Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Sephora’s Accelerate Program + tips to cultivating a powerful community with Kulfi Beauty Founder Priyanka Ganjoo

Transcript

Sephora’s Accelerate Program + tips to cultivating a powerful community with Kulfi Beauty Founder Priyanka Ganjoo · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Priyanka Ganju for Female Startup Club. Hey everyone, it's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Today I'm chatting to Priyanka Ganju, the founder behind Kolfi Beauty.
• 0:22
  Kolfi Beauty is a premium beauty brand and digital platform celebrating South Asian beauty with fun and approachable beauty products created with their community in mind.
• 0:33
  Kolfi Beauty was started with the mission of creating products that meet the unique needs of South Asian skin tones and undertones and challenging beauty standards in the community. We're chatting about her insights into approaching manufacturing and where to start, cultivating community, what the Sephora Accelerate program is really like, and what made her launch successful.
• 0:55
  Now, updates from my side. Super, super exciting stuff. If you are interested in being a founding member of our private network that is soon to be launching, head to femalesartupclub.com forward slash waitlist and add your email to the list.
• 1:11
  I'm going to give a proper deep dive into exactly what it is over the coming weeks. But for now, all you need to know is that if you are a woman and you're building an e-commerce, D2C, CPG type brand, and you're looking for a community of people who are going through the exact same stuff as you, this is going to be made specifically for you. We're going to have a program of women from the show giving a new take on mentorship,
• 1:36
  We're going to have experts giving masterclasses. We're going to have buyers telling you exactly what they look for in their retail stores. There is going to be so much cool stuff in the works, and I can't wait to share it with you all. So if you're interested, go to femalestartupclub.com forward slash waitlist and pop your name down and be the first to grab a founding member spot when we go live. Let's get stuck into this episode. This is Priyanka for Female Startup Club.
• 2:03
  Priyanka, hi, hello, and welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Hi, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here with you too. I was just saying how much I love your jacket. It looks amazing. You look amazing. I always love to kick off the interview by getting you to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what your business is.
• 2:27
  Hi, I'm Priyanka Ganju. I'm the founder of Kofi Beauty. Kofi is a beauty brand that celebrates South Asian beauty and culture. And the reason I started Kofi was growing up, I never saw myself represented in the beauty industry, and I wanted to change that. We launched this year in February of 2021 with our hero product, which is the Underline Kajal Eyeliner, which is a beautiful,
• 2:58
  Oh.
• 2:58
  I love it. I love everything about your brand. I've been following you for a while and I have so many of your pictures saved on my Instagram, you know, the beautiful branding, the campaign imagery. I'm just such a fangirl of everything you've been doing so far. Congratulations for the launch. And I'm really excited to dig in and understand how it went and how it's going and, you know, all the good stuff. But let's go back to the very beginning. I'm sure it doesn't really begin this year. Where does your entrepreneurial story actually start?
• 3:29
  It's such a great question because I feel like I finally found what I was always meant to do, but it took me a while. It's only in 2019 that I left my job after thinking about this idea of South Asian beauty brand for years. Right. I was spending years thinking about it and I always had ideas, but this was the one that truly stuck.
• 3:51
  and truly felt like I couldn't get it out of my mind. And 2019 was basically when I took that tangible first step towards making this my full time obsession. And so when you say tangible step, that was quitting your job and going all in on bringing this to life. Yep, absolutely. That was a huge step for me. I, you know, put my savings into a bank account.
• 4:19
  I opened a legal entity and that was the beginning and bought an office chair. That was also like a nice fancy office chair for my home office. And these little things got us started. And then it was a lot of customer discovery and really trying to understand what I was trying to build. But I would say that
• 4:40
  Just even taking that first step of saying like, I'm going to do this regardless of what happens. I'm going to give myself time and energy and resources behind that. That was a big step.
• 4:51
  Hmm. I always love to know about the capital that it takes to start a brand and how you're able to finance in the beginning. So my question is, how much did it cost you to get started, like in terms of your savings? And how were you able to give yourself like a runway without having any revenue coming in from the brand at all?
• 5:12
  It's a great question. And honestly, there are people who started brands with like $10,000 from their mother or something like that, which I mean, really huge respect for them because I actually started by putting in $150,000 of my own money into the brand. And that's really that gave the runway that I needed to get our branding, get our
• 5:36
  product, website, campaign, all of the initial pieces that you see on the side are really coming from that initial investment. And so, you know, in some respects it can feel like a big commitment given that a lot of brands start with much less and it is possible to start with much less.
