← The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan
The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan
659: How Molly Sims is Disrupting a $200 Billion Industry
00:52:51
Molly Sims spent nearly six years modeling in Europe, graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, and starred in Las Vegas and The Carrie Diaries—then quietly spent three years and over $2 million of her own money developing a skincare brand nobody asked for. When she launched YSE Beauty on April 24, 2023, she had no idea if it would work. It did.
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- [00:02]
A
Hey, Founder fam. I want to talk to you about something super exciting. We're officially partnered with OmniSend, the email marketing and SMS platform built specifically for e commerce founders. We've been recommending Omnisend to founder students for a while now because it just works. Whether you're launching your first store or you're scaling to seven figures, it really helps you automate your marketing and get real results. Did you know on average, OMNISEND customers make $68 for every $1 they spend, which is an insanely good return. And because you're part of the founder community, you get 50% off your first three months with the code. Founder 50 just head to omnisend.com founder without the e to get started. Alright, now let's jump back into the show. So what happens when a supermodel turned actress decides to solve her own pigmentation problem and accidentally builds a multi million dollar D2C skincare brand that lands in Sephora within years? Well, today's guest, Molly Sims, who has spent nearly six years modeling in, graced the COVID of Sports Illustrated, starred in Las Vegas and the Cary Diaries, and then made a pivot no one saw coming. She launched Wise Beauty after battling severe melasma in her early 40s and discovering a massive white space in clean, effective skincare. There's a raw, unfiltered conversation. You're going to discover the brutal truth about retail, why you need to be raggedy with retailers and how to negotiate your margins like your life depends on it. How she knew when to bring in private equity and what that transition actually looked like operationally. And lastly, why she believes there's no one recipe for success and why you have to be bold enough to just jump off the cliff. This is an honest, no BS conversation about building a beauty brand in 2026 from someone who's lived through every pivot setback and unexpected win. All right, now let's jump in,
- [01:52]
B
hear the stories, learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. Welcome to the Founder Podcast with Nathan Ch.
- [02:06]
A
Really want to hear how you've grown this incredible brand so quickly, all the stuff you're doing with your podcast content and you know, even why you've got private equity involved, how you made those decisions and everything you're doing on the movie side as well. I think it's incredibly clever.
- [02:25]
B
Thanks for having me. Oh my God, where do I start? I don't even know, like kind of what I was doing when I started. I think that was like the. I think the blessing and the curse. Because what you don't know, you don't know that you can't be afraid of. But at the same time, I think I'm happy I did it. Wow. What can I say? I launched D2C. Strategically, that was a very personal, strategic decision. It was a strategic decision to not take money early on. It was a strategic decision to do my podcast before I even launched Couple two, three years, before I even launched Wise. I think DTC is very hard. I think it's kind of what you said. It's gotta be a little bit of luck and then a lot of luck and then a lot more luck. But I think product market fit. That was my superpower. And I mean that in, like, a really good way. Like, I had a problem that I was looking for and there was that white space. And you can't really say that a lot of times because it's so crowded, everything. But I don't know if you guys know my story. I had really bad hyperpigmentation and melasma when I was in my early 40s. I had become a model. I went to Vanderbilt. I went to public school. I grew up in Kentucky. I went to Vanderbilt. I wanted to be a lawyer. I thought I maybe wanted to go into politics. I spent time in the Hill. And then I ended up getting an opportunity to model. And I took that opportunity of taking a semester off and then going and to Europe and thinking I would come right back to Vanderbilt. And I didn't. I made every. You know, I made every opportunity that I could. It was a lot of work. I spent almost close to six years living in Europe. Then I went back to New York and then eventually to la and then back to New York again. I think for me, I'm the queen of pivoting. And I mean that in a really good way, which I think makes me a really good founder, because I'm always thinking something won't work, because normally it doesn't. So I'm always. I'm very agile to pivot.
- [05:08]
A
Queen of pivots. Why?
