An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Manage cash like a hawk. Make a weekly 13-week cash forecast your north star. This allows us to revisit decisions weekly to invest or cut spend across every aspect of the business, to shift with the ups and downs of early-stage growth and forces you to have a sense of cash running low, so you can anticipate and act.
Startups have such a glamorous reputation. Companies like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Uber, and Airbnb once started as scrappy startups with huge dreams and huge obstacles.
Yet we of course know that most startups don’t end up as success stories. What does a founder or a founding team need to know to create a highly successful startup?
In this series, called “Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup” we are talking to experienced and successful founders and business leaders who can share stories from their experience about what it takes to create a highly successful startup.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Allison Moss.
Allison Moss has 22 years of prior marketing and management experience working with some of the biggest beauty companies in the business. But her passion for wanting to bring cleaner, safer beauty & personal care products to market brought her to where she is today, Founder & CEO of Type:A Brands.
Since launching Type:A Brands three years ago, Allison has created award-winning, non-toxic, high-performance body care items. Allison has led the company to develop an impactful foundation and immense growth. This includes the hero product, a game-changing aluminum-free deodorant, being awarded a patent for it’s exclusive sweat-activated technology that delivers best-in-class odor and wetness protection. Type:A Brands is a certified B Corporation, carbon neutral, cruelty free, woman-owned and all products are made in the USA.The brand’s commitment to making a difference through the business has recently garnered actress, activist and clean beauty enthusiast Sophia Bush as an investor.
Type:A Brands has gained a well-respected reputation in the industry winning multiple beauty awards from top publications such as Health, SELF and Women’s Health and has developed incredible retailer reach, with Type:A products being sold at CredoBeauty, Whole Foods (California), HEB, Bed Bath & Beyond, Thrive Market, Target.com and many more.
With all this, Allison has stayed true to her word and mission and continues to strive to be better, do better and offer others better in the beauty industry.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
I grew up outside of Los Angeles, and moved to New York City after college (Boston University, go Terriers!) to start a career in Marketing. I was working briefly at a marketing communications agency, which was not my passion but a good foot in the door (so to speak) when friend let me know about an entry-level Marketing role with Kate Spade fragrances, owned by the Estee Lauder Companies. I didn’t get that role, but they had another opening in Marketing at Estee Lauder and that was the start of my career in Marketing and in Beauty.
I’ve spent 20 years in the beauty industry, working with mainstream brands like Estee Lauder, MAC Cosmetics, Lancôme and L’Oreal Paris, and more recently, clean or natural brands like Jurlique and Beautycounter.
What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?
Like so many others, I first considered switching to an aluminum-free deodorant was when I was pregnant with my first child. I had already switched to a clean skincare routine, so the logical next step was deodorant. But each and every one I tried was a disappointment.
Then after a few years of trying to find ‘the one’, I had one of those ah-ha moments you so often read about. I started to see patterns in the way natural deodorants were formulated and what might be holding them back in terms of performance.
With my professional background, I had a vision for what could be a game-changing safe, clean deodorant. So I took a leap of faith, and dedicated myself exclusively to the product concept that has become Type:A deodorant. My hope and our company’s mission is to offer a safe personal care products that work without any tradeoffs, so more people can make the switch to a clean products and (happily) stick with it.
Was there somebody in your life who inspired or helped you to start your journey with your business? Can you share a story with us?
When I was in business school, a friend approached me to help her write a business plan for a new business she was trying to get off the ground. I was young with (relatively) tons of free time and dove into the project with her. As it turned out, she ended up setting the business plan aside for good reasons. But the experience gave me the first taste of what it might be like to build a business and brand from the ground up. It was a full 10 years later before I had the right idea and professional experience that gave me the confidence to take action and start a business of my own with Type:A Brands.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Our company stands out for aiming for the highest standards and doing that authentically — we’re overachievers and it’s in the name Type:A. Through transparent actions, like putting every fragrance ingredient on the package and explaining every ingredient’s purpose on the web site, we want to show that we’re really working hard to do right by our customers. And third party certifications like EWG and being a B Corporation, help us show that we deliver on our brand integrity promise.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
From the very beginning, I was inspired by having a product that worked differently from what was on the market, and better for people who tried it. I was motivated that this could help more people make the switch they wanted to make and stick with it. The idea of helping people make this healthier choice in their lives is a huge part of why I left my corporate career to take on starting a business. And it’s been the best decision!
We could use this business as a force for good, and we try to do that and are always looking to improve. I wanted to get our B Corporation certification as early as we could for just this reason, to help us do a better job of making a positive impact for all stakeholders.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- Vision — My career in bringing new beauty concepts to the market has naturally trained me to do a lot of mental tinkering. I’ve learned to take nothing at face value, that there’s always room for improvement. I created Type:A deodorant after trying dozens of other products on the market — none worked very well, and all had tradeoffs in the user experience. I kept turning over the various competitive products in my mind and thinking about what approach, what new formula technology, what ingredient combination could work better for me, and hopefully for the majority of people that tried it. I easily throw out conventional thinking and look to bring ideas together that had not been done before.
- Resilience — Leading a company requires having a strategy and vision for where to take the business, and also the flexibility to change that approach, sometimes at the drop of a hat, if needed. The recent pandemic is a perfect example. The world turned upside down overnight and many companies, including ours, were at a bigger disadvantage not having what established brands or large corporations might have — large cash reserves or huge repeat customer bases. We were just too new in the market. But we had something the larger businesses didn’t have, the ability to act lightning fast and make quick changes to the sales strategy and marketing plans. We did this more than once in 2020 as the landscape around us changed.
