Mei Xu
Founder & CEO, Blueme. On 1 show, 4 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
founderexecutiveauthor@meixuandcompany ↗LinkedIn ↗meixu.com ↗Wikipedia ↗
Mei Xu is an entrepreneur best known for co-founding Pacific Trade International and Chesapeake Bay Candle, which was sold to Newell Brands for $75 million in 2017. She later authored the memoir Burn and founded the sustainable wellness fragrance brand Blueme.
1shows
4appearances
34statements
4resolved
4supported
0contradicted
100%fully supported
4said about them ↓ Everything Mei Xu said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Mei Xu advises founders against working with their spouses
“It is very hard to work with your spouse in a business that is so intense, so I suggest you look elsewhere.”
Mei Xu: Static dolls cannot scale without interactive features
“Because just making a doll at some point, you know, there, if there's no interaction with people they get tired of it and you can't really expand on just a doll.”
Mei Xu: Small retail boutiques outperform department stores
“Small boutiques are doing much better than department stores.”
Mei Xu: Consumer startups must pursue omnichannel distribution rather than single-channel sales
“I don't think one can try only one channel these days. We really are in a, in an economy where you need to meet people where they shop and people shop everywhere. They shop on TikTok, they shop on Instagram, they shop in store, they like what they see in a hot…”
Mei Xu: Market research cannot prove an idea until product launch
“There's no amount of research that can prove an idea. But there's one thing you can always do, which is to take your product to the market.”
Xu: Design trends trickle down from fine art to home decor
“So it started from a very high level of art, and then it trickles down to fashion, and finally it goes to home.”
Mei Xu: Consumers buy scented candles to signal a clean home
“Many people say the reason why they burn fragrance is the finishing touch to cleaning their home. When they want to finish and sense that the home is ready for their, you know, friends and family to come for entertaining, or when their husband and children com…”
Xu: Immigrants inherently share key entrepreneurial traits like risk tolerance
“I think immigrants are self-selected group. They are self-selected group that is very big on taking risks. In some ways, they have the same traits as entrepreneurs already. Instead of taking what's easy, what's already familiar, They choose the unfamiliar, the…”
Mei Xu: Uniformity in 1970s China Created Happiness by Eliminating Jealousy
“Life was very happy in a sense that you don't have to be jealous of each other. You don't have to be wanting things you could not have.”
Xu: 1990s Department Store Home Goods Were Completely Disconnected from Fashion
“Furnitures were very ornate. It has a lot of very, you know, gilded finish. And then the plates are like Laura Ashley prints, you know, very small, grandma's wallpaper floral. And I'm just wondering, the person who is so confident walking on the street will go…”
Xu: No amount of research proves an idea like launching to market
“There's no amount of research
That can prove an idea.
But there's one thing you can always do, which is to take your product to the market.”
Xu: Design Trends Flow From Fine Art to Fashion to Home Decor
“So it started from a very high level of art, and then it trickles down to fashion, and finally it goes to home.”
Xu: Initial Target order topped $1M with $3M+ annual forecast
“That order ended up being over a million dollars, and the forecast for the year ended up being over three million dollars.”
Mei Xu: Immigrants share the same risk-taking traits as entrepreneurs
“I think immigrants are self-selected group. They are self-selected group that is very big on taking risks. In some ways they have the same traits as entrepreneurs already. Instead of taking what's easy, What's already familiar, they choose the unfamiliar, the …”
Mei Xu: Early Fundraising Would Have Provided Crucial Scaling Insights
“I did not do any fundraising when I was building my first business, and I feel it could have given me a very interesting sort of insight into how to scale.”
Xu: Uniform living conditions in 1970s China eliminated jealousy and fostered contentment
“When we grow up, there was absolutely nothing. Everyone wore the same thing. Everyone would be eating the same food. Everyone had the same small apartment. Life was very happy in the sense that you don't have to be jealous of each other. You don't have to be w…”
Mei Xu: Chesapeake Bay Candle generated nearly $500K in first 4 months
“We probably will take 50% margin on them, so it was almost half a million dollars of business we did in four months.”
Mei Xu: Candle manufacturing requires balancing five interdependent components
“If you want to make it a business and you want to make sure it doesn't burn someone's house down, you actually have to study how to make it because a candle is both a piece of art and a lot of science. It's Five things that are interacting with each other. It'…”
China lacked domestic home fragrance and chemical compounding facilities in the 1990s
“I was frustrated because at that time, China did not have a home fragrance industry. To produce that kind of oil, you need a chemical compounding facility, and they were not used to that. They used to sell their cinnamons and their jasms overseas. The French a…”
Xu: Candle buyers smell candles from the bottom where oils settle
“Candle buyers Usually want to smell the candles from the bottom. That's when the oil settle into the bottom, and you smell the most from the bottom.”
Xu: Target's first Chesapeake Bay Candle order exceeded $1 million
“That order ended up being over a million dollars, and the forecast for the year ended up being over three million dollars.”
White House invited Xu alongside Ford and Intel in 2012
“In 2012 I was creating jobs in the United States because of our factory and the President's office Took note, and he invited 13 of the biggest manufacturers, such as Ford, Intel and I was invited because I was a small business, and I was giving advice as to wh…”
Xu: Chesapeake Bay Candle did nearly $500,000 in sales in four months
“It was almost half a million dollars of business we did in four months.”
The other half of the tape: Mei Xu's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 3 times in 1 episode across the shows. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Jesus Rubalcaba 3
Statements about Mei Xu, by other people (1)
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
How I Built This 3
2023 3 mentions in 1 episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Mei's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOW I BUILT THISLEDGER | Founder & CEO, Blueme | 4 | 34 | 100% 4/4 | full record on How I Built This → |