Every argument clarity score on this site is built from rows on this page, here across
all 44 shows. Each
question and answer was assessed with names hidden, the hosts' own answers included, on
four things from 1 to 5:
directness (does it answer the question asked), coherence (do the ideas follow),
precision (concrete details and clear references), compression (says a lot per word). The weighted
mix (30/30/25/15) is the exchange score. A person's published score averages their exchange
scores on raw tape only, at least 8 of them, shrunk toward the cohort mean.
Full method →
Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 5 · P 5 · Cm 5 5.00
Q And who, who were you thinking were your competitors? Did you think that, that Maybelline and Revlon and L'Oreal were your competitors, or not really, because they were, they were charging four or five times the amount that you guys would be charging?
A In terms of the space we were trying to get to, yes, very much. Maybelline, CoverGirl, There was some smaller brands, NYC and Wet n Wild. Those are more of our core, core competitors, because they were the value brands, even Rima London. But both Rima London and NYC were owned by Cody. Wet n Wild was a standalone. But that was the problem in the early days, that you had a few incumbents that owned a bunch of brands and controlled all the space at retail. So you had L'Oreal, which was L'Oreal and Maybelline. You had P and G, which owned cover girl at the time. So there was no room to you to like box your way in two feet of space because it was all controlled by four or five companies, even if it was 12 brands on shelf.
AI assessment note: “In terms of the space we were trying to get to, yes, very much.”
Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 5 · P 5 · Cm 5 5.00
Q Okay. Seventy million dollars. So here's a question for you. At seventy million dollar valuation, why, why were you open to selling some or all of the business at that point?
A The first reason was we had an opportunity to do something for the family, which was perhaps not generational wealth, but wealth for definitely more money than I've made in my life. I was 29 years old. I was able to put money away, and if everything else fell apart, I would still have financial flexibility, and the second reason was I didn't know what I didn't know. Maybe L'Oreal and Revlon were working on the next thing to take me out in 30 seconds. I had no idea. Um, and then the third thing was really just, like, it's not what you know, it's who you know. So I think being connected with these guys who are in this private equity world that are selling companies every day, they know the steps, they know the game plan to make you sale ready for the future.
AI assessment note: “The first reason was we had an opportunity to do something for the family”
Answered produced feed
D 5 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 4 4.30
Q I mean, you're trying to get this into dollar and dollar general, which was the whole point of this product. You're thinking that's where we go. That's where our market is. That's where it's going to crush it. And you have zero validation. Every, every meeting you have with the 99 cent store dollar store people is like, no, no, no, no, no. Did you think maybe I was wrong?
A Yes. Oh, yes. Very much. Very worried. Yes. When you're, this is my first foray into business. I'm newly married. I have, you know, I'm trying to build my career. Uh, you know, you have to live like, how are we going to make this a business? I mean, we knew we thought we had something, but it was, it didn't feel like it at the time. And I remember, I think it was in about February or January, um, early 2004. I was driving to the city and it was just, um, As Alex Rodriguez was signed by the Yankees and there was an underwear brand called to exist and to exist had sent a package of underwear to the, to his hotel or apartment. And they were talking about it on the radio. And I was like, wait, How did, like, how did this happen? And I actually knew one of the people involved with the company, and I said, how did that happen? He's like, oh, we have a PR firm.
AI assessment note: “Yes. Oh, yes. Very much. Very worried. Yes.”
Partly produced feed
D 3 · C 4 · P 4 · Cm 4 3.70
Q Joey, I, I'm, I'm curious. I mean, did you, uh, get tons of orders from that, that Glamour magazine, or just, you know, even if it was 50 orders a day, it was exciting, or was it, was it more than that?
A I think it was more than the dollars. It was the validation. It was like, yes, we believed that we had something here. So over the next year and a half, we had a lot of these glamour placements, which were honestly great placements and we wouldn't be here without them. And then we had even better placement. We had like, we not brand features, but there was one feature that we had in good housekeeping magazine. Now, If you remember Good Housekeeping, there was nothing better than a Good Housekeeping seal of approval. Yeah. And Good Housekeeping gave a feature of our lip gloss at a dollar versus a lip gloss that was sold in Sephora for 24 dollars of Stila Cosmetics, and they said, Whichever one you buy, you will love it. I had that blown up in the office. That was a huge win for us. Oprah Magazine did a backstory cover where they laid out all our makeup, and then they made, like, a piece of art of our makeup around a dollar sign, and they did a whole article, and every time one of those bigger ones happened, we felt the spike.
AI assessment note: “I think it was more than the dollars. It was the validation.”