- [05:11]
B
I think because I've always had to. I think it's just my business. Like, I was just at the Actors Awards last night, the formerly the Screen Actors Guild. And it's just in our business, in our world, it's just you can't count on anything, you know, And I was so used to that as a model. And I think that resilience and that. I don't know, I think it has helped me. I've been told I'm too fat. I'M too pretty, I'm too tall, I'm too small, I'm too blonde, I'm too black. I think that criticism. I think that, you know, you just really can't rely on anything. Even though this is. I sound terrible with my business, but it gives you of a bit of armor that when I finally became a founder, when you go through modeling, acting, hosting, producing, you've kind of gone to school to be a founder. Because being a founder, you have to go with your gut. You have to make decisions that you probably have never made in your entire life. You have to run ops, you have to run marketing, you have to run hr, you have to run all these verticals that I've never in my life been exposed to, but just very infrequently. I was always the girl on the other end holding up the lip gloss and getting her picture made. Now I'm creating something. But I do think my background has really helped me to A, not be afraid and to pivot and to be like, okay, you know, especially, you know, if you talk about D to C, you're constantly having to pivot your strategies. Like what. What works for three months won't work for another three months. I feel like, for me, I'm a socially led business first. So social media. So it's like my brick and mortar. Whether it's meta, whether it's Google, we're a social first brand, we're a community brand. And I think it's really important to have that and have that community that will help you grow that D2C. Um, yeah, I mean, I think first and foremost, I had a problem. You know, I was in my early 40s. I had bad hyperpigmentation, melasma. I was looking for something that really didn't exist in the market. Everything was either too old, too derm, too, like, menopause, like, they're talking to my grandmother or things that were amazing and beautiful and shiny, but no efficacy. And so where wise came in is they had efficacy. We were cool. We were speaking to a woman that's kind of been forgotten too. And she wants to know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. But most importantly, she wants to feel like she's in the game. And I think what was interesting about my background, I've had a chapter in my 20s, I've had a chapter in my 30s, I've had a chapter in my 40s, and now I have a chapter in my 50s. And I think that has served me well building a business. And also Building it in the way of. It's a marathon, you know, it's not a race, it's a marathon. It's these decisions that you're making now that will affect you three years from now.
- [08:43]
A
It was a three year journey that led you to launch. Why did it take so long? How much did it cost to create the product? Like you said, it was a, it's an underserved market. You've really got product, market fit. But tell me what happened in those three years.
- [09:01]
B
Yeah, I mean, ultimately that's what it takes. You know, I didn't do, I didn't do a business where I bought my, I bought my formulas, which, that's a certain way to do it. But there's testing, there's regulatory, there's clinicals. I was told I can do this company for $750,000, which they were about, I would say a million to 2 million off, which was, which was stomach churning, to say the least. I did a lot of things right. I did a lot of things wrong. I think if I look back now, I would have gotten someone very early on that knew the beauty business in terms of cost of goods. And I thought I had that. But that was more of a middleman, which again, your middleman is great until he's not really right. So I worked with a company early on to help me, and while that was great, while that was great, it was very hard to unravel. Right. I wouldn't do that again.
- [10:20]
A
What did you do wrong?
- [10:23]
B
It's not that I did wrong. I just didn't have an understanding of the business at a base level right now. I have a good understanding from a base level on how much it costs. What are your margins Ops? Like, as good as your product is, it's, you know, you've got to get, you've got to make it for a certain price. Right. You've got to make it ultimately to a, to make money, but to be, to be able to survive, right, to have your marketing dollars, I mean, what did I do wrong? It's not that I did anything wrong. It just. I just wish I would have had a real professional helping me on my side. And I kind of piecemealed together, which worked. But I, once I launched, I quickly realized, oh, wait a second, this could really work. And we ramped up so fast that at 1.7 months after launching, we were out of stock on like, I don't even know, six products. So again, ops team, you know that, that where you're manu. You know where you're manufacturing your, Your. Your products, your. All the things around me right now, like all my products, all my regulatory. You've also got to get it on the shelf. You've got to get it into the hands of your consumers, your customers. And so I just, again, it was. It's things I didn't know. Yeah, it was a big learning curve. Like a huge learning curve.
- [12:04]
A
Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure. And you know, the business has been on a. A crazy growth run. You've only been around for, you know, not even close to three years. And you guys are, you know, growing almost 100% year on year. You're on track to do, reportedly, from our research, $30 million annual annual revenues. So incredible growth. If you could boil it down to one thing besides product, what have you done? Well, to really accelerate that growth, my team.