• 5:52
  But at the same time, you know, our brand is really elevated and joyful. And I wanted to really give it the best I could from a visual perspective, from a product perspective, from an experience perspective. And so I think we really made that initial bootstrap money work really hard because I feel like it felt like a multimillion dollar campaign. I mean, it looks like a multimillion dollar campaign for sure. It's incredible. Yeah.
• 6:18
  In those early days, you know, you were talking about you have to set up the company and take those initial steps. What was it like going through the manufacturing stage of the business? Obviously, that's a key part of bringing a beauty brand to life is finding the right partners, understanding what the product is going to be like, formulating all that kind of thing. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience and yeah, whether it was good, whether it was bad, what the learnings were?
• 6:43
  It started off really well. I think the big challenge was obviously COVID last year when a lot of manufacturers weren't really on the floor, which is completely understandable. So the start was really, I worked in the beauty industry. I was at Ipsy where I ran merchandising and we were also manufacturing private label. And so through that experience, I was able to make some vendor relationships, go to trade shows, and really understand the supplier landscape. And so when I started, I had that background of,
• 7:12
  You know, knowing which suppliers I wanted to start by reaching out to. And then I had to obviously go through a process of finding the right fit of someone who wanted to work with a brand as small as mine, as well as who would meet our requirements in terms of formulations. Right. So we shot a couple of vendors and found the right manufacturing partner for us.
• 7:33
  I think the challenge came last year when we were in the middle of product development and then pandemic happened. There were lockdowns everywhere globally. And so that really, really slowed down our manufacturing process. But at the same time, that's something that I think like big brands and everyone struggled with.
• 7:51
  I think the big lesson there was to, you know, just give things the time they need to really work out and build that trust relationship with the manufacturer because they were trying to do their best as well. Mm hmm.
• 8:04
  You said that you had a lot of experience in the beauty industry working in these huge companies and going to trade shows and understanding the landscape a bit better. But what would you say to a beauty entrepreneur who doesn't have that kind of background and experience? What are the kinds of things that they should look out for when they're kind of in that early phase of trying to find a manufacturer or a formulator or a chemist?
• 8:27
  Yeah, I think the process is actually in some ways very similar. You have to go to the trade shows. You know, there are so many here in New York, in LA, they're happening everywhere. And, you know, walk the floor, meet people, meet vendors, see what products they have.
• 8:43
  Speak to probably like, you know, 10 vendors and then you will very quickly find out like who's responsive. What is their expertise? What are they known for? Speak to other beauty founders. You know, have you worked with this vendor? I mean, sometimes some of this manufacturer information is fairly confidential. It's not easy to get access to it. But I think walking the trade shows, meeting with the vendors, knowing which brands they work with. Sometimes they will share that with you. I think that will give you the confidence you need to help.
• 9:10
  a short list of vendors. And once you get into a working relationship with them, you know, just knowing how are they progressing against the milestones? Are they able to develop the formula that you need? I think those are things that you will learn
• 9:22
  It's definitely trial and error. And it was that on my end too, because even if there's a vendor that might work for a certain product, for a certain brand, it may not necessarily work for you and what you are trying to do. So it's definitely a lot of trial and error. Totally. I jumped ahead of myself a little bit and I wanted to backtrack to ask, how did you land on the products that you were going to launch with?
• 9:45
  What made you choose the pencils, the eyeliners from the beginning and not say, you know, a serum or something else?
• 9:54
  Yeah, it's so funny because I actually was going to launch with concealer. That was the launch product originally because that's a huge pain point for me and for South Asians that I knew, my friends and family, because complexion products are really hard to find for our skin tones and undertones. And so that's the product I've been actually working for now almost more than two years now. It's happening in the background.
• 10:15
  But through the customer journey, when I started doing interviews, I did surveys, I did focus groups, I realized that one of the must-have products in every one bag, makeup bag, was the Kajal eyeliner. So Kajal is eyeliner in South Asian culture. It's not even considered makeup. It's one of those first makeup products you pick up. And traditionally, it was made in the kitchen where your grandma would like one almond and mix it with like.
• 10:42
  ghee or castor oil, and then use that like black kind of mixture and apply it to your eye as a way to ward off evil eye, which is another. And so there's a lot of like traditional storytelling and emotion associated with that product. And I found out that a lot of people were still struggling to find a kajal that was pigmented and creamy, like the, you know, what our grandmas used to make.
