Empowering Journeys: Vicki Tsai’s story with Tatcha shows that pursuing your passion can lead to success. Leaving a draining corporate job, she built a thriving company while overcoming self-doubt, reminding other entrepreneurs to believe in themselves and their vision.
Vicki Tsai's journey with Tatcha exemplifies the power of following your passion and trusting your instincts. After leaving a corporate job that drained her spirit, Vicki explored new possibilities and eventually found inspiration in Japanese skincare. Despite initial struggles, she built a successful company and later returned as CEO to lead a diverse team. This highlights that self-doubt can affect anyone, especially women in leadership, but overcoming it is possible through self-awareness and support. It’s crucial for entrepreneurs to cultivate belief in their capabilities and to embrace their unique vision to succeed in their ventures.
Craftsmanship Focus: Jessica Liu's jewelry brand needs to emphasize craftsmanship and engage satisfied customers as brand ambassadors instead of relying on expensive influencer marketing.
Jessica Liu, a former attorney, turned her passion for jewelry into a business, Petite Anju, creating handcrafted pieces that stand out in a saturated market. To increase visibility, she should highlight her craftsmanship and connect with clients personally. Influencers might not be necessary; instead, empowering satisfied customers to spread the word can strengthen her brand's community and authenticity. Focus on making each design special to manage inventory effectively, encouraging a sense of exclusivity. By showcasing her creative process on platforms like TikTok, she can attract those seeking meaningful, unique jewelry and build a loyal customer base who resonates with her story and values.
Diverse Narratives: Wondery Plus features diverse podcasts exploring sports, celebrity biographies, and entrepreneurship. Vicky Ty's journey to create vegan skincare highlights the importance of innovation and resilience in beauty businesses while emphasizing self-care.
Multiple podcasts on Wondery Plus provide engaging content across various themes. From exploring memorable sports moments to recounting celebrity biographies with fresh insights, the shows offer unique perspectives. In particular, Vicky Ty shares her journey of creating a vegan skincare brand, illustrating the challenges and triumphs of entrepreneurship, especially in the beauty industry. She emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs and filling niches in saturated markets, showcasing resilience against setbacks such as the pandemic. Her story encourages listeners to pursue their passions, adapt to challenges, and appreciate self-care through innovative products. Overall, these podcasts celebrate storytelling and the human experience in different realms, from sports and travel to business and personal growth.
Building Connections: To succeed in skincare, prioritize connecting with your audience and crafting relatable, humorous content. Focus on your brand's purpose and storytelling, which will naturally attract retailers in the long run.
Building a successful skincare brand today goes beyond just selling products; it’s about connecting with your audience and defining your brand’s purpose. Focus on creating engaging content that resonates with consumers. Use creativity in storytelling, especially in relatable scenarios, like dating, to break through the noise and attract attention. The path to retail success, like getting onto platforms such as Sephora or QVC, is tied to how well you build relationships with your clients. When clients believe in your mission and understand your story, retailers will naturally want to collaborate with you. Aim for virality by leveraging humor and relatable experiences, creating shareable content that showcases your products in a fun, memorable light. This foundational work will set the stage for future growth and can greatly impact your journey as a founder.
Brand Building: Focus on brand storytelling and customer engagement over immediate retail expansion, especially for self-funded businesses, to build awareness and minimize risks.
Building brand awareness before approaching retailers is crucial for success, especially for self-funded businesses. It’s important to generate enthusiasm and customer interest first, as entering retail can lead to significant costs and risks if products don’t sell. Alternative platforms, like QVC, can help tell the brand story, though they also come with challenges such as inventory management. For startups with limited resources, focusing on effective storytelling through social media, like TikTok, can be a strategic way to engage potential customers and boost visibility without immediately taking on retail risks. This approach allows for creative marketing that connects the product with a wider audience, paving the way for future retail success without overextending financially.
Convenient Baking Joy: Launching a convenient baking product focused on busy parents can create joy. Engage the local community to generate buzz and emphasize eco-friendly packaging and user experiences to attract modern consumers.
Creating a convenient and enjoyable baking experience can add happiness to daily life, especially for busy parents. By offering single-serve cake mixes in recyclable pouches, the product caters to modern millennial consumers seeking simplicity. Building a local community through hands-on demonstrations at markets can help generate initial buzz and foster connections. Understanding the target audience, which includes health-conscious individuals and busy parents, is essential in crafting a product that fits seamlessly into their lifestyles. Exciting ideas, like integrating reusable mugs for baking, can enhance the experience even further. All in all, it's about making joyful moments accessible and memorable amidst the chaos of daily life.
Entrepreneurial Growth: Muggsy Bakes aims to grow by leveraging unique marketing strategies and embracing creativity. Their focus is on convenience, health, and connecting emotionally with customers while overcoming self-doubt on their entrepreneurial journey.
