:51
  Okay, so what's that story? How does that happen? So basically, that's when we fundraised $1.2 million. And that happened, again, as I said before, we didn't know anyone in the industry, the entrepreneurs or investors or any of those because we were just like starting up.
• 19:11
  But that was as well, like cold emails, starting reaching out to people that have something in common with us. So like female founders were the easiest because they understand the product. They've gone through what we've gone through. And you connect much easier at first. So we started looking up female entrepreneurs that are investors, that do some angel investing. And started reaching out to them, getting on calls.
• 19:38
  And that's how we got like our first money in through like angels. And then actually when they are in, they intro you to other people and other people and other people. So in that early time, just before just to interrupt you again, because I have so many questions as we go. No, go for it. In that time where you're kind of, it's your first time fundraising, you're doing kind of angels. What's the kind of ask? Like how big are the checks that you ask for? Is there a kind of like...
• 20:07
  minimum that you were asking or were you just kind of open for whatever at the time we didn't have the confidence again of like saying a minimum but we were super confident on the fact that like we didn't want to get just any money in we wanted to make sure that like we it was a personal fit because we kind of thought of the fact like
• 20:30
  It's scary to get investment in because you feel like, you know, like when you get a job and start earning money, you feel like you're getting rid of your parents on that side of things. And then when you get investment in, you feel like you're getting new parents. So you want to make sure that like, you know them well, and you want to make sure that
• 20:47
  Of course, you want to get their advice, but you don't want to be pressured too much either because you want to be able to build your business in a way that makes sense rather than from a kind of shareholders perspective. So we were super strict on who we're getting in and wanted to make, yeah, to be sure they're the right people. But we didn't put like a minimum in, like a minimum amount in order to join because some people we got in,
• 21:14
  are like amazing entrepreneurs and that have an amazing network, amazing expertise. And for us, it was important to get those people in rather than how much money they were going to invest. So it's really dependent on the people. But we got like half of the round was like angels. And then we got a fund investing as well. So it was half, half. Oh my gosh. That's so interesting. Okay. And so you get the funding 1.2 million. I think you said in USD.
• 21:44
  What are the milestones kind of or what's the what happens from then to now?
• 21:50
  So when we got the money, it was just a few months before COVID. And basically for us, what was the most important part was, as I said, we launched a very simple website, no branding at all, like compared to how we look at brands today, whenever they launch, they've got like a super strong launch day with amazing PR. Their branding has been worked on for months. Like for us, it was like really scrappy. So first thing we wanted to do is like invest in branding.
• 22:17
  So we worked a lot on our branding and kind of like weren't doing any marketing at the time because we really wanted to be organic on that side of things until we get our brand to the right place. And then when COVID hit...
• 22:31
  we kind of found ourselves in a situation where we've got a lot of money on the bank, like we just fundraise. The world is basically falling apart. We're selling a luxury product. We don't feel comfortable pushing that kind of product in the first few months of the pandemic. So we kind of like, and we don't have a team yet, right? So you don't have any...
• 22:50
  Like, it's kind of like the best situation to be in. But at the same time, as young entrepreneurs, like we don't want to risk spending money without understanding like what's happening in the world. So we kind of like brought all of our costs down to zero and really focused on being close to our customers, understanding what they were looking for in the brand, in their product, et cetera.
• 23:14
  And it's really at that time that we started working on the engagement ring category that we thought would come much later down the line. But actually, there's been more and more demand around it. We were educating customers around Upgrown Diamond. And this kind of accelerated on that side of things. And then when COVID kind of like went a bit, I wouldn't say disappeared because it still hasn't. But when COVID kind of slowed down, we started really investing in marketing. And we're really...
• 23:41
  Because we're a young entrepreneur, like it's our first company, like we're testing things out. It's really about like testing and learning, like digital marketing. How does it work? Like we spend money without having any return, but then until you find your strategy. And yes, we're lucky that we've got money, that we're able to do those kinds of things. But I think it's part of the game to really take those risks and figure out what's the best way to get, again, the word out there and to get your product in the right hands.
• 24:10
  What have you found in that time that does work well?
• 24:16
  I think for us, what we see is that we focus a lot on our customer service. So what we've seen is that jewelry is a very loyal purchase. As soon as you trust your jeweler, and also because we offer that bespoke and customization side of things, people come back for more. So for us, it's about being a personal brand rather than just seeing a big logo. It's really about talking to our customers directly. If someone has any question, they can reach out.