- Mindfulness — Taking feedback is mission critical. In founding a brand, solicited and unsolicited feedback floods in from everywhere. Allowing yourself to hear it all, and take what is valuable, let go of what is not valuable, is key. Remember that it is not personal (if it the comment feels hyper-personal, then it’s off-base and ignore it). There have been many times where someone shares a point of view that would require us to change plans — push back a product launch, reconsider a marketing program. And they made good points, that when I took it back to the team and researched further, I followed and were to our benefit.
Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. Can you share a story about advice you’ve received that you now wish you never followed?
At one brand I worked with, I had a gut feeling about a particular partner we were about to sign a contract with. So I did some digging and asking around. Several of my go-to trusted friends around us said ignore that, on paper things look perfect, and the contract in place has enough
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?
Just before launch, we found out that one of our key competitors was purchased by a large CPG. Suddnely this brand would be everywhere with deep pockets to outspend us in marketing.
Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard? What strategies or techniques did you use to help overcome those challenges?
I’ve had my moments where I feel overwhelmed, as anyone would. I run a growing, early-stage business and am a mom of two. For the business, there’s a never-ending amount of work and always more that we can be doing! My biggest challenge is not get bogged down by what we haven’t tackled (yet!) and stay focused on moving forward, motivate my team and continue to make progress.
The journey of an entrepreneur is never easy, and is filled with challenges, failures, setbacks, as well as joys, thrills and celebrations. Can you share a few ideas or stories from your experience about how to successfully ride the emotional highs & lows of being a founder”?
There are certainly the highest of highs and lowest of lows in this journey. Riding those waves is a constant challenge. I have an escape I’ve come to rely on more and more as we grow — reading. I have always loved reading, fiction and non-fiction, and getting absorbed in a storyline and characters from another world, miles away from my own reality. It has proven to be a great way to destress and find mental balance. Also it’s fun! Only downside is losing precious sleeping hours, I read late at night before bed (the only time I have).
Let’s imagine that a young founder comes to you and asks for your advice about whether venture capital or bootstrapping is best for them? What would you advise them? Can you kindly share a few things a founder should look at to determine if fundraising or bootstrapping is the right choice?
My advice would be exactly what will raising capital get you that you can’t build on your own. For a consumer product-based business, I would encourage them to consider getting double the time in market under their belt than they think they need. Learning more up front will lead to more efficient use of capital and better chance of overdelivering on expectations. For example, beyond product market fit, they want to assess the costs of doing business over time — does seasonality play a role, does the cost of CAC or media fluctuate (randomly or by some pattern), what do repeat/loyalty look like, are there customers, channels or lines of business that can be counted on for baseline cash flow.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Many startups are not successful, and some are very successful. From your experience or perspective, what are the main factors that distinguish successful startups from unsuccessful ones? What are your “Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.
- Is your brand or product differentiated, relevant and is this uniqueness ownable? Thank you @Professor Scott Galloway — this stuck with me from my Brand Strategy course at NYU Stern, and I think it should be every new brand’s north star before launching.
- Run the numbers before you launch, and stay uber-close to them after. Build out a detailed P&L with all relevant KPIs laddering up to total sales, and track actualized progress against budget to see where you need to adjust, and what costs are coming into play that you are missing (there are always some!)
- Manage cash like a hawk. Make a weekly 13-week cash forecast your north star. This allows us to revisit decisions weekly to invest or cut spend across every aspect of the business, to shift with the ups and downs of early-stage growth and forces you to have a sense of cash running low, so you can anticipate and act.
- People are your most valuable resources — be selective in hiring contract, part or full time employees. And as hard as it is, if someone is not a fit make the call quickly. It’s best for everyone and critical when teams are so lean and every decision can have outsized consequences, to make quick decisions if changes need to be made.
- Say No as often as possible. It’s hard to say no, and honing that skill is important. When you’re young and new, everything seems worth trying. The discipline to stay focused will stretch your resources farther. Iterate as you go, don’t test all at once.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Know your numbers, track your unit economics and P&L closely, and pay attention to the data. What’s working, what’s not, and make quick decisions to pivot where you need. If this isn’t your strength, search for the consultant who can support this. It will build in the rigor to mind the numbers up front and that will go a long way over time.
Startup founders often work extremely long hours and it’s easy to burn the candle at both ends. What would you recommend to founders about how to best take care of their physical and mental wellness when starting a company?
So true! Carving out that impossible time to get active — for me that’s yoga 1x a week and tennis 1x a week — and reading books before bed are my go-tos. I wish I could do more, but that’s enough and I’m accepting of it (for now).
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Community-led carbon sequestration!!! One of the only proven ways to actively impact the climate change crisis is to sequester more carbon into the ground, a process that occurs naturally but as humans over centuries we’ve stripped away the Earth’s ability to do this via commercial farming and deforestation. It would be amazing if as a community we could band together and find a way to use power in numbers and regenerate ground cove to help the soil trap carbon from the atmosphere, and reduce the impact of climate change.
We are 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, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Oprah and Megan Markle
How can our readers further follow your work online?
@typeadeodorant on IG and FB
@allisonrmoss
https://www.linkedin.com/company/type-a-brands/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-moss-23b9002/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!
Allison Moss of Type:A Brands Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.