Jun 8, 2020 · 1h 11m · how-i-built-this
Supergoop!: Holly Thaggard
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of How I Built This, host Guy Raz interviews Supergoop founder Holly Thaggard, exploring how she transformed sunscreen from a seasonal beach product into a category-defining, multi-million-dollar daily skincare brand through product innovation, relentless persistence, and strategic pivots.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 31.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 3.0 Guest teaching 2.4 Guest disagreement 0.2 Guy pushing back 0.6
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 48:06 Holly challenges PR agency's seasonal strategy
Holly recounts forcefully pushing back against top publicist Nancy Berman's proposed six-month summer contract because it completely contradicted her mission to de-seasonalize daily sunscreen use.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 1:05:11 Guy probes whether investors forced hiring an operatorGuy bluntly challenges Holly on whether bringing in brand president Amanda Baldwin was driven by investor demands because operations were not her personal strength.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 29:46 Holly dispels myths about chemical SPF ingredientsHolly educates Guy on sunscreen formulation, explaining that mass brands rely on controversial oxybenzone primarily for cost savings rather than necessity, highlighting avobenzone as the cleaner alternative.
Guy holds their own ▶ 1:07:31 Guy analyzes cash burn differences during pandemic shutdownsGuy demonstrates deep business acumen by comparing typical startup cash runways and inventory shelf-stability against the severe retail pressures imposed by the 2020 lockdowns.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Becoming Holly the Harpist and Early Entrepreneurial Roots | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Guy Raz sets a friendly, conversational tone exploring Holly's early artistic background and her realization in high school that playing the harp could become a lucrative solo enterprise. | |
| A Short-Lived Teaching Career and Pivotal Setback | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Guy probes into why Holly's initial career teaching elementary school ended after just one year, asking what specific feedback led to her non-renewal before Holly reflects on feeling restricted by the classroom. | |
| Expanding the Harp Business in Dallas and Starting a Family | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Holly explains her strategic direct outreach to Dallas clubs and CEOs to scale her harp business, while Guy engages playfully regarding billing rates comparable to law firm partners. | |
| A Skin Cancer Wake-Up Call and the School Dispenser Idea | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Holly educates Guy on how incidental daily exposure rather than occasional beach sunburns drives skin cancer, sparking her initial mission to place dispensers in schools. | |
| Formulating a Clean Sunscreen and Coining Supergoop | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Holly details the technical complexities of sunscreen chemistry, correcting common assumptions by explaining that oxybenzone is primarily used due to cost rather than necessity and detailing the difference between UVA and UVB rays. | |
| Institutional Roadblocks in Schools and the Pivot to Boutique Retail | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | Guy presses Holly on discovering OTC drug regulations that barred sunscreen in schools after spending years formulating product, leading Holly to describe testing out boutique retail channels. | |
| The Thanksgiving Loan and a Chance Meeting with Roxanne Quimby | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Holly shares the story of securing a family loan to attend a trade show where an unexpected encounter with Burt's Bees founder Roxanne Quimby led directly to top-tier PR representation in New York. | |
| Investing in PR, Launching at Barney's, and High-Profile Exposure | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Guy questions the extreme financial risk of signing an $8,000 monthly PR retainer on a tiny revenue base, while Holly recounts pushing back against the PR agency's proposal to only run seasonal summer campaigns. | |
| Securing Crucial Shelf Space at Sephora and Nordstrom | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | Holly explains negotiating year-round six-inch shelf space at Sephora rather than accepting a temporary summer endcap, staying true to her mission of daily skincare protection. | |
| Sunscreen Swipes, Rapid Growth, and Maria Sharapova's Partnership | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Holly describes her unorthodox early merchandising hustle of secretly restocking store shelves from her purse, followed by Maria Sharapova's inbound investment interest. | |
| Building Executive Leadership and Navigating the 2020 Pandemic | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Guy questions whether hiring a president was investor-mandated operational management, and pushes on how retail store closures during early 2020 lockdowns affected company cash flow. | |
| Luck, Strategic Hustle, and Musical Discipline in Business | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks his signature question on luck versus skill, and Holly reflects on how mastering sheet music measure by measure instilled the discipline and confidence required for fundraising. |
Statements from this episode (17)
Thaggard charged $100 an hour playing harp in ninth grade
“Be Holly the Harpist, and I could kind of set my price because there wasn't a lot of competition, so I really started out playing for like a hundred dollars an hour, which was a lot when you're in ninth grade.”
Thaggard played backup harp for Aretha Franklin in New Orleans
“In New Orleans at the Museum of Art, and I played a little backup for Aretha Franklin when she came through.”
Study: 70% skipped sunscreen because it felt bad on their skin
“I found this study by Memorial Sloan Kettering that was talking about how most people knew sunscreen prevents skin cancer, but I think it was like, 70% don't wear it, just like you said, every single day, and the number one reason was because it didn't feel go…”
The skin cancer epidemic stemmed from a lack of SPF education
“It wasn't a shortage of SPF products in the country that were causing the epidemic. It was a lack of education around the importance of wearing SPF Every single day.”
In 2005, every US chemical sunscreen relied on oxybenzone
“What I also found is that every single chemical formula in the country relied on oxybenzone for its efficacy.”
Mass sunscreen brands relied on oxybenzone purely to keep costs down
“What I learned was oxybenzone is not the only way, it's the most inexpensive way. And again, going back to most SPF was a mass product, and mass products are, you know, as inexpensive as possible. It turned out that there was a counterpart, avabenzone, that co…”
Sunscreen is banned in US public schools as an over-the-counter drug
“As an over the counter drug, Sunscreen is actually prohibited in schools across America.”
Supergoop generated approximately $45,000 in annual revenue in 2008
“Because I think at this point, we were, like, literally making 45,000 in sales, I want to say, a year.”
Magazine press drove Sephora sales in 2008 before influencer marketing
“So in 2008, you know, this is before Instagram and influencer marketing, and it was all really about those press placements. That you'd get in the magazine that showed your product. They were very product driven, and that's what sold product in Sephora.”
A PR executive pitched Supergoop a $72,000 six-month seasonal contract
“She pitched me on a six-month contract that would go from January to June, and she felt in that time we could, in January, hit the long leads to make sure we were in the April-May books, and she would charge us 12,000 dollars a month, but only six months out o…”
Elon Musk's team requested Supergoop for a Tesla Roadster press tour
“I know we got a call once from Elon Musk's team to put Supergoop into all of his roadsters that were taking a press tour down the BCH or something”
Supergoop's early PR campaign pushed revenue from $45,000 to $600,000
“My revenue went from 45 to, I know, a 150 to, I think, 600.”
Thaggard's brother made an initial $750,000 investment in Supergoop
“And he put in initially 750,000 dollars.”
Supergoop launched across all Sephora stores and 47 Nordstrom locations
“We launched in 47 stores. So I had full distribution in Sephora and 47 Nordstroms”
Category creators must sell the fundamental problem before selling their brand
“I'm dealing with a category where we actually have to convince people why they need to wear SPF, and then why Supergoop, so, you know, I often say, like, imagine I was having lunch with the founders of MZ Wallace, which is a handbag brand, and I said, you know…”