# Bobbi Brown Cosmetics: Bobbi Brown

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2018-09-17
- Length: 51m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-17-bobbi-brown-cosmetics-bobbi-brown

## Summary

Bobbi Brown, founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, explains how she launched a billion-dollar brand by introducing 'nude makeup' in the 1980s, starting with a custom lipstick created with a local chemist and sold through Bergdorf Goodman. She details the decision to sell the company to Estée Lauder in 1995 for financial security and creative freedom, and her subsequent 22-year tenure where she struggled with corporate bureaucracy before leaving in 2016. The episode also covers the postscript story of Emma Cohen and Miles Pepper, who founded Final Straw, a collapsible reusable straw company, after facing immediate knockoff competition from their successful Kickstarter campaign.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-17-bobbi-brown-cosmetics-bobbi-brown#t=0) Introduction: Bobbi Brown and the Nude Makeup Revolution
- [3:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-17-bobbi-brown-cosmetics-bobbi-brown#t=231) Early Career and the Inspiration for Natural Makeup
- [17:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-17-bobbi-brown-cosmetics-bobbi-brown#t=1062) Creating the First Lipstick with a Local Chemist
- [23:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-17-bobbi-brown-cosmetics-bobbi-brown#t=1391) Scaling with Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus
- [29:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-17-bobbi-brown-cosmetics-bobbi-brown#t=1793) The Today Show Boost and Selling to Estée Lauder
- [37:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-17-bobbi-brown-cosmetics-bobbi-brown#t=2226) Struggles at Estée Lauder and Departure
- [46:47](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-17-bobbi-brown-cosmetics-bobbi-brown#t=2807) Postscript: Final Straw and Kickstarter Knockoffs

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Crowdfunding & preorders](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/crowdfunding)
- [Intellectual property](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/intellectual-property)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up, large enterprises, founders before launch

## Mentioned

- Bobbi Brown Cosmetics (company)
- Estée Lauder (company)
- Bergdorf Goodman (company)
- Neiman Marcus (company)
- Final Straw (product)
- Evolution 18 (company)
- The George (company)
- Just Bobby (company)
- Keels Pharmacy (company)
- Glamour Magazine (company)
- American Vogue (company)
- Today Show (company)
- U.S. Bank (company)
- Emerson (company)
- Laura Mercier (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [021: Using Public Research to Develop WINK Lash and Brow Oil with Megan Cox of Amalie Beauty](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2016-10-04-021-using-public-research-to-develop-wink-lash-and-brow-oil-with-megan-cox-of-am) (Product Startup)
- [Founder Feature: Emmanuel Waters and Courtney Tucker of Old Hillside Bourbon](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2026-03-06-founder-feature-emmanuel-waters-and-courtney-tucker-of-old-hillside-bourbon) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [Founder Feature: Suzannah Raff of Cleo+Coco](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-10-31-founder-feature-suzannah-raff-of-cleo-coco) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
- [244 - Jody Polishchuk from Sundays on how they made the first zero sugar creme cookie](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2024-02-16-244-jody-polishchuk-from-sundays-on-how-they-made-the-first-zero-sugar-creme-coo) (People of Packaging)
- [Founders Feature: Lucy Dana of One Trick Pony](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-11-21-founders-feature-lucy-dana-of-one-trick-pony) (The Startup CPG Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-09-17-bobbi-brown-cosmetics-bobbi-brown. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.