Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / How to buy a business (& have Venus Williams as a part owner!), with Asutra’s Owner & CEO Stephanie Morimoto

Transcript

How to buy a business (& have Venus Williams as a part owner!), with Asutra’s Owner & CEO Stephanie Morimoto · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Stephanie Morimoto for Female Startup Club. Hey everyone, it's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Today I'm chatting with Stephanie Morimoto, the founder of Asutra.
• 0:20
  Asutra is women-owned and women-led. They offer natural remedies for pain, sleep, and rejuvenation. A few years ago, Venus Williams loved Asutra's products so much that she decided she wanted to be part of building this incredible brand and has since become part owner and chief brand officer.
• 0:40
  In this episode, we're chatting about how to buy a business, how the partnership with Venus came about, and the key learnings now that the brand has expanded into thousands of retail stores across America.
• 0:53
  And as with every episode, I do have a quick favor to ask you, and I'm giving you my major thanks in advance. Reviews on the Apple Podcast app help new ears find us. So if you've been loving the show, would you please take a moment to leave us a review? And a million bonus points if you want to send me a screenshot on Instagram and I will share it on my page. I would love to give you and your brand a shout-out and a little love there too. You can find me at Doon Roisin, which is D-O-O-N-E,
• 1:22
  R-O-I-S-I-N. And you can just pop into my DMs if you want to chat. I love to chat. This is Stephanie for Female Startup Club. Stephanie, hi, hello. Welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast.
• 1:38
  Hey, thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here and learn all about your brand. I always get you to start by introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about who you are and what your business actually is for those who don't know.
• 1:53
  Great. Well, hi, everyone. I'm Stephanie Morimoto. I'm the owner and CEO of Asutra. So at Asutra, our mission is what we call active self-care. We want to help you take care of yourself on purpose so you can take on anything. And we offer over 50 wellness products from natural solutions for pain relief and sleep support to bath, body, and skincare to help you do just that.
• 2:18
  Sounds heavenly. Love it. Where does your entrepreneurial story actually begin? Where did you get the idea for the brand? Let's go back to that time of your life. Yeah. Well, I'll share a couple of moments in my life. I would say my entrepreneurial spirit started in childhood. I learned from my grandparents.
• 2:39
  So my grandfather on my dad's side and my grandmother on my mom's side. My grandfather worked his way through college and medical school and ended up becoming an eye doctor in a town called Joliet about an hour outside of Chicago. So he really took a chance because at the time Joliet was just cornfields, a lot of farms, but it has become a pretty sizable town of about 100,000 people. And he built his ophthalmology practice from scratch there. Yeah.
• 3:08
  And he was such a role model for me. He was truly a hero. It was great to see him build a practice where he could be successful, but also help people in the community. He would often go to the local prison, for example, and provide health care for inmates who wouldn't otherwise have access to that kind of care. And he created jobs for people in a town where they were hard to come by. So he was definitely a model for me.
• 3:33
  And then my grandmother on my mom's side had to flee her home country of Indonesia, move to Los Angeles, California, and start all over again. And the one skill she had was sewing. So she started as a seamstress, and then she worked her way up to build a pattern-making business, working with some really large fashion brands, including like Donna Karan.
• 3:54
  And so it was really cool to see her do that. And she, again, built that from the ground up and lived a life where she ran her business, but also lived with real joy and love for her family and everybody in her life. So really great examples, two totally different types of businesses. And because I really admired my grandparents so much, I wanted to be just like them. So I'd say that's really like the driving motivation for my entrepreneurship. Yeah.
• 4:21
  In terms of a sutra, I actually bought the business from the founders. I did not start it. And so the business was founded in 2015 by two brothers in their garage, like many startups are. And I was a customer. I was using the products.
• 4:38
  So our original product line at Asutra is a line of organic yoga mat cleaning sprays. And I'm big into yoga, fitness, and wellness. And I found the cleaning spray online on Amazon, gave it a shot, really loved it. It has these essential oil blends, a castile soap base. So it's super clean, great for your mat.