• 11:09
  And that was my aha moment being like, this is such a beautiful product. It's something, it was the first product that I sort of, you know, first makeup product that I ever wore and has such a great emotional connection with my community. I think that's the product we need to launch with. And, you know, the concealer is going to come next and that definitely is going to happen. But brands are so much about like making that connection. And I think like that Kajal eyeliner to me was the connection that I wanted to make.
• 11:39
  I think it's funny that, you know, we have this idea of we're going to launch with this and like, this is the vision. But then as you speak to your desired customer or your, you know, your target customer, you're like, oh, hang on. I'm resisting what actually people are asking for. And I need to change my mindset here and shift to focus on what people are actually asking for. And yeah.
• 12:01
  in doing that, you already have an army of people who are, you know, ready and waiting for this product that you've been talking about. How many people did you have to speak to, to actually kind of make that connection and then be like, that's what we're doing now? So I did at least 100 in-person conversations in New York. And then we did like a whole day focus group where we probably had like 50 people come in. And then we did surveys where we had
• 12:29
  I would say like three, 400 people fill it out. And so it was a lot of people, I think. And this was all done by me. And, you know, it was very much organic. We didn't pay like a market research form or anything to do that. But I think it got me really close to what the customer wants. So, you know, sometimes I do think like brand building is a mix of like the world you want to build and what the customer is saying, right? It's both in a way you have to balance both because
• 12:57
  It's also about creating something that's new and unique that your customer doesn't expect or hasn't seen before. But you also have to listen to what they're saying. So that's why I spent so much time with our customers and trying to find out what they want. But I agree with you. You have to pivot and you have to always listen to what they want.
• 13:15
  Yeah, it sounds like for your journey so far, it's been a really key part of the process in doing that customer research and listening to what people were telling you. And I guess it's like active listening where maybe at first you don't even notice that that's the thing that keeps coming up. But when you look back over the results, you're like, oh, there it is. Like it's sitting right in front of me. This is it.
• 13:36
  Absolutely. Yeah. It's like, you know, people are like, oh, does the world need another eyeliner? I'm like, yes, the world needs this eyeliner. It does need it because that's something that is in the background that people are telling me. One of the things that we've also continued to do is through Instagram and Facebook.
• 13:53
  through our community of writers that we have. We're also constantly going back to them and refining what else do they want to secure from us from a messaging perspective, from a product perspective. So it's not like a once and done thing. You have to continuously go back and keep engaging with your community.
• 14:12
  I want to switch topics to talk about your community building specifically. I know that you have Kolfi Bites, which is your editorial hub, and that's where you've been producing a lot of content, written content. What are your key steps to cultivating true community and building this loyal army of people around you? I think a big part of community building is allowing space for people to be seen and heard.
• 14:37
  I think that's, to me, the big difference here in our approach, because our editor, Samya, who curates these stories, she is spending time with people, like talk to them, connecting with them every week, just to understand how are you feeling? You know, what do you want to read about? And how do you want to express yourself?
• 14:57
  I think that human connection, that personal connection, it's opposite of all this machine learning stuff that we've been, you know, people have been talking a lot about that, you know, like personalization, but through these through technology. And, you know, while I'm an engineer by training, so I definitely love technology. But I think like what people are looking for more than that is that human connection connection.
• 15:20
  creating space for people to feel seen and heard. And so, you know, my personal experience writing for our blog, for example, and Samia is my editor too. So she like helps me like find my true voice. And I think like that was such an amazing process, like,
• 15:36
  guiding other people, giving them space to express themselves. That's what creates that connection with the brand. That's much more than like what an algorithm or what some software can do. Absolutely. That's so cool. You were in Sephora's Accelerate program for 2021 this year, or maybe it's still going. I'm not sure. What was it like getting into that? And what are the steps for people who are kind of wanting to get into that program, get into Sephora?
• 16:06
  So Sephora this year had actually focused on founders of color. And I think it was such an amazing opportunity. And it's a great shift in that program because more than ever, I think we need more inclusive beauty brands. And it was super, super exciting to get in. We were accepted into the program in December last year before we had even launched. So I was really excited because Sephora got...
• 16:31
  had faith in us even before we had launched, before they'd seen anything. And that was just amazing. And I couldn't share it till February till the announcement happened. It was so hard to keep that, you know, they were like, don't share it with anyone yet. So
• 16:46
  In terms of the application process, it's very much very open in October last year. That's when we applied online. They asked us to send samples of our product as well as did an interview in November. And then in December, we found out.