- [12:42]
B
Knowing when to hire, knowing when, at this moment, when you have to pivot and that person or that team isn't right for the next six months, isn't right for the next two years. That was the hardest thing for me. I thought who you started with was ultimately who you ended with. And because our growth was so exponentially fast, that was one thing that even though didn't want to, I had to. I had to figure out my team, and I had to figure it out quite quickly. I think the biggest thing was ops working with the right labs. You know, I was involved at the lab. That was not great. They were not ethical. Ops is a very big, big part of it. I used to think like, oh, my gosh, you. You're on fire. You've got five products that are out of stock. Actually, that's really bad for your company. It's built really bad for your growth, and it just means you have bad demand plannings. So it's. I know I sound so like, you know, green and everything, but I didn't know how important the ops was until I was in it. And it's still probably one of the most important next to, yes, marketing is so fun and product development is amazing, but your ops, getting it to you in a timely manner is really super
- [14:14]
A
important when it comes to, I guess those three years in the testing space, hundreds of different formulas to really find something that is truly groundbreaking. How did you. Did you ever, like, and you said it cost you over a million dollars more than you thought it would. How did you know whether to keep going? It sounded like, you know, those three years would have been really tough, like, because you'd want to get it out there and you'd want to have something that is superior in the marketplace. Talk us through that.
- [14:48]
B
Look, it was a really. To be really. I mean, no one's ever asked me that. It was a really scary time. I remember April 20th, we launched on April 25th. April 24th, 2023. I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my life. I've had some very big moments. The birth of my children, the me getting married, getting engaged. But April 24, 2023, at 12 o' clock when we went live, I mean, I was. I don't know if this is going to work. I mean, look, I think those three years, they were difficult. I never really understood how much it costs. I would be told one thing and then it would turn out to be something else. I went against people. The biggest thing I went against is doing clinicals. By the time I launched, in those three to four years of developing the product and coming and coming to life, I had five to six celebrity skincare cosmetic brands launch before me, which I don't think a lot of people realized. And I didn't know if I could make it, to be really honest with you. I think I was so far in, I was so far of like, I've got to try to see this through. It was hard. I had to invest a lot of money, my own money, which I think, look, at the end of the day, I didn't want to do friends and family I didn't want to do because I, God, what if it went wrong? But it was definitely very difficult because I kind of didn't know what I didn't know which made it better. But the ball, the, the, the bird's eye kept changing. I had to push six months because of regulatory. I didn't actually get to, I didn't actually launch with Skinglow, which is one of my number one SKUs, because it was SPF, having a really strong point of view, having really difficult conversations that I'm going to have to go to Vegas and bet. And that's what I did. I led a lot with my gut. I know that sounds odd of what I'm saying because it doesn't sound good, but a lot of how I led was, would I buy this product? I remember when I was developing the products for Wise, I would always say, I want my products to do a lot of different things. I want my, my products to multitask at the time. You add your clarifying line, your enzymatic line, your anti aging line, your acne line, and that's Actually not how I buy color or skincare cosmetics. I buy cult. I go to a French pharmacy, and I look for things differently. What if this had a baby with this? That had a baby with that? What would that look like? One of my favorite products is my. Your favorite expats. They were based on a very successful product that I loved, and I used it for many years. It got taken off the market because it was too harsh on your skin, but I loved what it did. I didn't love how it smelled. I didn't love how it made me burn. I didn't love that I couldn't use it every day. But how could I make that product work for me now, it's not so much about inventing something that's never. But how can I take something and make it better? I had a unique thing happen to me during my 40s, almost to my 50s, I was addicted to hydroquinone, which is a very strong, active. I was doing very strong barrier things that, yes, were great in the moment. I had a lot of downtime, a lot of redness, a lot of. A lot of thinning of the skin. Just. It was that era of like, 2015, 2010, microdermabrasion, like, just, let's just kill your skin. And I started to notice that it was backfiring on me. All the things that I was trying to do were actually making my thing, my skin, worse. And so I had started having some insight, and so I kind of pulled back on everything. And that's where I had a really good insight on what was making my skin have so much downtime. And I took that information within the clinicals, within the proprietary, like, what. What goes with what? And I always remember when I'm like, the barrier, you can't to constantly mess with your barrier. You can't, because it makes you look thinner, it makes you look older, and it makes you look drier. So I had all of these things because I was the guinea pig. So when I develop these products, I'm like, I don't want it to smell. I don't want. Because for me, product development isn't just about the product. It's about the experience. And my woman, she just, oh, here, do a harsh derm product. Put it on three times, three times a week. And that wasn't the approach that I wanted. I want cult favorites that work, that do a lot of different things and not a lot of time. My woman has disposable income. She likes high, low. She'll buy Prada, but she'll buy her shoes at Zara. Like, I knew my girl. I knew that she still wanted to feel like she's in the game. And that is who, that's kind of how I developed. That's how I see the market even today. Does it pill under your makeup? Like, can you layer your serums, your. Can you layer it? Or is it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it just. So many things goes into, has have gone into those three years. It was a roller coaster. It was difficult. I had to come up with more money. I remember Christmas, December 2022. I'm like, I don't. I had to come up with like a million dollars. I'm like, I don't even, I don't even know if I could do this.
