The Ledger
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Hero Cosmetics Rejected Early 2020 VC Deals With Predatory Liquidation Preferences
“There were just a lot of little tricks, a lot of trap doors and, you know, onerous prep structures so that essentially we could sell the business later on and still walk away with barely anything. I mean, they were just very investor friendly, very founder unf…”
Hero Cosmetics Intentionally Avoided K-Beauty Branding to Build US Consumer Trust
“So I actually did not want it to be K-Beauty... Just because I thought it should be an American brand for this American audience. And that was actually part of the value prop, because sometimes when you buy, I mean, even today, it still happens, like, I think …”
Hero Cosmetics Initiated Its Sale Process After Crossing $100M in Revenue
“And I remember, you know, 20, 21, it was clear we were going to hit that hundred million dollar threshold. So there was a board meeting, and then it was a topic, and the question was, like, should we start a process? Should we think about this? And then everyo…”
Rapid Target PO Growth Caused Acute Early Cash Flow Constraints
“You have to remember, I mean, we were profitable early on. The problem with the business was we're always chasing growth in terms of the, we were growing so rapidly and the POs were getting bigger and bigger that even though our top line was really high, I mea…”
Hero Cosmetics Sold Out Initial 10,000-Unit Amazon Inventory in 90 Days
“I think within 90 days we had run out of our initial inventory, so, and I remember before launch we were talking about, like, how long do you think it's going to take us to sell through 10,000 units? Would it take us a year? Is it going to take us six months? …”
Hero Cosmetics Avoided COVID-19 Sales Dips Because Target and Amazon Remained Open
“No, we didn't. I mean. Luckily, we were in the channels that were still deemed, like, essential retailers, so Amazon was still online, Target was deemed essential retailers, so so we really didn't see much impact.”
Anthropologie Expanded Hero Cosmetics Chain-Wide Just Two Weeks After Initial Test
“I think it was a week or two weeks after the buyer called and said, we were selling so well that we're going to go full chain immediately.”
Hero Cosmetics Shelved Planned Face Mask to Dominate the Blemish Patch Category
“And then I had a coffee chat with this investor in the space, showed her a mighty patch. I said, I want to do this new product. I think it's going to be a wash off face mask. She said, no, you should not do that. You should stick to patches. You should dominat…”
Hero Cosmetics Bootstrapped for Three Years Using Amazon Profits to Fund DTC
“Amazon for us was a very profitable channel, and the money we made from Amazon, we put towards launching our DTC site, launching slowly in retail, and I mean, we were, we bootstrapped for the first three years, and I think largely the economics of our product …”