The Future of Beauty: Ian Sanderson of AnteAGE On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Beauty Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Confidence is key. Find things that make you feel good whether that be your skincare, make up or other aesthetic treatments. When you feel good about yourself it is a gorgeous thing.
As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ian Sanderson, President of AnteAGE.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I’ve been an entrepreneur for 25 years, so AnteAGE isn’t my first startup, but it is my first venture into skincare. I’ve really been able to marinate in the world of cosmetic chemistry, aesthetic medicine, and cell biology over the last 11 years. Thankfully, my co-founder Dr. John is a brilliant doctor/scientist, and he’s also my dad.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Buy me a drink first? Ok, this is one of the those “is this real life?” experiences: My father and I were asked to speak at a very exclusive longevity conference in Beijing a few years back. There were about 20 of us invited; we were all flown in first class, then whisked by speedboat to a private lakeside resort owned by a Chinese billionaire (who, of course, wants to live forever.) So, there I am for several days meeting with Nobel laureates, billionaires, and a handful of the most respected scientists in the world. I learned a ton and was able to speak on the topic of skin as the first step on the path to complete cellular rejuvenation.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
I think that tipping point came for me in 2018, when we had two years in a row of sales growth over 100%. That’s when I knew we were going to make it. We’ve been working to keep up with that growth ever since. There was nothing strategically different we were doing before or after that tipping point, we just held on long enough for our products to gain traction in the market and then hired a great team to keep building on the early success.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My distributor in Dubai, DubiMED, taught me how to run a high-quality sales and marketing organization. I have been going to Dubai several times a year for the last five years both to support that market and also to learn from it. Without that relationship it would have taken me a lot longer to grow AnteAGE to where it is today.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?
Growth factors and exosomes are what we see as the cutting edge of beauty science. When we apply energy to the skin, or stimulate with microneedles, we are creating a hormetic challenge resulting in a beneficial response. The problem is that older patients have a less robust response, and these are exactly the patients who want these treatments. Growth factors offer us the ability to reprogram that response, regardless of the age of the patient. That’s exciting! We’ve been creating with the most powerful (bone marrow stem cell) growth factors for many years. Now, we are working with regenerative topicals taking advantage of EVs (Exosomes) to get a more powerful and elegant response.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
We live in a time where new and world-changing technology is often talked about, but slow to materialize. I believe that what we need to worry about is our regulatory infrastructure, and to make changes to safely speed up positive breakthroughs in all fields of science. We have an incredible academy of dermatologists and other specialties who both understand the science behind these types of treatments and care for the safety and outcomes of their patients. I leave it to them to ensure the breakthroughs made in the lab find their way into the practice of aesthetic medicine.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?
- The “science-first” trend that we have seen over the last few years is exciting because we are able to really get down to what makes lasting changes in our body. Discoveries around exosomes are a great example of where biotech is leading the way in aesthetics.
- It is nice to see a return to minimalism in aesthetics. People want to keep a youthful look, and they are moving away from the heavy fillers and opting for a more natural appearance.
- There are so many new devices coming out, many of which require less and less downtime for patients. This is exciting because the ethos of AnteAGE is to decrease inflammation. Our products are compatible with almost any device and work to accentuate the results by speeding up healing and optimizing the outcomes of these very clever machines. Providers are now able to combine therapies and modalities to give their patients customized results.
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
- This isn’t new, but ethics in our industry can be questionable. Going back to the “science-first” approach, we find that some companies make claims about their technology that are not entirely true. This can be frustrating when we see brands making claims or using buzzwords about their products that do not prove out in the lab. It would be nice with some of these new things to require more transparency.
- Social media is an incredible tool for marketing and brand awareness but there are some crazy things being shared out there, some of which can cause pain or permanent damage if not careful. Some kind of oversight may become needed, especially for professional aesthetic treatments being done at home. We have seen people injecting black market filler, neurotoxins, and encouraging questionable surgeries. Many young viewers are very impressionable, and I think we have a responsibility to keep them safe.
- The ”new normal” that has been created for how people are supposed to look has had an impact on the self-esteem of so many people. I am happy to see more representation and inclusivity from brands across the board. We are certainly in favor of creating products to help people feel confident, but that should be tempered by celebrating a variety of looks and not attempt to make everyone look the same.
You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Confidence is key. Find things that make you feel good whether that be your skincare, make up or other aesthetic treatments. When you feel good about yourself it is a gorgeous thing.
- Compliment someone every day. Bringing joy to others will also light you up.
- Have good posture. This sends a message to your brain that all is good. This will radiate outward without you having to do anything special.
- Have gratitude. Be grateful for your surroundings, be grateful for your Botox. It doesn’t matter what it is but consciously acknowledging gratitude is something I think everyone should get in the practice of doing. Your attitude plays a big part in how others perceive you. You will come across more beautiful to others and you will feel better about yourself if you can ditch some of the negative chatter in your mind.
- Take care of your skin and wear an spf daily. Find a skincare routine that works for you and something you can stick to. Don’t make it overly complicated.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire 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. 🙂
I think we need to reconnect with nature. I feel a surreal level of calmness and clarity when I’m barefoot in a jungle, sitting in front of a fire, or swimming in the ocean. We need to find a way to make all our technology disappear into the background so we can benefit from it without being robbed of our humanity. Accomplishing that, to any degree, would be of great benefit to billions.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing your limits, and if you’re not pushing your limits, you’re not maximizing your potential”
― Ray Dalio
I’ve come to realize that I spend a lot of time and money on activities that may fail. And without fail, those are the activities that lead to my success. The stuff that isn’t risky doesn’t really move the ball forward.
How can our readers follow you online?
I’m not on social media, but AnteAGE has much to say on Instagram @anteageskin
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
The Future of Beauty: Ian Sanderson of AnteAGE On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.