• 4:58
  And then I realized there were other products from the brand, like a menthol pain cream and body scrubs. I tried those products and loved them, too. And then honestly, through serendipity, I met a small business lawyer who helps people buy and sell businesses. And he said, you know, I just got this memo that a wellness products company is for sale.
• 5:18
  Would you be interested in taking a look at it? And I said, sure. And then I got the details on the brand and I said, oh, my gosh, I have this stuff in my house right now, like this pain creams in my medicine cabinet and the yoga mat cleaner is next to my yoga mat.
• 5:32
  So when I met the two brothers who founded it, they were serial entrepreneurs. They had started, sold, failed at a number of businesses, and they were already dreaming up their next business, which is why they wanted to sell Asutra. So they were obviously really excited to sell to somebody who'd been a passionate customer. And when I did the due diligence, I was really pumped about the great catalog of high quality products.
• 5:56
  the rave reviews from thousands and thousands of people, but also, frankly, the opportunity to take things to the next level. When I was using Asutra, it wasn't really a brand. It was a set of products. And so I saw the opportunity to create a real brand around Asutra and reach a wider audience.
• 6:16
  Oh my gosh, so many cool things. So many questions that I have. First of all, your grandparents. Wow. What an inspiration to have those two people in your life and put you on this pathway of entrepreneurship. That's so cool. I want to dig a little deeper into you buying a small business and how that works. So specifically, are you able to share where the brand was in terms of revenue and what the asking price was it, you know, to be bought for and like what they were looking for kind of thing?
• 6:47
  Yeah. So what I'll share is at the time of the business, they obviously started it from zero. It grew pretty rapidly, but it was still in the low seven figures. And because the business was 99% on Amazon, so I should take a step back and share that. The two brothers who started it, they started making this organic yoga mat cleaner in their garage. They threw it up on Etsy and eBay. And then somebody said, you should try to sell it on Amazon.
• 7:13
  So they did, and it was at a time where Amazon was growing so rapidly back in 2015. So between the growth of Amazon itself plus a unique product, it grew pretty significantly in a fairly short amount of time on Amazon. So then the two brothers really focused on optimizing Asutra for Amazon specifically, and
• 7:35
  So they grew it to a good sizable business, but 99% on Amazon. And so the thing I'll share is that today, quote unquote, Amazon businesses, so brands that sell primarily on Amazon have become hotter commodities. But at the time, being so focused on Amazon was actually somewhat of a liability because the revenue streams were not diversified. So we basically were able to buy it for one times revenue.
• 8:03
  Whereas in other cases, you might be paying, you know, two to four times revenue or five to seven times EBITDA. So earnings before interest, tax and depreciation.
• 8:13
  So I think we got a pretty good deal on it, if you will. And then the way that we were able to purchase it is we accessed in the U.S. There is a government agency called the Small Business Administration. They offer government backed loans to help people buy and sell small businesses. So we were able to access that loan to purchase the business. And then, of course, I put a down payment on it as well.
• 8:39
  Wow, that's so cool. How interesting. I love that for you. When you say, and as expected, you would go through a period of due diligence. What are you looking for in due diligence? And how long did that timeline take until you kind of felt like, oh, I'm actually going to do this. I want the brand or I want the business rather.
• 9:02
  Yeah, so we have been lucky in that a set of friends had actually done something similar. So I had a friend who was interested in buying a small business. They found one where the founder was ready to retire, but he didn't have anyone to hand it over to.
• 9:20
  And so they also did the same thing where they took an SBA-backed loan, they did the diligence, they bought the business, and then they started to take it to the next level and grow it and put better systems into place. So I was able to learn from their experience, which was great, and understand what they did in the due diligence period. Typically, when you're looking to buy a small business, you first sign what's called a letter of intent.
• 9:44
  It's a very simple letter that says, you know, my intent, assuming that all the due diligence comes back positively, is to purchase this business by X date. And then once both parties, the seller and the prospective buyers sign that LOI or letter of intent, then you have a period of exclusivity. So as the prospective buyer, you're the only one that gets to look at all the records and all the information to do due diligence. So you're not competing with somebody else during that process.