Building a business requires creativity, persistence, and a solid strategy. For the founders of Muggsy Bakes, the focus is on convenience and health, appealing to a modern audience. They see potential in unique marketing ideas, such as themed gifting kits and engaging social media content, which can connect emotionally with customers. As they aim for grocery distribution, their entrepreneurial journey reminds them to embrace challenges without self-doubt. They are encouraged by the potential of their product and the fun, innovative ways it can be marketed. Every step taken towards branding and customer engagement is crucial for their growth as a business in a competitive market, showing that passion and thoughtful presentation can definitely contribute to success.
Listening Options: Listeners can enjoy early and ad-free content by joining Wondery Plus or by listening as Prime members on Amazon Music. Feedback is encouraged through a survey at Wondery.com slash survey to enhance the listening experience and community connection.
If you enjoy the content from the show, there's a convenient way to listen without interruptions. By joining Wondery Plus, you can access the episodes early and ad-free, which enhances your listening experience. Additionally, if you're a Prime member, you can enjoy the same ad-free benefits on Amazon Music. This allows you to immerse yourself in the stories without the distraction of advertisements. Furthermore, your feedback is valuable, and you can share your thoughts by completing a brief survey available at Wondery.com slash survey. Participating not only helps improve the experience but also connects you to the show's community. Overall, there are options available for enhanced listening experiences whether through Wondery Plus or Amazon Music, and your input is welcomed through the survey link.
Advice Line with Vicky Tsai of Tatcha
How I Built This with Guy Raz
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Recent Episodes from How I Built This with Guy Raz
Lily’s Sweets: Cynthia Tice
When it comes to launching a multi-million dollar brand, Cynthia Tice was a late bloomer. Nearly 60 and looking for a healthy way to satisfy her love of chocolate, she set out to make an indulgent, sugar-free version, sweetened with stevia. After some disastrous early recipes, Lily’s Sweets launched nationally in Whole Foods, with just four employees. Cynthia correctly predicted that a growing number of shoppers would willingly pay for healthier treats, and just ten years after launch, Lily’s Sweets caught the eye of Hershey’s, which acquired it for $425 million.
This episode was produced by Sam Paulson with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant, with research by Katherine Sypher. Our engineers were Robert Rodriguez and Kwesi Lee.
You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Advice Line with Vicky Tsai of Tatcha
Tatcha co-founder and former CEO Vicky Tsai joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three early-stage founders. Plus, Vicky explains her decision to briefly step back into, and then out of again, the CEO role.
First we meet Jessica in Newport Beach, who’s wondering how to increase brand awareness for her handcrafted fine jewelry. Then Brittany in New York City, who’s looking to prioritize sales channels for her growing fem care brand. And Devon in Cleveland, who wants to generate buzz around the launch of her creative cake company.
Thank you to the founders of Petit Anjou, Beia Beauty, and Mugsy Bakes for being a part of our show.
If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered.
Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.
And be sure to listen to Tatcha’s founding story as told by Vicky on the show in 2020.
This episode was produced by Katherine Sypher with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Cena Loffredo.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy’s free newsletter at guyraz.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Graduate Hotels: Ben Weprin
In 2014, Ben Weprin decided to take people’s best college memories and spin them into a new business: Graduate Hotels. Each of the chain’s properties was decorated to reflect the character of the college town in which it was based, with photos of famous alums or life-sized sports mascots in the lobby. After 13 years in commercial real estate, Ben got the idea for Graduate after renovating a dilapidated Days Inn in Chicago, and realizing that a hotel can tell a story as well as—maybe even better than—a box of cereal or a pair of shoes. Although the Covid lockdowns threatened to bankrupt Graduate, Ben was able to secure the chain’s future by selling it to Hilton, and today the 35 (+) chain is expected to add dozens more properties.
This episode was produced by Devan Schwartz with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant with research assistance from Katherine Sypher. Our engineers were Robert Rodriguez and James Willetts.
You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Advice Line with Sadie Lincoln of barre3
barre3 co-founder and CEO Sadie Lincoln joins Guy on the Advice line, where they answer questions from three early-stage founders. Plus, Sadie breaks down how she introduced her novel fitness concept to new customers.
First we meet Dustin in Texas, who’s working on a brand identity for his ketchup-mustard combo condiment. Then Andrew in Missouri, who wants to convey the value of his newly-created yard game. And Randi in Alabama, who’s wondering if she should step back from being the sole face of her soon-to-be community gathering space.
Thank you to the founders of Ketchustard, Pizzy Products and Ruffner Treehouse Village for being a part of our show.
If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.
And be sure to listen to barre3’s founding story as told by Sadie on the show in 2017.