- [21:26]
A
How'd you get it?
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B
I had it. It wasn't about not getting it. It's just about, do I want to put it there.
- [21:31]
A
But you must, there must have been besides your own itch that you must have been speaking to people. Right. That told you. Yes, I want this. Like, did you poll your community?
- [21:41]
B
I didn't really call my community. I was in the midst of COVID you know, I, I was thinking about doing something differently in my Life. We're hitting 2020. I have three kids under 8 years old. My husband is a pretty prolific producer in the entertainment industry. He and I cannot both be gone at the same time. I was in the midst of writing a third book, but I wanted to be a part of something. And I know that sounds odd, but I wanted the newborn, the walking and the toddler. Like I wanted, I want, maybe I didn't want exactly this, but I wanted to be a part of something. I didn't want to go back and be in a trailer and sitting in Atlanta. And I wanted to be with a different manager who I thought would kind of look at me a little bit different, not just as an actress. And she really, before she took me, she said, you're going to have to come up with a five year plan. And her saying that to me was such a game changer because I'm like, I don't have a five year plan. I didn't even know. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know anything. And that's where I, I, I got specific. I got, I hunkered down. I worked with someone and I went back to her and I was like, there's a couple things that I think I can do. And that's ultimately how that all started. Because she said, you're going to need a Five year plan. It got me focused. Did I pull my community? Not really. I was in the midst of. But what I did do is I would make boxes for my friends and I would label them with post it notes. My girlfriend Robin, who lives down the street, my other girlfriend Annie, and I would leave them. I'm like, okay, you do this, this, this, this and this. That's kind of when I started to know that I might have something. I'm like a big dermatologist said seeing me a couple years later and he was like, I don't know what you did for Annie Scott skin, but it's really good. And so I, I took those 15 things and that is really wise today.
- [24:05]
A
So talk me through great products. We really kind of, you really unpacked how you've built this product and the demand and you know, made a different, made things different and better. Talk to me around the podcast and, and the movies piece because that's really fascinating to me. I speak to a lot of successful founders in the D2C space and attention and you know, marketing and, and getting, you know, either con getting content created for your brand one way or another, you've done in a really kind of unique way which has been highly effective. And in the grand scheme of things you've turned somewhat of a, a cost center into a profit center because you know, Netflix pay you to create product for them. But then you have two hours of somebody's undivided attention and you've got product placement. I think it's really clever. So talk to me about how that came about and also the podcast and how you're using content differently than most D2C founders and brands to grow your brand.
