The Ledger
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Tsai: The First $1 Million Is Harder Than the First $100M
“I thought the first million was harder than the first hundred million.”
Most Skincare Brands Use Stock Formulas With 0.01% Active Ingredients, Tsai Claims
“You go to a contract manufacturer, they have stock formulas and stock packaging, you pick it, you put in 0.01% of a marketing level ingredient, you put your name on it, you pick a fragrance, and it's out the door. And that is how the vast majority of skincare …”
Agencies Rejected Tatcha Claiming Asian Beauty Lacked Demand in the U.S.
“PR agents, even, I couldn't even give people money to take me as a client. And then retailers were not interested at all. So, and everybody also told me at the time, too, that there is no demand or interest in Asian beauty in the U.S. Because it's not aspirati…”
Shiseido Struggled to Expand Beyond Chinatown After Two Decades in U.S.
“Shiseido had been in the U.S. For over two decades and had not been able to really make it beyond Chinatown.”
Tsai Believes Tatcha Would Have Shut Down During Pandemic Without Unilever Acquisition
“If we were independent, I think there's a very good chance we'd be shutting down the company right now.”
Tatcha Built the Beauty Industry's First Diverse Leadership Team at Scale
“It was the first diverse leadership team in beauty at any scale and so they lead the company now.”
Tatcha Used Client Advocates Over Broad Sampling and Celebrity Gifting
“We didn't do broad sampling the way that most beauty brands do. And we also did not do heavy celebrity sampling the way that most beauty brands do. Instead, we thought about how to turn our best clients into advocates and ambassadors for us because we found th…”
Tsai's Chronic Dermatitis Healed in Eight Weeks Using Traditional Japanese Skincare
“But about eight weeks later, my skin had pretty much healed. And that was after three years of dermatitis and steroids and antibiotics.”
Tsai Sold Her Engagement Ring to Fund Tatcha's First Product Order
“I looked around the room, and the only thing of value that I had left at that point was my engagement ring on my hand. So I said, I'll just sell my engagement ring.”
Tsai: Tatcha received two buyout offers weeks after launching
“After we launched the blotting paper we had two acquisition offers within a few weeks of starting the company.”
Unsold QVC Consignment Inventory Costs Brands $4-$5 Per Kit to Repack
“QVC is interesting because they are, if I remember correctly, they're a consignment model, and you have to build a lot of inventory to test it out, and if it doesn't sell through, you own it. But you have to repack it at a cost of four to five dollars per kit …”
Tsai: Tatcha secured coverage from Vogue, Oprah, and The Today Show
“Vogue did a spread Oprah, it was on the Today Show pretty quickly. We got a ton of press.”
Tsai Took Only One Day Off After Giving Birth to Build Tatcha
“I took one day off in the hospital when I gave birth, and then I went back to work.”
Tsai Worked From Her Parents' Garage for Seven Years Without a Salary
“Into their house for seven years... And worked out of their garage with no salary.”
Tsai: Donatella Versace was one of Tatcha's first customers
“One of our first customers, and I don't normally mention our customers, but one of our first customers was Donatello Versace.”
Tsai: Tatcha sold out its inventory on its first QVC appearance
“Finally this one merchant was kind enough to take a meeting with me, and then they gave me a chance to go up there, and we sold out.”
Tsai Accumulated $800,000 in Debt and Maxed Credit Cards Building Tatcha
“We were probably 800,000 in debt at that point, and maxed out all of our credit cards”
Tsai: Tatcha was unprofitable for its first eight years
“We were not profitable for the first eight years so we had to personally finance the losses
and then when we ran out of money, we would have to go to friends and family and ask for help.”
Tsai: Tatcha received acquisition interest almost annually from its start
“We had gotten acquisition offers or interest almost annually from our first year, and every, every time we said no outside of the one time where it just fell apart.”
Tsai: Tatcha sales fell around 80% daily early in COVID-19
“And that meant that, you know, for the first couple of weeks that this was happening, we were down like 80% a day in sales.”
Tsai Presented China Frappuccino Launch to Starbucks Board for Howard Schultz
“Howard was super happy with it and had me present to his board of directors”
Tsai Left Starbucks After 'Meets Expectations' Review Despite Frappuccino Launch Success
“At the end of the year he gave me my performance review, and it was Meets Expectations, and I just thought, this is not a place where I'll be successful, even though I have so much admiration for Howard and the company and the brand. So I left.”
Howard Schultz Offered Tsai Any Job at Starbucks to Prevent Her Departure
“Howard Schultz found out, and he called me on my mobile phone and asked me to come in and meet with him. So I went back to his office, and it was the week that my furniture was, you know, already on a truck to San Francisco. And he kept on being like, why? Why…”
L'Oréal Pulled Shu Uemura Out of the U.S. Market
“Shuyu Amora, which was owned by L'Oreal, had been pulled out of the market and shut down.”