• 24:44
  We can get on calls with them. We really offer that very high-end and luxurious service that you'll only find usually at like fine jewelry brands if you're like a VIP client. So we really, really focus on customer service as a whole. But then I think it's a mix of things like definitely digital marketing works, but you don't want to rely on it too much because you don't want the day that you turn the engine off.
• 25:09
  and that sales stop coming in. You want loyal customers, you want customers that buy into the brand and the mission rather than just like a nice picture. But we're still trying things out, but definitely digital has been useful, being on social, being direct with our customers, being transparent, doing Zoom calls when needed. And as I said before, like influencers or like gifting strategy, we haven't done a wide one, but for us it's really,
• 25:38
  about getting the right people to wear the pieces. So we don't give many people, but the people we do give, there are people that have a voice, there are people that don't have millions of followers, but they might be like entrepreneurs, like with thousands, 5,000 followers, but they can really represent the brand and talk about the brand and personally love the product. So it's more like people reaching out rather than us going and looking for them.
• 26:06
  Yeah, and I can also imagine, you know, we've seen the kind of capsule collections created in collaboration with influencers. So I imagine when it's that higher price point, those are the kinds of initiatives that, you know, come into fruition.
• 26:21
  Yeah, so we haven't launched any collabs yet, but it's definitely something we're working on this year. So we're launching one soon in March, hopefully, and definitely like other discussions that are ongoing and we'll see how that goes. But yeah, it's definitely interesting. And also for us, from a creative side of things, to get a different mind in and to get other people's perspective and do something a bit different than our usual design.
• 26:50
  So we'll see how that goes. But yeah, we're excited for Collapse. What we've done in the past as well, we've done pop, like not pop-ups or whatever, like however you want to call them. But basically we've done like pop-up at Reformation in New York and London. We're talking to other brands to do some more this year in London and New York as well. So where we go in, we're just in for like a day or two. We do piercing so people can come and discover the brand. And because we're only online and we sell like,
• 27:20
  quite high average order value online only. People love coming, meeting us, touching the pieces, trying them on.
• 27:29
  Oh my God, that is so cool. We should do a pop-up at my book launch party. We should do piercings. Let's do it. Can we do that? I would love to do that. Oh my gosh, that is so cool. You know what's funny as well is like when you're talking about the digital marketing side of things, for anyone listening, that's how actually I discovered your brand and I had seen an ad.
• 27:51
  It was a unique piece that I'd never seen before. I bookmarked it. And then when we got introduced and I looked at the brand, I was like, oh, my God, I know this brand. I love this brand. They're in my saved folder. And, like, it's those little moments where you see something and it's so true. It's like it takes you multiple times to kind of buy something or actually take note of what that is. It's like you see a little something, you save it, you hear about it in the news and you're like, oh, yeah, that comes into your brain, but it doesn't, like...
• 28:20
  cement until a few times and I love that love that for us definitely no and it's and it's definitely like digital uh marketing builds awareness then it's not the only touch point because again it's expensive and we want people to be thoughtful about their purchase we're not pushing people to buy the entire collection we're more into like thoughtful purchases so it allows yeah it allows you to reach a wide crowd but then there's work to be done afterwards
• 28:48
  Yes, absolutely. To keep them in your loop and reach them in different ways. I love it. Exactly. What do you think is your key piece of advice for entrepreneurs in 2022?
• 29:03
  I think it's super cliche, but it's true. You know, like it's really about like, I feel like one thing is that a lot of people before launching a brand or a company, they kind of like try to balance out the pros and cons too often. And I think for us, when we started, we were young and super naive and never really kind of questioned what it's meant to be an entrepreneur or what it's.
• 29:29
  Like what are the pros? What are the cons? Of course, you need to understand your market, but sometimes you just need to go for it. Because I think like if maybe today, if we wanted to launch a brand, we wouldn't have launched it bootstrap. We wouldn't have launched it without the branding. We wouldn't be as crappy in reaching out to like Meghan Markle, which we would think is like impossible to get. So I felt sometimes like don't think too much and just try it out. And I felt like,
• 29:58
  You see all those companies fundraising a lot of money and you think that that's the way to go. But there's a lot that can be done with very little money, at least in the beginning. Definitely to scale up, you need more cash. But you can test out the market and you can just try it out and then see what happens.
• 30:17
  100%. So true. It's all about just like tiny steps of action, action towards your goal, just trying, testing, iterating, trying again, asking again. Exactly, exactly. It's all about learning. Like every day we learn and every day we test. And definitely, of course, you need to be careful, but just go for it. 100%.
• 30:43
  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.
• 31:07
  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.
• 31:30
  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.
• 31:47
  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.
• 32:12
  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.
• 32:34
  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.