- [25:17]
B
I think the podcast of it all was strategic. I was in the middle of writing my third book and when we decided, when I decided to do the brand, it was a way for me to become somewhat of an expert. I wasn't really thought about in the beauty space. I was in the modeling space, I was in the entertainment space, I was an actor. But in terms of beauty, I don't know that I was thought of. But the one thing that I did have and I knew in my gut I am a connector and I would always, if someone would ask me, I would tell them what I was doing. I didn't just say, oh, I drink a lot of water and I, I, I got, you know, I get 10 hours of sleep. And I found in my business in 2020 when Emisha and I launched our podcast Lipstick on the Rim, there was a lack of transparency. There was gatekeeping. There was the sense of, like, I'm not going to tell you what I'm really doing. I'm going to talk about it, but I'm not going to share what we're doing. And when I look at Wise and I look at my community and I look at my product and I look at the girl who is buying my product, the woman, it's not just the outside, it's how she feels on the inside. And creating this podcast and this open dialogue, yes, now it's much better. People are telling you they're getting your boob jobs. They're going to tell you what, what facelifts are doing, what. But, you know, cut back two to three to four years ago, people weren't sharing. And that was my ultimate goal because Wise is a community and Wise is not just a product. And I think for me, yes, strategically, I became an expert. And I got to interview, you know, Dr. Levine, who did, you know, the famous facelift for, for Jenner. We got to interview, you know, Victoria Beckham, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Duff, Jennifer Garner, surgeons, doctors, wellness. But I kind of. I got the inside and the out. And with that, I gained all of these women who had been craving because, look, there's so much on the Internet. I'm holding up my phone. There's so much. Like, I wanted a place where a woman could go and get really good advice. So for one hour every week, I have my pack, my paper just like the person I'm interviewing. I take notes. I've done it. Now my podcast is going to be five years old, and I do it week after week. It is the wise woman. She's learning how she can make her life better. What does she need? What does she doesn't. What. What is she struggling with? Listen, it's been brilliant to Wise, and Wise has been brilliant for Lipstick on the Rim because it's the same woman. She wants information. She wants to be educated, producing. Listen, I. I started in 2015. I was writing a second book. I always love putting things together. I can spot talent pretty well. It's always kind of just been a gift. Clea and Joanna from the Home Edit ended up doing a piece in my second book. They were in my pantry, and they were amazing. They didn't have an agent. They were just starting. And then, you know, cut to two years later, we sell the show to Reese Witherspoon, we get it on Netflix. So that just is something I've always been good at, putting things together. It's Like a Jenga puzzle, you know, and then I don't know. I'm very specific in my producing, so I really love funny or I really love thriller. I don't know, a hobby for reading for my husband. I don't know. I'm really good at, like, how do I say this? If I want something, I'll find a way to get it. If someone says to me no, it makes me only work harder. I know that's just an odd thing. I think that's part of why I've been successful because I've mainly had no's in my life that I have to turn into a yes. I come from the no culture and if I could give any founders one piece of advice, have get the nose to fuel you, turn the nos into yeses. Take it as a challenge. Keep opening the door. Even if it shuts, keep opening it again. Be able to make decisions. I have a really unique ability to make decisions. And I know that sounds pretty generic, but it's a little bit of my superpower. It might be wrong, but I can make a decision. I don't sit in neutral. I don't think I can be everything to everyone. I think with wise, this is not for your teenage daughter, right? Some people try to like, oh my God, it's for your daughter. But then it's for, you know, your 50s and it's for your 30s and it's for 20s. It's like, no, who, who are you targeting? Right? Really knowing your customer, your Amy's, your Laurens, your Jennifers, how to get them, how to get that AOV up in your basket. Maybe, maybe it is a lip for the girl in her 20s or maybe it's a serum for the girl in her 50s. Like, who are you targeting? I think the biggest trap, biggest trap women make is trying to be something to everyone and you're something to no one.
- [31:20]
A
Let's talk about Sephora. So you guys launched an exclusive partnership with them last year and you guys are in Sephora now. What did that require financially, Financially?
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B
It was twofold. You have to be ready. Whether it's a Sephora, an Ulta, once you, you know, dtc, your margins are so good, right? Because Your, it's your D2C. You got your Shopify, you've got your strategy. Retail is a whole nother beast. It required money, it required product. Because what you can have happen is you can't have not product on the shelves. You can. It just, it's not the best thing for you. Product was a. I mean, Sephora was a different game plan, which is also why I waited. Right. Because I think sometimes you want to go, you want to try to do everything, you want to try to do retail, you want to try to do D to C. You want to have a lot of different distribution channels because you need money. But the problem that a lot of founders and a lot of people figure out, and I was taught that very early on, it takes manpower for each vertical. So your strategy for D2C is one thing, your strategy for Sephora is a whole nother one. What's their buy in? How are you pushing out marketing to Sephora? That's going to take away your D2C. But I think the main challenge for us was getting the product, having enough product on hand to be ready to be in the stores. I think the good thing was I didn't start in all doors. I have a great partner at Sephora, Cindy Dialey. She's incredible. She was really good in kind of setting up my expectations that it's not a movie opening on a Friday and you'll know how you do on a Sunday. It's not a race. You will get a lot of learnings every week, every month, what's working, what's not working, and again, and then you have to be able to push back. And that's been hard, right, because you love your partner, but you've also got to always have that push and pull. Maybe it is better to be on D2C for this and not be an X for that. I'm lucky. I only have two channels right now, so I'm very hyper focused. But Sephora is, again, it's challenging. I think all the retail at this moment isn't what it used to be. There's a ton of brands, they have a lot of mouths to feed. They have been great to me. They've been a true partner. I couldn't imagine, but it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a climb. It's a mountain. And I'm, I'm just, I'm just starting to climb it, to be honest with you.