• 10:12
  So typically you sign that letter of intent first, and then you have anywhere from, you know, 60 to 90 days, depending on the business, to gather all the information and ask all the questions you want to determine whether you want to buy the business or not. It's also the timeline during which you would line up your loan paperwork or other financials to make sure that you actually have the cash on hand to buy the business.
• 10:34
  So that's how that process worked. And during that due diligence period, we looked at everything. I mean, we looked at the formulations of the products, we looked at the financials, we read all the customer reviews, we researched Amazon, we looked at other opportunities for growing the brand direct to consumer on our site, retail distribution. We really tried to learn every single thing that we could about the business. And based on that, we saw that one, there was a good cost structure.
• 11:02
  So the products were made with a good gross margin. And it seemed like we could probably even improve upon that from the standpoint of systematizing the production and potentially even working with other manufacturing partners. Two, as I mentioned before, it was all on Amazon. And at the time, when we looked at what the products were on offer, we thought, gosh, we could probably rebrand this and actually grow our own community off of Amazon and
• 11:31
  you know, on social, on our site. And then finally, you know, there was, at the time, self-care wasn't as much of a buzzword, you know, six years ago or five years ago, but we really saw an opportunity to probably be a source and a go-to for self-care that could resonate in retail long-term. And so based on all of those things and based on the strong customer base that already existed on Amazon, we thought this was the right risk to take.
• 11:58
  Wow, that's incredible. How cool. So the day that you get the keys to the castle, everything is yours. What actually happens when you're like, oh, okay, so now I own a warehouse or not, maybe you don't own the warehouse, but there's a warehouse full of stuff that I now own. And what do I do now?
• 12:19
  Yeah. So the business had been founded by the two brothers in Texas. But as I mentioned before, I'm from Illinois and we live in Chicago. And it was really important for me to build the business in Chicago so that I could create good jobs for people who need them here in my hometown and contribute to the economy here. So we got the keys to the castle, figuratively speaking, because we did not take over the facility or the warehouse in Texas. We actually stood it up from
• 12:47
  So we do rent our facility. I had to find a great space and a great landlord. He was awesome in refurbishing it for our needs. And then we did everything from the ground up. I made many trips to Home Depot to get shelves and tables and different types of equipment. And we set it up from scratch.
• 13:08
  we also had to build a team from scratch. So I was really lucky to partner with a couple of nonprofits who work with people who've been kind of down on their luck and out of the workforce full-time that are looking to get back in. And through those nonprofits, I found a woman who...
• 13:25
  Had done a similar role, but in a smaller company and was looking for a change. And she was one of the best hires I made. She was incredible. So she came on, took a risk, came on. You know, she walked into an empty warehouse and shared my vision and said, oh, yeah, we can do this together. And helped me build the team and the operation from there. Oh, I love that. So cool.
• 13:48
  When you have a brand that exists purely on Amazon, my guess is you didn't own any of the customer data. You needed to figure out a way to bring these people into the new space and the new world of your D2C store or potentially, you know, through retail partners and things like that. What was your launch strategy to try and start getting to know these customers and get them to your site?
• 14:14
  Yeah, great question. You're absolutely correct. So we're what's called a third-party seller on Amazon, which means that we don't own our customer data. We can only see order data and sales and things like that.
• 14:27
  For us, the first step was really to define the brand. So like I mentioned before, there was this really great catalog of products and passionate users who'd written amazing reviews, but there wasn't a real brand that hung together. So the first step we took is we invested in deep market research. We worked with an agency that partnered with emerging brands like ours
• 14:52
  And they helped us do hundreds and hundreds of interviews with people who would be in our target demographic to understand what did they want from a brand like Sutra. And what was cool is we were actually able to find people who were users of the product already, as well as people who weren't, but kind of fit the profile we were targeting.
