Female Founders: Nadia Porter of Koope On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Nobody will work as hard on your brand as you will — Always work in extra time for EVERYTHING! Don’t expect people to make things happen as quickly as you make it happen. I call it ‘founder time’ and ‘army time’. Founder time is in an earlier time zone than everyone else!
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nadia Porter.
Founder and CEO of Koope, Nadia porter is an esthetician and serial businesswoman who created a unique but wildly popular ‘skinimalism’ skincare brand, that makes only cleansers and moisturizers for an effective two-step skincare routine. After a decade in the corporate world, Nadia returned to her passion for skincare, and created her brand at the beginning of the pandemic to give customers a simple, but very effective alternative to complicated skincare.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I started my career in skincare nearly 19 years ago. Becoming an esthetician was life changing. It set me on a new path to living a confident, successful life in business, rescuing me and giving me purpose from a childhood and youth with years of abuse and sexual exploitation. Anyone in the industry will attest to its welcoming nature and everyone has a place in it. Being an esthetician was the first thing that made me feel normal, and after years in the business, I earned an MBA and moved into the corporate world. Koope is like coming full circle by applying my experiences in business and the beauty industry to creating this amazing brand.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
Finding the name Koope was unbelievably difficult. I wanted something unique, punchy and trademark-able. This was harder than I thought! It took 3 months and trademark searching over 1,000 names to find one that I loved AND that could be trademarked. People ask me what Koope means, and the answer is that we’ve defined the name ourselves to mean expression, simplicity and collaboration. [Hey @Webster’s Dictionary, Feel free to add our word!]
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
It wasn’t so much a mistake, but certainly funny! Koope products are simply named after what they actually are. For example, our gel cleaner is named ‘Gel Cleanser’, our lightweight moisturizer is named, ‘Lightweight Moisturizer’ and so on.
The person processing our European application insisted that our names aren’t actually “names”, but simply just the product type. They said the names are more “fluffy”! I laughed so hard. That also made me realize how much the market needed a simple but high-quality product like Koope. (We eventually got them through!)
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
It’s impossible for me to show gratitude to just one person. While I’m a sole founder, there have been a ton of people who have helped me throughout my journey. From mentors, to product development, branding, sales and so many more who have been vital parts to get us to where we are today, we also become friends. The message here is, you cannot do it alone. I promise you, it’s a team effort, even for a sole founder.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
Confidence is probably the most common reason in my opinion. Imposter syndrome is a real thing. Also, while this might not only be relevant to women, I believe systemized testing in the traditional school system doesn’t make it easy for people to think outside of the box. Founding a business requires flexibility and creativity. I wish that teaching young people how to harness these skills was part of the mandatory curriculum. You’d probably see a lot more female founders floating around.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
Government incentives are important. There’s limited funding available for startups, making it harder to obtain. We need to teach all people of all genders and identities that achievement in life is about identifying your own unique gifts, developing your interests and striving to be the best at what you love, rather than trying to fit into a box that’s been created for you by society.
There are other ways to get to the finish line. I didn’t finish high school and came from a very unorthodox childhood. But while incredibly difficult, I got my MBA and am running successful businesses without passing through the ‘traditional route’. Many successful entrepreneurs have, but they don’t teach you that in school. The fact is, it shouldn’t be that difficult. Offering accessible alternatives for people to make them ‘entrepreneur ready’ would, in my opinion, make a huge difference.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
The fact that 82% of women go solo into business (only 69% of men do) and studies have shown (Fidelity’s 2021 Women and Investing Study) that female investors capture stronger rates of return on investments than male investors is proof we can do it. Women are cautious and we have a unique hormone that responds to fear which acts as a built in navigation tool for risk. This also makes women strong leaders and smart in business. As Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code said, “Women are socialized to be perfect, to know everything before we take a step”. So ladies, harness these natural gifts in your pursuit in business!
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
“Starting your own business gives you flexibility.” HA!…with a capital ‘H’! Starting a business is HARD, it takes time, lots of it. There’s no 9–5, and I don’t just mean at your desk, I mean emotionally as well. You will live and breathe your brand. It’s the first thing you think about when you wake up, and last before bed.
“You have to have and follow a business plan”. Here’s the deal on business plans: No matter how much you plan, in the first 2–3 years, things will not go that way. You have to be nimble in order to move with the business in its infancy. A plan is a guide in the startup world that is definitely needed, but if you’re too structured, you might find yourself missing opportunities or failing because you didn’t pivot.