- [34:15]
A
Yeah, I, I'd love to delve a little deeper because like you said, they're Two different beast. D2C and retail. You can't do them all at once. So you raised last year a series a 15 million to really fund retail expansion. Because like you said, you need the stock now. You also had a partner. You've got a partner now, Silas Capital. Big, big time kind of private equity. So, you know, these guys These guys are in the business to really help businesses grow and it's in their best interest. I'm curious, what kind of financial performance do you need to demonstrate to get on the radar and work with with guys like this?
- [34:59]
B
Listen, I think every company is different. Like I you got to show growth. I think I for Silas, why I chose them and personally I think why they chose me. I fit within there. I was looking for not a massive fund. Their girl, their woman is my woman. So I wear Doyn. They just put money into do in business and pleasure is a small Australian company that I have championed for probably five years that no one's really known about. I like them, I like their aesthetic. I love their story. Violette, it's a French color cosmetics brand. It's amazing Rose hair care. Mara, it's my woman. I use it. So we had such a symbiote, like a symbiotic on who our girl was. And I know my girl because I am this girl. I think fit in market is really important because I hadn't been so wide. I think I was very attracted attractive that I wasn't raising 20, 30, 40, $50 million. I mean some funds. I was too early. They wanted more money and I didn't want to do that. I didn't need it. I needed it for product. I needed it for team. I did a little bit of a TED talk with my team and it's the year of the horse. We're in 2026 and this year is very different than last year. This year is called disciplined growth. And when you're first starting a company, you're kind of just whack a mole. You're problem solving. You're trying to figure out how just to stay alive and breathe and just keep going to the next day. My third year is not that my third year is gonna is more strategic. It's crossing your Ds, Ts, you're dotting your eyes. It's being more thoughtful. Where is that roadmap of three years, five years? What does that look like? I've always been crazy about my PD. 26, 27, 28. But what is that roadmap? Because what you realize these decisions today affect the decisions in three years. I think Silas was attracted to my company again, the girl. I think they knew that I was getting better with ebitda, which I now know what that means. I think they see my vision for the company. It's a very clear vision. I just, I think I can tell you it's going to be Announced on Tuesday. So if this podcast goes before Tuesday, then I can't tell you, but I just did a massive CEO hire that I could not be more thrilled to. Stand by me, to lead me to 50 to 100 to 200 million. I'll just always try. I got my fractional CFO because I DMed him on a LinkedIn, and they're like, oh, you'll never get that person. And I, you know, I, I, I said to both of these hires, I said, I'm, I know I'm nobody. I know no one knows me. I go, but I'm telling you, I'm the better bet. And what I think attracted them a lot is that I had put my money, not only my face, my voice, my own money into this company. So let's fucking go. And I think that is where I have surprised people, even, Even with my CEO hire. Thirty minutes in, I could tell she wasn't interested. But then 45 minutes in an hour, in an hour and a half, in two hours in, I had Elle at an Elle interview, waiting on the other side. And I kept going, like, just wait one second. And looking at across her, and I was like, look, I've got to go to Super Bowl. I go, I know this is gonna sound fucking crazy, but would you ever come and meet my team? This was on a Thursday, two weeks ago, three weeks ago. She looked at me across the zoom, and she lives in New York. And she was like, I'll see you Monday. Never in a million years. She had three or four other offers much better than mine, I'm sure. I believe in this company. I think that's part of it. Like, I think if you're listening to me, if you're like, I've just built it because I believe in the brand, I believe in the product. I always think efficacy, clinical, it's backed. It's not a Molly Sims brand. That's what I've done.
- [40:01]
A
Well, how have you done that strategically? Can you talk us through that?