• 15:12
  And what came out of that research was that people really loved the idea of a go-to brand they could trust to curate the right ingredients and formulations to help them with their self-care. And the even more important point was that they were folks who were working moms or parents
• 15:31
  Students with side hustle businesses, I mean, people who were just doing all these different things in their lives, and they understood the importance of setting aside time to take care of themselves well so they could be their best in their day-to-day life. They were really intentional about it, and they resonated with that message of active self-care, taking care of yourself on purpose.
• 15:53
  So we thought, okay, that's our hook. That's the story we really want to tell both in terms of our products and how they help you, right? This isn't about escaping your stresses. This is about leaning into your self-care and leaning into your life.
• 16:06
  And then we also wanted to make sure that we could provide the types of content to help folks with those routines that they could incorporate into their lives to take care of themselves well. So that was step one. We then used that brand positioning to completely overhaul the look and feel of the brand. So we redid the logo, the packaging, the color palette, and we built a new website, and we
• 16:29
  that felt energetic and joyful and that would really attract people. And we relaunched, so I purchased the Sutra in 2018. We did all that market research work while continuing to sell on Amazon. And then we relaunched the brand in 2019. And in terms of attracting people, one, I think we obviously invested in digital advertising and that sort of thing. So Google,
• 16:54
  We established a social media presence. We had an email list that we inherited that we really tried to engage and clean and see how many of these people are truly engaged. And of course, we emailed those folks. And we also reached out to family and friends and said, hey, we're relaunching our brand. We're relaunching our site. We'd love for you to come check it out and support.
• 17:18
  And we had a really amazing first month when we launched the site. It was really cool to see the energy of people who had been part of the Asutra family or part of my network come check it out by support. And then that really started the momentum rolling. Wowee, that must have been an exciting first month, I'm sure.
• 17:40
  Yes, I was checking our sales daily on Shopify or hourly even. Oh, my gosh. Having the little notification on your phone where it's like, ding, ding, ding. Yeah, exactly. I love that sound. Do you think that when you relaunched the brand on Amazon, that then inspired people to come and check out your website to be like, oh, you know, this is changing. Something's going on here.
• 18:04
  Yeah, I do think it did because one of the things we really pride ourselves on is really great customer service. So we often get people actually emailing us directly to our customer service line saying, I found you on Amazon and then I didn't realize you had all these other products. Then I found your website and I'm checking you out and I just wanted to let you know. So we've had those kinds of inbound communications that tell us, okay,
• 18:28
  There is probably a chunk of people who are on Amazon that got curious when they saw the new packaging. We also obviously put our website, our social handle and things like that on the new packaging. So they knew where to find us outside of Amazon. So I think there is definitely some of that. You know, I will also share, I think it's important as entrepreneurs to share the places we failed, I think. Yes, please.
• 18:51
  Please tell me. Yeah, I think one thing we didn't really realize is I was so focused on getting this new brand and this new energy out there that I didn't quite realize how many people on Amazon didn't necessarily know the brand of a Sutra, but instead recognize the packaging, or recognize the product name and their loyalty was perhaps more to the product name than to the brand. So I do think we lost a chunk of customers on Amazon who like,
• 19:20
  literally just couldn't find us anymore because they remembered what the packaging looked like, not what the brand name was. And I didn't, you know, we sort of learned that lesson by doing it and then realizing, oh, we got some people coming to our site and coming directly, but we also probably lost some people who didn't realize that it was a packaging change, not a completely new product or set of products. That's really interesting. How would you, in hindsight,
• 19:51
  Yeah, I thought about that a lot. I mean, you know, I think one thing we could have done was phase the rebrand on Amazon.
• 19:59
  We really wanted, at the time when we talked about it as a team, we really wanted consistency because from an operational standpoint, it would have been really difficult to have some of our products in the old packaging and some of our products in the new packaging. And for people who did come to our site, we didn't want them to see one thing on Amazon and then come to our site and be like, wait, this is totally different. I'm confused.
