Hardware Podcasts

Advice Line with Jane Wurwand of Dermalogica

How I Built This · 12 Dec 2024 · 52m

What this episode covers

Jane Wurwand, co-founder of Dermalogica, joins Guy Raz to answer questions from three early-stage founders: Camille Hardy of Chunky Vegan, Molly Brubaker of Baby Booty, and Sarah Wyman of Paradis Sport. Wurwand advises Chunky Vegan to maintain its premium niche and educate parents rather than scaling into big supermarkets, while telling Baby Booty to leverage its community aspect to overcome financial struggles. She also counsels Paradis Sport to stay focused on its underwear niche before expanding into sports bras, emphasizing that founders know their businesses best.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Dermalogica, Chunky Vegan, Baby Booty, Paradis Sport, Sephora, Erewhon, Kroger, Whole Foods, Farmer's Dog, Spanx, Lululemon, Alo

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 56m

    #169 - "How to Take Advice" with Nikhil Arora

    Nikhil Arora, co-founder and co-CEO of Back to the Roots, discusses the nuances of receiving and giving advice while scaling his organic gardening brand from a college project to a $100M retail business. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining a 'North Star' purpose, the critical role of his co-founder relationship with Alejandro Velez, and the necessity of resilience in entrepreneurship. Arora shares specific lessons learned from mentors like Jony Ive and Michael Pollan, as well as costly mistakes involving rushed product launches and underestimating retail costs.

    Validation & product-market fitLeadership, teams & culture
    12 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 39m

    Founder Feature: Justin Wolff of Junk Theory

    Justin Wolff, co-founder of Junk Theory, explains his mission to end the plastic era in beauty by creating the first skincare line entirely packaged in aluminum. He details the brand's genesis, which stemmed from his previous social enterprise work and a realization that 'clean beauty' often ignored packaging waste. Wolff discusses the challenges of developing curbside-recyclable metal packaging, avoiding white-label formulas, and achieving organic growth through PR and radical ingredient transparency rather than paid ads. He also shares insights on fundraising, retail strategy, and the importance of product quality to drive impact.

    Packaging designStarting a product company
    8 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 41m

    Founder Feature: Veena Krishnan and Whitney McElwain of Daybird

    Veena Krishnan and Whitney McElwain, co-founders of Daybird, discuss their 'anti-beauty' brand and its flagship product, the 4-in-1 Serum Skin Tint, which combines skincare, SPF 50, and sheer tint. They explain their strategy of targeting non-traditional beauty consumers through retail partners like Urban Outfitters and preparing for the Natural Products Expo West (Naturally Source) trade show. The founders also share insights on managing influencer attrition, the importance of community support for founders, and prioritizing self-care in the early stages of building a CPG company.

    Marketing & brandDirect-to-consumer & e-commerce
    6 chapters

  • People of Packaging · 37m

    170 - Wipes and Weenus Wednesday w/Sean Riley and AJ Peek

    Sean Riley, Chief Executive Dude of Dude Wipes, and AJ Peek, CMO of Weenus Lube, discuss the journey of building disruptive CPG brands. Riley details how Dude Wipes grew from a bootstrapped apartment startup to major retail distribution, emphasizing the importance of brand differentiation and online validation before seeking retail partners. Peek and his father launch Weenus Lube as an entrepreneurial learning project, focusing on fun branding and direct-to-consumer sales to test product-market fit.

    Starting a product companyDirect-to-consumer & e-commerce
    8 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 37m

    Investor Spotlight: Hayden Williams, BrandProject

    Hayden Williams, Partner at BrandProject, discusses the firm's pre-launch investing strategy and the recent P&G acquisition of portfolio company Wonderbelly. He details how founders Noah and Lucas built a clean-label antacid brand from the idea stage, leveraging explicit customer personas and humor to disrupt the stagnant gut health aisle. Williams explains that strategic acquirers value authentic consumer trust and master brand potential over mere distribution, highlighting the importance of founder-market fit and category timing in early-stage conviction.

    Fundraising & investorsValidation & product-market fit
    7 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by How I Built This. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.