- [40:05]
B
Well, I think, you know, I think just being myself, I think, like, I kind of started this podcast, kind of what, you know, sometimes is better because I'm not afraid to ask. Okay, what do you think? What do you think about this? Well, how do I do that? I met with Linda Berkowitz, who basically took Ilya to Exit. I've met with Catherine from Merit. I've met with amazing founders, Summer Fridays, John Hefner, Lauren Gore, like, so many women. And I'll just say, well, what do you think about that? Well, how Did I? Oh, oh, you're never, they're never going to take you. Oh, okay. Let me, let me see if I can get them to take me. I've listened, I've surrounded myself by better, smarter, more capable people than I am. But I've also, at the end of the day, I've trusted my gut. I've been able to pivot. But I work very, very hard. I mean, to the point where I'm like, at the end of last year, the end of 2020, 20, 25, I was, I was spent. I needed, you know, again, a Brian Silas dad from Willows. You need these strategic partners. They're big decisions that are going to help you. And they have the knowledge of the industry, of their strategics, of the people that are buying. What are they going to be looking for in three, four, five years? Because those, like I said, those mistakes can really hurt you later on. I just think I'm passionate because I'm passionate and I believe in what I have and I believe in my woman. I don't know if there's a secret sauce.
- [41:49]
A
Look, there's always something you can learn though, right?
- [41:52]
B
Always, always ask questions. Always, always. Like, you know why we love, we wanted to be on your podcast is because you do ask those hard questions about. You're not talking about the product. You're like, well, how did you get there? What was that moment when you felt like, oh, my God, I'm gonna throw up. I'm like, I gotta come up with a million dollars. So imagine someone said 750, 785,000, and then you're now at 2.2. How do you figure it out? Right? We gotta push six months. How do you figure it out? You're sold out. I'm so sorry. Your highest, your best selling product, you're not gonna have on, you're not gonna have in the market for six months. I have to pull it because there is a defect. All of those decisions are so difficult and they're, they're. But they are game changers when you can figure it out. And I don't hire people who everything has been amazing for, because that's the one thing too. Like when you've always been going up, you pick a partner that it's great when everything's going well, but you have a partner when the shit hits the fan, because it will, and it does.
- [43:12]
A
One of my mentors, he has this, this saying I really like. He says that CEOs are like tea bags and you really get to know what, what they're like when they're under hot water.
- [43:28]
B
And you've also gotta, you know, I don't mean this to sound crazy, but like, you gotta be a bitch sometimes. You gotta have balls. You gotta be like, no, no. Like, I did something the other day and I swear, 20 people across, across the screen was like, oh, she's crazy. We're not gonna talk about like, I'm like, but you've never marketed this product. We did. 361% above. You don't talk about a product. It's hard to sell the product. Right. It's how you market something. You can't just. Again, you can't be everything to everyone. So if you've given a product no love, it's probably not going to work. But having the balls, having the, the stamina to really stand up is very difficult as you grow because you get intimidated. I don't know. Sometimes it's better to not know. And then you don't know because then it's like, well, let's just do it. You know what I mean?
- [44:25]
A
No, for sure. Look, Molly, we could talk all day, but I have to work towards wrapping up you.
- [44:31]
B
Talk to you all day. You're brilliant.
- [44:32]
A
One last. Two last questions. One, how did you know? Because we have a lot of founders that listen to this show that would have retailers tapping on their shoulder. They launched D2C. You know, they might be at 1 million a year, 2 million a year, 3 million year. And they got retailers tapping them on the shoulder. How do you know when it's the right time to. To really kind of tackle that beast? Because like you said, it's a beast in of itself. And then two, what is next for you guys? I know you guys are also launching, you're preparing to launch a new product which you're really excited about, which I'd love to hear more. And you've got some really cool things happening as well as your skin quiz. All sorts of things. But, yeah, what's exciting for you next? So retail versus dtc, how to know when to tackle retail. When you got product market fit, you're growing traction, you're scaling ads, but you got some really exciting potential partners. And you're like, okay, well, there's no, like, I could have some white space over here as maybe a blue ocean, but it's going to cost me a bomb and I'm going to hurt into my margin. Like, that's what's going through a founder's head. How did you work that out? And then also, what's exciting?