• 20:23
  So we did make the call to just make it consistent. So in retrospect, we could have phased it in, but I'm not sure that would have made sense from a brand standpoint. I think probably the bigger thing that I should have realized or that I would advise if anybody's going through something similar is just to recognize, to better understand
• 20:43
  Do people really know the brand or do they know a specific product? And with any rebrand, I think you will probably lose some people because they're used to the old thing or a lot of folks just see new packaging and they assume something has changed with the product, even if you communicate with them that that's not the case. And so if you expect that you'll lose some small percentage of people, what are the things that you can do to try to make up for that in other channels?
• 21:10
  Got it. Got it. Wow. Goodness. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, of course. When you look back since you, you know, relaunched in 2018, what have been the key moments of growth that sort of leapt you forward?
• 21:25
  So one is definitely our site. I mean, like I mentioned, when I bought Asutra, we had almost no sales on our website. It wasn't very easy to navigate. It was just not a great shopping experience. So we've been able to grow that pretty rapidly over the past couple of years, which has been awesome. And the great thing is, I think we've also built a very loyal and engaged customer base on our site, which has been great.
• 21:54
  One of the key milestones that has been awesome for growth in our site is we've been very lucky to be featured on Good Morning America a couple of times and the Today Show. And we've done the Good Morning America deals and steals segment. And what's great about that is it's a great way to introduce a very large audience to your brand and your products.
• 22:16
  They can go on to the Good Morning America deals and steals site and buy your product at 50% off, for example. So it's a great way to trial, to get people to trial. And then you also get their emails. And so what's so awesome about that is then you can communicate with them directly. And what we've seen with people who found us on Good Morning America,
• 22:37
  America is they try our products because they're getting a great deal the first time. They read our emails at a much higher rate than our total customer base. And they've actually come back and bought a lot more than our average customer as well. So they're like a really great customer base where they discover us in that way. They try it, they love it. And then they're repeat purchasing at a really good rate.
• 23:02
  The second moment I would say, or the second thing that has catapulted our growth is retail distribution. So also when I bought Asutra, there was zero retail distribution. It was all again on Amazon for the most part. And yet we really thought there was a great opportunity for retail. One of our values at Asutra is accessibility. We want to provide great natural ingredients.
• 23:27
  formulations that work at an accessible price. And part of accessibility is also just literally being able to see it and buy it, right? And so being in bricks and mortar retail stores was something that we always wanted to do and had in mind when we did the rebrand. So when we did our rebrand, we did it with the goal of getting into Target. We thought our brand could be perfect for Target and we designed it so that it could look great on the shelf.
• 23:52
  in Target. It took us two years, which many people say you're impatient. Two years is not that long. We launched nationwide in all Target stores about six weeks ago. Oh my goodness. With our pain relief and sleep support collections. So we're really psyched about that.
• 24:10
  But we actually started with CVS. So we started with 400 CVS stores in the test. They then launched us in 4,000 CVS stores. Now we're in Target. Oh my goodness. And then we work with some other smaller retailers as well. So now you literally are everywhere.
• 24:27
  Well, not quite everywhere yet. But yes, we're in a couple of the big ones that we really wanted to be in. You're in all the places. I want to circle back quickly to the Good Morning America segments that you've been on. How does one get on Good Morning America deals and steals? Is it a paid placement? Do you have to have a particular type of PR person? Do they come to you? How does that work?
• 24:50
  Yeah, so we've been really fortunate at Asutra. A lot of things have come to us, like CVS came to us and actually Good Morning America came to us as well. Oh, wow. So I'll back up for a second. We do have a PR agency who's amazing. They work with health and beauty brands. They have a lot of relationships.
• 25:09
  And so that was one investment we also made early on is earned media. So we don't pay for the placements, but they pitch us our brand story and our new product launches to different publications. They have done a great job of getting us a lot of great coverage, especially with new product launches in everything from People Magazine and InStyle to, you know, MindBody Green, which is a wellness website and Bustle.
• 25:37
  And I think because of all that coverage and then because, you know, people can scrape the data on Amazon, they saw we had a lot of reviews, which translates probably into a lot of sales on Amazon. We got outreach from the team that does Good Morning America Steals and Steals.