• 17:02
  And the program started in February. It ended just, it's actually still ongoing. So next week, I think it's the concluding week. It's been just fantastic getting to know the Sephora team, getting to meet with founders who've been successful at Sephora. And, you know, just having these people that you can ask questions to and reach out to. And of course, like also eventually launching with Sephora. That's something that we're looking forward to do in the future. Oh, that's so awesome. Awesome.
• 17:30
  What is it that Sephora is looking for in their brands that they're bringing on now? You know, what's amazing to me is that Sephora focuses so much on the founder story as well as, you know, what the brand truly stands for. Much more than, you know, are you a celebrity? Do you just bring like some, you know, there are a lot of brands that you've seen have kind of be created overnight because there's some celebrity that's behind it or, you know,
• 17:58
  There's like something that's like sort of instantly makes the brand. Whereas I feel that Sephora truly is like, who's the founder? Who's leading the brand? You know, helping build the brand together with them.
• 18:11
  as opposed to just having something that's already created, because they truly believe that that partnership is important to them. And so obviously, I can't speak for what Sephora looks for, but I do think that what I've seen from them say repeatedly to me and to the founders in the program is that the founders of the superpower and their personal passion is what really sets the brand apart.
• 18:35
  Yeah, it's so important to have that true passion and energy and excitement for what you're doing and that long term vision of, you know, really building a community of people around the brand who truly love it and celebrate it. I'm excited for you. When does it when are you launching into Sephora? We're still talking to them, so I don't have a date yet, but you'll know when we're ready to announce that. I can't wait.
• 19:01
  All right, let's talk about the launch. Let's talk about February this year. What were you doing in the lead up to launch to get, you know, everyone excited? And how did it go? Oh, my God, the launch went so well, much better than I ever, ever expected. And I think it was because we had...
• 19:18
  So many women and women of color who truly like went out of the way to give our brand the space, whether that was in the press. You know, we were covered by Vogue and Allure and NBC and, you know, InStyle and like Forbes. And, you know, obviously I had a team that helped us with PR and they did a fantastic job.
• 19:40
  So I'm really grateful for all of the editors, beauty editors and our community who gave us space and shared with their friends. And we haven't spent a single dollar in paid marketing yet. And our launch has completely been driven by that organic word of mouth, as well as the earned media we got through the press. Oh, my gosh. And you've had so much amazing press. I loved the piece in Vogue. And I've just read about you all over the place. It's been super cool to see.
• 20:08
  What is really driving or what's really working well for you at the moment when it comes to organic social media, you know, all the channels?
• 20:17
  I think one of the things that is important is to actually create things that people value and want to share. And I think, you know, early on last year, when we were building our blog, I would always think about like, what's going to get most likes and what's going to get most shares. And, you know, quickly, you can start thinking about like, oh, I'm not seeing the increase in follower count and it can be discouraging. But I think if you create things that people value, as people discover them, they will share. And that's basically what's happened with us. You know, we had been
• 20:46
  building this blog and building this content and telling our story really since April of last year. But it was only once we launched and more people discovered us and discovered the content, they started sharing it and we really rapidly grew. But we wouldn't have gotten there had we not made that investment early on. So I would say, don't worry too much about immediate gratification of seeing those numbers
• 21:11
  up, really do continue to put in that quality of work consistently. And as and when people find you, they'll find value in that and you'll start seeing those numbers pick up as well. That's so true. That's so true. It's a good way to be thinking about it rather than getting bogged down with the stress of social media and how many likes is something getting or how many views?
• 21:33
  where is the business today and what does the future look like when it comes to, are you on track for revenue goals? Are you, how big's the team? What new products are coming out? I know you mentioned concealer. I'm excited to know.
• 21:46
  Yeah, so this year we're really focused on our direct-to-consumer channel, which is our Shopify website and really making sure we increase brand awareness through that word of mouth, through the organic content. You know, we'll start testing out paid marketing over the year, but that's really the focus for this year is to really build our direct-to-consumer channel. And then next year, I think we're gonna start looking into obviously the retail partnership as well as expanding our product roadmap,
• 22:15
  and making those longer term investments. But I think one of the things that I've realized is that things take time and it's okay that they take time because people value the fact that you put in so much thought into it. And so I'm not rushing into, let me launch five new products and let me get onto every distribution channel. I'm really taking it one step at a time and,
• 22:37
  It allows us to really build a voice and build narrative. One of the things I'm excited about for next month, or actually this month, it's June already, oh my God, is that we are finally partnering with SASMA, the South Asian Mental Health Association, to do workshops with them. That's a big, mental health is our giving program. And, you know, SASMA is our first partnership. And I'm really excited to give back to the community through the workshops that we are hosting with them.