This episode was produced by Carla Esteves with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Neal Rauch.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy’s free newsletter at guyraz.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan started Barefoot Wine with $300,000 in debt and almost no knowledge of wine. What they did understand was how to sell it—with a carefree name and label that evoked the beach, and a consistent flavor and low price point that attracted shoppers who normally rejected wine as being too snooty. But winning over that audience took extreme patience, and years of pavement-pounding by Michael. In 2005—twenty years after launch—Barefoot had become ubiquitous, and was acquired by E & J Gallo, one of the biggest wine brands in the world.
This episode was produced by J.C. Howard, with music by Ramtin Arablouei
Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Olivia Rockeman.
You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Advice Line with Leah Solivan of Taskrabbit
Taskrabbit founder Leah Solivan joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three tech founders working to identify and grow their core customer base.
First we meet Kate in Los Angeles, who wants her digital greeting cards to stand out in app stores. Then Shahn in Australia, who’s rethinking user acquisition for his couples coaching app. And Allen in Hawaii, who’s wondering about product-market fit for his online platform that teaches kids to play instruments.
Thanks to the founders of Poppy Notes, My Love Your Love and Dynabuddy for being a part of our show.
If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.
And be sure to listen to Taskrabbit's founding story as told by Leah on the show in 2022.
This episode was produced by Kerry Thompson with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Groupon and Descript: Andrew Mason
Andrew Mason was a 27-year-old with a degree in music when he co-founded one of the fastest growing companies of all time: Groupon. Its deep discounts on everything from sushi rolls to plastic surgery soon became a ubiquitous part of life in cities across the world. In 2011, just three years after launching, Groupon had the largest internet IPO since Google, with a valuation of $12.7 billion.
But people began to complain that Andrew was not up to the role of CEO: he was quirky and unpredictable, and unable to navigate the company’s rocket-ship growth and the surge of copycats that threatened it. Soon, Groupon’s revenue slumped, and Andrew was fired from the company he’d started. But like many of the best entrepreneurs, he learned from his failure. Today, Andrew runs a new startup, an audio and video editing platform called Descript. In fact, we use Descript to make this show!
This episode was produced by Chris Maccini with music by Ramtin Arablouei.
Edited by Neva Grant, with research from Kathrine Sypher. Our audio engineers were Maggie Luthar and Robert Rodriguez.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com. Sign up for Guy’s free newsletter at guyraz.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Listen Now: The Offensive Line with Annie Agar
Join NFL Insider and social media breakout star, Annie Agar, as she tackles the world of fantasy football, odds, props and parlays in “The Offensive Line.” Each week, Annie will break down the NFL’s juiciest and trendiest matchups and drama in her signature quick hitting style, while roasting players and teams (sorry in advance Cowboys fans), dishing out some ice-cold takes, teasing you with a weekly teaser 😉 and slamming the most “offensive” lines, odds and spreads. She’ll be joined by current and former players, and celebrity superfans for a fiery and fun slant on all things football, fantasy and Annie’s favorite picks!
Enjoy The Offensive Line with Annie Agar wherever you get your podcasts: Wondery.fm/TOL
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Advice Line with Scott and Ally Svenson of MOD Pizza
MOD Pizza founders Scott and Ally Svenson join Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three founders about strategic expansion, plus discuss MOD’s recent acquisition.
Today we meet Evan, who recently turned his Richmond-based pizza restaurant into a vegan frozen pizza company. Then Zebbie, a restaurateur in Birmingham who's looking to take his hot chicken concept on the road. And Christiane, a Los Angeles area tequila-maker on a mission to improve her industry’s labor conditions.
Thanks to the founders of Udderless Plant-based Pizza, Eugene’s Hot Chicken and Valor Bebidas for being a part of our show.
If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.
And be sure to listen to MOD Pizza’s founding story as told by Scott and Ally on the show in 2023.
This episode was produced by Katherine Sypher with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Cena Loffredo.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Olipop: Ben Goodwin
When Ben Goodwin was growing up, the concept of healthy soda seemed as oxymoronic as jumbo shrimp. But for Ben, that presented an irresistible challenge: to create a beverage that evoked the colas and root beers of his youth, but was low in sugar and good for the gut. After years of painstaking effort and one failed brand, Ben and his partner launched Olipop in 2018. Made with fiber and prebiotics and sweetened with Stevia, it joined the growing ranks of “functional sodas,” launching first in natural food stores and spreading quickly to the big chains. This year, the brand is expected to do nearly $500 million in sales, and, as younger consumers drift away from legacy soda, Ben says Olipop will only get bigger.
This episode was produced by Sam Paulson with music composed by Ramtin Arabloui and Sam Paulson. It was edited by Neva Grant with research by Katherine Sypher. Our engineers were Robert Rodriguez and Kwesi Lee.
You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.