• 25:53
  So there's a woman named Tori Johnson who hosts those deals on the show. And she has a team that scouts for brands that they think could be great for the segment. So we actually got an inbound request from them and said, Hey, we've seen your brand. We love it. We think you could be a great fit. Would you ever want to do something with us? So we actually started on The View, which has a slightly smaller audience. So it was a great test run for us, if you will. And it actually did like incredibly well. Yeah.
• 26:22
  And then they also do they do both the view and the Good Morning America segments. So based on how the view went, we then talked to them about doing Good Morning America. And that worked really well.
• 26:34
  Oh my gosh, that must have been such an exciting moment, seeing that email pop into your inbox. Yes. What? Yes, we've had a lot of those, actually. I want to talk about another really exciting moment in your history of the brand over the last couple of years. Venus Williams joining your company as a partner in the business and as chief brand officer. Is that right? Yes, correct. How did that come about and what is she like?
• 27:03
  Okay, you and your listeners are going to think I'm just so crazy because that was also a cold email. I know, I know. You're hitting on all of the highlights.
• 27:14
  Yeah. So, you know, as I'm sure a lot of your listeners can relate to, when I first bought the brand, I was doing everything. I mean, I was sometimes assembling our sleep mask sets. I was checking our customer service emails. I was doing everything. I was running to the post office to ship customer orders while I was also doing our budget and our strategy and our brand.
• 27:36
  So one day I check our customer service inbox and it's literally support at a suture dot com. And I see this email from a guy named Joe. Joe, good old Joe.
• 27:48
  Joe's signature says that he works at IMG WME, which is the largest sports and fashion talent agency in the world. And I thought, is this like, is this a sales thing? I can't tell. But I looked him up and we had a couple of mutual connections. And I actually talked to my husband about it. I said, I got this email from this guy, Joe. Do you think I should do the call? And he's like, IMG is the biggest talent agency in the world. Just take the call. Who knows? Who knows?
• 28:16
  So I took the call and he's asking me all about a sutra and I'm sharing with him our mission of active self-care, that we're women-owned, that we're creating good jobs for people in Chicago and that we're all about these natural products to help people be their best at accessible prices. And he says, this is so inspiring. I really love what you're all about. And I said, Joe, I love this conversation, but I'm just curious, how did you find out about us?
• 28:41
  And he said, well, you're probably not going to believe this, but Venus Williams uses your products. And she asked us to find out more about you. My jaw just dropped. I was like, what?
• 28:55
  curveball. Right. He said her trainer found your pain relief creams online on Amazon, actually. And she's been using them as a part of her training regimen. And she had never heard of a sutra. So she said, Hey, if I know more about this brand, I'm kind of curious.
• 29:12
  So anyway, fast forward conversations ensue with Joe and his team, and it turns out Venus was interested in getting involved. So she took an in-person meeting with us. We sat down with her for over an hour right before the US Open, which apparently she never does.
• 29:27
  We walked her through a presentation about where the brand was and where we wanted to take it. And she said, you know, I don't get involved with a lot of brands, but I love what you stand for. I have to live active self-care every day of my life to stay at the top of my game. She runs two of her own businesses as well. So she's an entrepreneur. And she said, I really love to get involved. And she wanted a real like she wanted a real role.
• 29:51
  So we named her our chief brand officer in spring of 2019. She joined as a part owner and our CBO and she's our main spokesperson. So she does press interviews. She announces new news on social and she's just a great stock partner. I mean, because she runs her own businesses,
• 30:10
  And because you're probably not surprised, she's very goal oriented. She likes to win, right? She likes to set goals for herself, for the business. And she likes to provide insight and advice based on her own experience. So she's been great to work with. Oh my goodness. What a story. That is one for the grandkids. Holy moly. Love that for you and for her. Where is the business today? And what does say the next 12 months look like for you?
• 30:39
  Yeah. So, you know, today we continue to have a strong business on Amazon. Our site is growing, you know, in 2020, even with the pandemic, our site in 2020 grew 2x over 2019. And we continue to see strong growth in 2021. On the retail front, we're in, like I said, 4,000 CVS stores.