- [45:48]
B
Don't show it to anybody. Oh, my God. With retail, try to know who you're getting in bed with. Your expectation needs to somewhat match their expectation. Be willing to ask for those margins. Don't just, don't, don't just take what they give you. Negotiate. And again, you're, you're going to know if you can do it. But if you can't do it, wait. Your D2C, baby. It's your money maker right now, right? I know everybody thinks retail, but that D2C, ooh. Take care of her and feed her. And with retail, when you do it, it's hard because then you've got another person to feed. You've got another person who has expectations on you, on you. Get incubation money, get as much. Talk to people. Be like, what are the five things I want out of this retailer? What are the 10 things I need to make it happen? Be like. I always talk about myself. In my first years of my marriage, I was called Naggedy Nan. And my husband would make fun of me. He's like, well, naggedy's back. But be naggedy. Be naggedy with these retailers because if you're not getting it, someone else is. Try to get that space. Try to make a good deal. Try to like, I want to be a part of this. Can you pay for it? Build me. Because that's why you're going to a retailer. You're expecting them. And look, Sephora is one of the best brand builders in the world, but again, they got a lot of mouths to feed. So whatever retailer, Amazon, TikTok, Ulta, any of your shops, Blue Mercury, like, get them to be your partner. But you sure gotta push them as much as they're gonna push you. And I think the best advice is that just remember the advice that they're giving you. They're giving five other people 10 other brands. So have a gut, have a point of view and try to get as much as you can. I don't think there is a press go. You're ready. I was not ready. And I, and I knew a year before I launched, I still wasn't ready. You just gotta jump off that fucking cliff. You gotta dive, you gotta go, you know, you gotta walk out of the shallow water and into the deep end.
- [48:19]
A
You.
- [48:20]
B
I said to a founder the other day, because she was like, I just don't know. You're gonna know. You're also gonna know when to leave. You're also gonna know when to not leave money on the table. You've Also got to know that play, because there's not one recipe, oh, my God, I can make this pie this way, but I could also add this ingredient and make it this way. Like, there's just no. And that's where I wish founders would listen to me. There is no one way. But you better be fucking bold. You better. Like, in terms of social, you got play that game. You got to hit every vertical. You gotta be able to take chances. You gotta be able to be like, oh, that shit. That didn't work. That was so not good. I mean, I have pitched people my ideas, and I'm like, oh, you're gonna use that person for your beauty brand? I'm like, yeah, I know. But I think it's gonna work, right? You have to have belief, and sometimes it doesn't work. So again, it's that up and down that mountain. It is that belief. Because again, not everything works. I tell my husband, not every movie that you should get or you should buy or you should make. Not every movie. You should do that. Not every product should you make. But even when you put your heart and soul in it, it doesn't mean it's gonna work. I am super excited. We have a Dewey peptide plumping serum coming out.
- [49:53]
A
Peptides are the vibe now.
- [49:54]
B
It's amazing. Look, peptides are our future. I wanted this product, like, three years ago. I wanted something that was plumping, hydrated. I wanted almost like a sheet mask in a bottle. And that's ultimately what I created as 10 benefits in 15 minutes. You can put it over on bare skin, over makeup, under makeup. It's like drinking a glass of water. It fills in fine lines and wrinkles. It's not sticky, it's not tacky, but it definitely makes you glow a little bit glassy. It's pink, it's pretty, it's blurring. It's fun. It's really good. And the clinicals are insane. But again, it's been three years, right? So we're super excited about that launch. We just had a huge. I only had money to do one shade. I have a Wide Awake Brightening eye cream. I only had money to do Honey. And they're like, what's this gonna do? And that was the product that I. I sold out in two weeks. And then I had a. I had an OPS problem, and I had a. I had a. A component problem. And then I got enough money to. To develop three more shades. And it is massive. So my pink shade is number one. My peach shade is number two. My honey, my mocha so it's. Listen, it's. It's a roller coaster. I truly love it. I. I'm really happy to have my CEO starting in a few weeks next to me. That can help me go back to my superpower, which is product and marketing and not having to deal with shipping. And please, God, let's get it there during a snowstorm.
- [51:49]
A
Awesome. Well, look, Molly, thank you so much for your time. Congratulations on all your success thus far and thank you being. Thank you for being so candid and open on your D2C journey. I know big more big things are coming. You're welcome back anytime.
- [52:02]
B
Thank you so much.
- [52:03]
A
Hey, Founder fam. Thank you so much for tuning in today and if you enjoyed this episode, please take the time to leave us a review and let us know what you think. This podcast is 100% free. We work so hard to go out and find the most successful founders and entrepreneurs all around the globe. So your feedback helps us grow, improve, and even bring on more incredible guests and insights. So if you have a second, please take a moment and leave us a review. You it really means a lot to me and the founder team. It makes so much of a difference. Thank you again for listening and I'll catch you on the next episode.