• 23:06
  Ah, congratulations. I'm excited to see it come to life. That's so cool. Thank you. What advice do you have or what's the key thing that you'd want someone to know who's earlier on in the journey in building their business? Or what's the thing that you wish someone told you before you got started?
• 23:25
  I would say just believe in yourself and surround yourself with people who believe in you. I, you know, spent a lot of time doubting myself also because I heard a lot of rejection. I heard a lot of no's and I know people say that, but you always think you're a special snowflake that you're not going to hear those no's, but you hear those no's and it can be demoralizing. So my advice is...
• 23:49
  You know, it's going to get hard. It's going to be challenging. But just believe that you have something special and persevere through those hard times. I think that's really what differentiates some of the biggest brands today. And we heard this advice actually from Sephora founders, too, or like founders who've been successful at Sephora. Perseverance and just like, you know, faith that it'll work out versus feeling discouraged because there's always going to be challenges.
• 24:14
  Yeah, that's so true. Every day can be a challenge sometimes. We are up to the six quick questions part of the episode. I ask every woman on the show the same six quick questions so that I can look back and see if there's any trends or insights or interesting things that we can pull out. Some of it we might have covered already, but I ask them all the same. So question number one is what's your why? Why are you doing what you're doing?
• 24:39
  I think as a child growing up, had I seen a brand like Kofi, I would have grown up feeling like I was beautiful and feeling more confident about myself. And that really keeps me going. Yeah, it's really important. Really, really important. Question number two is, what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that's made the business pop?
• 25:05
  I do believe that the beauty editor is writing about our brand as well as the product has definitely made us get the attention. We were on the Vogue homepage and Allure homepage when we launched. And it was because people were interested in our stories and we had beautiful visuals and a really great product. And I think that really put us on the map in a way that nothing I could have done would have
• 25:31
  Yep. So true. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to that others would benefit from knowing about?
• 25:43
  One of my favorite podcasts is How I Built This, which is similar to what you are building, which is amazing. And I think those stories of listening to other founders and having those really honest conversations have really helped me and inspired me to continue building and, you know, always make me smarter and make me realize that ultimately, like businesses are about people, right? They're about like these people who are pursuing their fashions and building companies with that passion. It's a good show. I love How I Built This too. Guy Raz is amazing.
• 26:13
  Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your daily habits or rituals that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated?
• 26:24
  The days that I feel like I'm winning, I don't always feel like all days I'm winning, but the days that I do feel I'm winning, I'll always typically have spent some time, you know, exercising and just making sure that I give myself some time to take care of myself and then also make sure I connect with my partner, spend some time with him, cuddle with him. I think those are always like really encouraging moments or bookends for me to start the day with exercise and end the day with spending time with my partner and just like, you know, reconnecting
• 26:54
  Love those small moments at the end of the day. So nice. Question number five is, if you were given $1,000 of no strings attached grant money, where would you spend it in the business? I would spend it on our people.
• 27:08
  You know, we have a very small team right now and we, you know, obviously being a lean startup, we are very careful with how we spend. And so if I had a thousand dollars that I could do something for my team, I think that's, you know, I would ask them where, what do they want to do with it and how do they want to spend it? Whether that's a party or they want to do something different, like if there are money.
• 27:30
  Oh, I love that. That's so cool. 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?
• 27:40
  I think like the first thing is recognizing that it's okay to feel sad. It's okay to feel rejected. I think it's okay to give yourself space to process that because, you know, we're not always going to be optimistic and happy and that's okay. So giving myself space to feel the rejection and, you know, you know, process it, but then, you know, moving on and then going back to work because really it's about perseverance and getting back up and fighting against those challenges.
• 28:08
  Absolutely. Priyanka, thank you so much for being on the show today and sharing your journey so far with Kolfi Beauty. I'm just such a cheerleader of what you're doing and I absolutely am obsessed with what it looks like and I can't wait to see what comes next. I'm so, so excited to be on this podcast and I really love what you're doing and building because I think the more stories we hear of women building things, the world's going to look like a very different place.
• 28:37
  So true. It really is going to look like a different place.
• 28:44
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 29:08
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 29:31
  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.
• 29:47
  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.
• 30:12
  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.
• 30:34
  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.