• 31:03
  1,900 Target stores. We also sell globally with a retail partner called iHerb, which is a natural products online retailer that sells wellness products across the world. And we're going to be launching with some new retail partners here in the US as well, Grove Collaborative, which is also an online retailer focused on clean natural products and some specialty natural grocery store chains like Natural Grocers.
• 31:33
  So we're just really excited to get ourselves in front of an audience of people who like natural solutions, who want something different than just popping a pill to relieve their pain or get a good night's sleep. For us, I think our big goal is really to just continue to grow sustainably. We have not raised outside capital, so we've bootstrapped the business and we don't plan to in the near future. We want to continue reaching and engaging the audience that...
• 32:01
  loves what we stand for, loves to be a part of the Asutra family and grow that family. So for us this year, the big focus is making Target a success. We're off to a great start, but we have to continue growing that. Continuing to grow in niche markets and retailers like natural grocery store chains, where we can get in front of that consumer that's looking for natural solutions.
• 32:25
  And potentially also think about more global expansion. You know, we're all ready with iHerb. We get a lot of requests from people who want to buy our product in Indonesia or the Philippines or closer to home, Canada or in the EU. And so we're also looking at opportunities to do that.
• 32:44
  Oh, well, I'll cross my fingers. Are you still in touch with the two guys who started the business? Great question. Not really. They must be so proud. Yeah, I'm sure they're like building seven other businesses as we speak right now. I mean, they really are the most entrepreneurial guys I've ever met. They were great in being advisors in the first year. So they were especially, I would say, the first three months when we were still learning everything.
• 33:12
  And they were there to help us answer any and all questions. But, you know, as time goes on, we obviously took the brand in a new direction. They, like I said, are probably building a bunch of other businesses already. So we're not in touch anymore. How exciting. What advice do you have for women who have a big idea and want to start their own business or buy a business?
• 33:34
  Well, for me, I bought a business because I knew I wasn't a startup person. Everything I've done in my career has been taking something with promise to the next level. So I do think probably the first thing I always tell people is know yourself. Really reflect on what type of leader, what type of entrepreneur are you and where are you best suited?
• 33:56
  to do the things you want to do and think about that. So maybe it is buying a business because you don't like the zero to 10 stage, right? You like the 10 to 50 stage. Or maybe that is the things you love. You love taking a concept to reality, but then once it's going, like the brothers who sold me a sutra, you want to move on to the next thing. So I think really knowing yourself and understanding what stage of business you want is key.
• 34:22
  The other thing, I mean, this is sort of common sense, but I've heard this advice a lot and I think really doing it can be harder than you think. Make sure there really is market fit, right?
• 34:35
  how big is the market for the thing that you're offering? What do they really need? And are you offering something that really meets that need? Early on in Asutra, I got the chance to talk to the guy who founded RX Bar, a big protein bar business here that, you know,
• 34:53
  grew from nothing and got sold to Unilever for lots of money. And he said, as an entrepreneur, it's really easy to believe your own bullshit. Like it's really easy to believe that what you're offering, everybody loves, you know, but you really have to keep pushing yourself on that question. Are you growing against your, you know, are you hitting your KPIs or your goals? Are you truly growing? Are you really reaching...
• 35:21
  an ever widening audience who loves what you're offering. And if not, you know, do you have the right idea or do you perhaps have the right idea, but the execution isn't quite what it needs to be? So I think those are probably the two biggest things I would focus on. Again, you know, know yourself and then really make sure there's that market fit. Yeah, that's so true. Love that. Great advice.
• 35:45
  At the end of every episode, we ask a series of six quick questions. Some of it we might have already covered, but I ask them all the same. So question number one is, what's your why? Why do you do what you do? I really care about people being well. I think during the pandemic, what makes me hopeful is that a lot more people started to pay attention to their health and wellness and realize it wasn't something to take for granted. So that's really my why.
• 36:15
  make time for more wellness in their lives and to achieve those goals. Absolutely. We all need to take a lot of self-care, especially after the last year. Goodness. Yes. Yes. Question number two is what's been the number one marketing moment that made the business pop? That's a tougher question. I feel like it's really been more of a series of marketing moments.