“You’re the boss”. No. Your customers are the boss. So are your board, investors, the bank, your personal bank account and the years of unpaid work you put in to get it going. It’s the most demanding job in the world.
“Selling on social media is easy”. Somewhere around 80% of eCommerce businesses fail and running out of money is a common reason why. That said, failure is because of a variety of things. Maybe the product-market fit was poor, or it was just a bad brand or product. But Instagram has become EXPENSIVE and it’s very hard to compete. Same goes for Amazon. eCommerce is a long, expensive game and not a get-rich-quick plan.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
Everyone is not cut out to be a founder. Being a founder is freaking hard and a lot of people just don’t want to do it. Without the want, you have no chance. I think the most important traits are:
Grit — It takes a lot of grit to start a business with the skills to survive in difficult situations, unwavering perseverance and seriously thick skin. This means endurance, resilience, openness, optimism and follow-through (OK I just listed a whole bunch of traits wrapped in grit!)
Ability to take risks — You’ll probably need to make some uncomfortable lifestyle decisions and take some risks. But risk is not the same as haste. The best way to mitigate this is by doing thorough research and diligence. This can help make the decision more comfortable. I did 3 months of diligence such as competitor and market research before starting Koope, which made the uncomfortable ‘risky’ decisions easier to swallow.
Integrity — This is one that I don’t hear about a lot, Integrity has brought me a huge amount of comfort in my journey. Some things in business will feel good and some will feel bad. But whatever happens, if you make choices that come from a core of integrity, with how you do business, treat and speak to people, that feeling is worth gold.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
My answers to this are very product related, but i’m sure in every industry there are things everyone can relate to:
Nobody will work as hard on your brand as you will — Always work in extra time for EVERYTHING! Don’t expect people to make things happen as quickly as you make it happen. I call it ‘founder time’ and ‘army time’. Founder time is in an earlier time zone than everyone else!
Don’t quit your day job until you can sustain yourself — This is more general advice because I financially planned to work full-time with no pay from the first year at Koope as part of my ‘investment’ in the business. But generally it takes a long time to start making money, sometimes years. It’s hard to focus on your business when you’re worrying about paying the rent. One option is to reduce full-time hours at a job to invest time into your startup, then transition from there.
You’ll need help getting into retail — Some founders have left the industry they’re launching in with buyer connections already in their pocket. But for those of you who don’t, you might want to hire a sales broker to help make those introductions to buyers because it’s VERY hard to catch their attention on your own!
Beware of burnout — Founders need breathing room to process, create and plan. I try to front load my week to get all time-sensitive things done, so Fridays I can stop at 6, go to the gym, and allow myself to process the week. I work more efficiently and clearly when I take this time, more so than if I plowed through weeks on end with no break.
Brexit will mess up your anticipated launch date — Our products were developed in Europe so Brexit (and COVID) caused huge delays that pushed our launch 8 months later than planned. That’s 8 months without income or time to build brand awareness.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Shorten. 5 lines max. They will edit. Better if you abbreviate
Koope is based on a foundation that promotes self/artistic-expression and fighting the fight against sex-trafficking trough two programs. Our art program commissions a new piece that’s printed on our packaging each production run and our Koope Kommunity program donates $1 of every single product sold on Koope.com towards anti-sex trafficking initiatives, and up to $1 for each purchase at one of our retail partners. We did this from day one, not dependent on profits, it’s a core part of our brand mission.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I’m very passionate about raising awareness of modern sex-trafficking. The uproar of Epstein and similar cases has sparked the fire, but there’s still an enormous amount of work to be done. It happens everywhere, not just in distant underdeveloped countries. It’s the silent endemic which has an estimated 24.9 million victims worldwide at any given time. Teach your kids, students, family and friends warning signs, so they can say #imaware and stop sex-trafficking.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I’m going to be cheeky and name two! The first is Sarah Blakely, founder of Spanx. She is a hard-core hustling businesswoman who I admire and respect immensely. I would love to soak up her energy and talk about her education for women program. We both live in Atlanta. So Sarah, if you’re reading this, let’s meet up for lunch, or maybe I’ll attempt ‘Hell on a Hill’ next year for sex-trafficking awareness!
The second is Oprah. I mean, is there anyone in the world you’d rather have lunch with?! But seriously, I feel a common soul with her. Both of us started from humble beginnings and pushed through to get to our today. We’re both here to make a difference and it would be an honor to combine my voice with hers to create lasting change.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Nadia Porter of Koope On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.