The Exchanges

Q time. Um, you now, by my count, are working on a 172 different brands. Um, that may be a little bit of an over, over, uh, estimate, but, uh, but, but it does seem like there's almost an announcement every, you know, every few months that you're doing something else. Um, how are you approaching this phase of the career and the different brands that you're, you're building and developing?

A Yeah. So I, I shifted to this more of an incubator model, which is why I've been involved with so many things. So kind of going back to that, where I was within, within my family story, um, I felt, I realized I can still work really, really hard, but I needed flexibility in my life. And so I can be there for every school drop off, pick up, which I just absolutely love. And, um, being, you know, we're, we're very active, active family. Um, And so I just wanted flexibility, but I still wanted to keep working, working hard and always will. And so I've tried this incubator model where I create the concept going back to like, that's what I really love is building concepts, putting together the, the, and then trying to put together the team and, you know, the talent and the capital, and then, um, take a co-founder role, be very, very hands-on, but not be the CEO. And I found I've had really limited success in that, in that model. Um, Welly is one of the success stories that, that came out of it, but, um, Um, we turned that into a joint venture with Unilever very, very early, and the team there was a team I was able to promote up. Like, my head of sales at Ollie became our CEO. At, uh, Welly, he was with me also, uh, at Method. So, um, I've had the model, uh, work, but I've had two, two areas where I've tried the model that did not work. I did a, uh, a startup with Serena Williams and…

AI assessment note: “I shifted to this more of an incubator model, which is why I've been involved”

Q Why method? Why, why this category and why this company as your first step into this world?

A So I was spending a lot of time in grocery stores and I just started looking at the cleaning aisle because it was like this giant sea of sameness. So that was the clue dig here. And then going back to my planning skillset, trying to figure out like, okay, what is the big category insight or what I would call like a culture shift that the category was missing? And then I realized the, it was lifestyleing of the home. That you look at these products more than you actually use them. Like a, you know, a dish soap, it like has prime, prime real estate in your kitchen as like this little, you know, when I was like, why can't those be objects of desire versus it's like really designed to buy, to be bought, but not to live with. So, um, and I was really into home design and decor, and so it was kind of connecting the passion of that, of like, okay, well, what if we reframe this category as really, um, part of lifestyling of the home? And then Adam was my roommate. We lived with, like, six guys, this dirty flat in San Francisco. Like, this is not the Martha Stewart story by any means. And, uh, my roommates called me Marvin because I didn't like to clean. I think when I told my mom I was going to do this, she's like, I've never seen you make your bed. Are you really the right person to start a cleaning products business? And then as Adam and I started formulating the products, he had a d…

AI assessment note: “I just started looking at the cleaning aisle because it was like this giant sea of sameness.”

Q Why couldn't P&G or Unilever at the time see the opportunity and beat you to method?

A You know, I think big companies are where they struggle to innovate is in areas that is going to compete against their core brands, of course. Right. You know, the, the innovators dilemma and the way I also thought about it was I couldn't create a new brand. I really had to create a new category to be successful in when you're as a little, you know, academic and geeky, but when you're building a brand, if anybody else can line extend their way In, and compete against you. You're really going to struggle to compete against a big company unless you, you can create a great, you know, a huge lead. So that's the way I thought about it. It's like, I'm not, I'm not creating a new brand. I'm creating this new category that I call premium home care. And it was premium because it was, you know, good for you, good for the planet. Um, but yet formulas that worked, um, but also really the design and the fragrance. So trying to elevate the whole experience.

AI assessment note: “big companies are where they struggle to innovate is in areas that is going to compete”

Q The lessons from method that you applied to building Ali, what, what did you keep that was critical and what did you change that was critical?

A Oh, such a good question. It's interesting too, like after you, um, Alex Bogusky said this to me once, he's like, when I was leaving method, he's like, it'll be interesting to see what they keep after you leave and what they change. And I, that always really stuck with me. So every time I exit something, I pay attention to that because there's just great learning there. So what stuck with me was really what drove our success, the importance of culture, the importance of, of great products, really building a cohesive experience across sales, marketing, product culture. Cause I think of, again, going back to the idea of like, Who you are and who you serve. You know, you want that to be as, as small as possible. So OLLI was all about this idea of, of healthy lifestyle. So we set up the offices in the Presidio. Cause I was like, oh my God, we can be in a national park at our offices. We had recess. We called the office Camp OLLI and, uh, where Method, if you walked in, people would, would ask me, like you give people a tour at Method and they're like, oh, this is the design department. I was like, no, this is the finance department. Cause the entire, The entire office look like a, like a design department because design is what mattered. Um, and so I, I brought all those, those same building blocks over to OLLI and I have to say it was so fun to be able to take advantage of all the…

AI assessment note: “So what stuck with me was really what drove our success, the importance of culture”

Q What did you see walking through the supermarkets in London?

A You know, I think it's, it's still arguably my best tactic for developing new ideas is to be in a foreign market, ideally with a creative or a couple of creatives with you. So you can sketch as you go, cup of coffee in hand, incredibly jet lagged. Nobody can bother you because you're on a 12 hour time difference. And just when I think you walk, when you walk through a foreign retail store, you just look at everything a little differently, particularly if you can't read the language. So you have to rely a little bit more on like form and And graphic design. And I also think better when I'm in motion, but I found those, those trend trips and even today when we're on, we were just in Sicily and first thing I hit was a grocery store. We landed there. I still find, I get so much inspiration, um, from being out there versus ever flipping through Instagram or dialine or, or anything else that just feeds you up lots of ideas. There's, there's just no substitute for me.

AI assessment note: “arguably my best tactic for developing new ideas is to be in a foreign market”

Q uniting ourselves. And, um, uh, and look, below 30, kind of, everyone knows what's happening in the company, right? Just by nature of how you work, especially in an in-person world. Um, given how important culture has been for not just Method, but your companies and for you personally as a leader, How, how have you managed through the scaling journey, um, keeping the culture heading in the right direction?

A I think, you know, it goes back to advertising, where I recognized that was an industry where your assets went down the elevator every day, and I was lucky enough to work for, for an agency like Fallon, where they cared so much about the culture. I mean, the joke was, if you don't show up Saturday, don't bother showing up Sunday. Like, it was a hard-working culture, and I, at that stage of my career, like, it was, I loved it. But, um, I recognize within advertising how important culture is, and I always carry that forward with everything I do. So for me, I, I, as an entrepreneur, I have two things I care most about. It's people and products. And I feel like if I can get the people right, which is just, you know, this culture, and I get the products right, generally everything else will get easier. And I also think about the products are just really a souvenir of the people. And if you want to be one of those companies that truly leads and does things differently, you have to kind of create for yourself. And I think the best company, if you look at like Apple or Nike, the best companies create for themselves. And if, if you're going to, I don't know how you can't lead the consumer if you aren't the consumer and then within CPG. And I think that's go goes back to why some of these companies can't innovate is because they have to rely on the consumer and consumer research. To be a…

AI assessment note: “I recognize within advertising how important culture is, and I always carry that forward”