• 36:40
  I think obviously bringing Venus onto the team was a huge lever. Just because she's on our team doesn't mean we get to sit back and relax. But I do think having Venus on board at such an early stage of the business
• 36:55
  was a real stamp of credibility. People felt like, well, if Venus is signing on to this, then this is worth looking at. And that really helped us both reach a broader audience direct to consumer and have that credibility off the bat. But I think also get press, get in the door with retailers and then start that flywheel going. Absolutely. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to at the moment?
• 37:26
  I love this email newsletter by, it's called the DTC newsletter. And I think it's run by an agency called Pilot House, but they just have really good nuggets every week, whether it's how to make the most of TikTok or how to deal with the new iOS opt-out, opt-in rollout on Facebook to, you know, deep dives on email marketing and literally the copy and the creative that works.
• 37:56
  I need to check it out. I know what you're talking about because my husband reads it and I actually haven't signed up myself. So I'm going to sign up after this. Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated?
• 38:13
  I would say two things. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I love that question. For me, two things. Sleep, number one. Sleep is so important. I think we live in a culture that almost makes you a hero if you don't need a lot of sleep. And yet...
• 38:30
  Most of us are sleep deprived. You're a better leader, entrepreneur, person. You're more patient. You're more creative if you get enough sleep. So I get eight to nine hours of sleep a day. And then movement. I think movement, whether it's doing a weight workout, doing yoga, taking a walk even is also so important for getting your body moving and being healthy.
• 38:52
  Yeah, I agree so much on both of those. I've really been trying to make such a big effort with my sleep and going to bed earlier so I can wake up feeling refreshed versus waking up being like, oh my God, I can't get out of bed right now. This sucks. Exactly. It's a tough one though to change that habit to go to bed earlier. I actually struggled for the first few weeks.
• 39:12
  Well, you know, here's a tip. If you can make yourself do it, actually force yourself to wake up at the same time every day, even the weekends, because even if you end up going to bed at one in the morning, but you're forcing yourself to get up at six or seven, then eventually you will just be tired enough that you will go to bed earlier. Interesting. Great. Thanks. Love that. I'll give that a try. 6 a.m. on a Saturday doesn't feel great, but I can try that. I know. I know. But give it a couple of weeks.
• 39:41
  Question number five is if you were given a thousand dollar no strings attached grant today, where would you spend it? I think I would spend it on product development. For us, the right products and the formulations that work and being sort of at the right part in the trend line has been a real driver of growth.
• 40:01
  For us, I would say our customers are not the edgiest, right? They're not the ones looking for like the brand new wellness trend or the brand new skincare trend, but they're definitely willing to try new ingredients or new formulations and then incorporate them into their routines. So being able to research like what would be the next thing that really helps people with their skincare routine or recovering faster after exercise would be great.
• 40:29
  Got it. And question number six, last question is how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach when things don't go to plan? Yeah, I think I'm blessed with a very short memory when things don't go well.
• 40:45
  So I do have to say that. And I think that is important as an entrepreneur because you do fail a lot and you've just got to be able to pick yourself up and move on. For me, it's all about learning. Like what did we learn from that? And how do we incorporate that into the future? And how do we ideally not make if it was a mistake? How do we not make that same mistake again?
• 41:05
  And I really do think if you aren't blessed with a short memory naturally, I think training yourself to do that because you can't spend a lot of energy and time beating yourself up over the failure. You really just have to learn about it, learn from it and then move on. Yep. Love that. I have a short term memory in general, so that works just fine.
• 41:26
  Well, you got to remember the good stuff, you know, that's what keeps you going. That's true. That's true. Stephanie, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show today and share your story and what you've been building with Asutra. It sounds super cool. And I can't wait for it to launch into London and the UK. Us too. Well, thank you so much for having me. This was such a fun conversation.
• 41:52
  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.
• 42:17
  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.
• 42:39
  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.
• 42:56
  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.
• 43:20
  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.
• 43:43
  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.