Founder Guidance

Amy Errett

“If you’re scared of making mistakes, you could never innovate,” Amy Errett told Founder Brew.

Errett found that mindset after a career as a venture capitalist and three-time entrepreneur. That experience gave her what she considered a strong understanding of “what it took to raise money, build a team, build a product, and launch to the consumer market.”

When she looked at the beauty industry, she saw an established category with an overlooked customer: women over 38 who were starting to color their hair. She also saw an opportunity to rethink an experience that had frustrated her friends, from ingredients to cost and convenience.

In 2014, that opportunity launched as Madison Reed, a beauty brand named after Errett’s daughter. The company is best known for its direct-to-consumer hair dye products delivered to customers’ homes, and also operates storefront hair coloring salons across the country.

Errett spoke with Founder Brew about spotting a consumer gap, getting close to customers, and why founders can’t be afraid to get things wrong.

This is not your first company you founded. What’s been the most valuable lesson that you’ve learned that you’ve applied to Madison Reed?

It’s always about the people, 1,000%. This could be a completely different product and our success or failure will be attributed to the quality of the team, the culture in the company, the trust and belief we have in each other, and the ability to create a culture that isn’t afraid to take chances, risks, and make mistakes.

I’ve gotten a lot better about making faster decisions. When I know, I know. When I think about something three times, I’m like, “Oh, yeah, there it is.” It’s uncomfortable because sometimes you’re doing it about-face, making a decision that other people don’t like or disagree with. Sometimes you’re going to be unpopular because you have to.

The gravitational pull is to go safer. Gravitational pull isn’t to keep pushing the edge of the envelope and make changes, but we always have to. If not, we just become a stagnated company that somebody else will revolutionize.

Read more about Amy Errett’s approach to finding her consumer.—JH

      

Sponsored By Capital One Business

Adele Gambardella managed corporate disasters before they hit the headlines. Chip Massey negotiated hostage situations as an FBI agent. Neither expected to start a company together. But they discovered negotiators and crisis pros run on the same playbook—different rooms, same pressure. That became The Convincing Company.

The real proof of concept wasn’t the UN keynote or the 200+ TV hits. It was eight years ago, when they booked an NYC workshop venue on a Capital One Business card before a single ticket sold. That night sold out.

Now they’ve built The Convincing Lab: a quiz that shows how you actually perform under pressure, based on real crisis methodology, not theory. Take the quiz to see how you’d hold up.

Adele and Chip started their business at a dinner party. Capital One Business can help wherever you are in your journey.

Founder Guidance

Jett McCandless

In 2014, Jett McCandless launched a supply chain management company, project44, that promised to usher in new technology for the world of logistics and shipping.

Previously, major players in the industry had relied on complicated, old-school, World War II-era systems. McCandless saw the opportunity for an update with web-based technology for the 21st century.

But he wasn’t just taking a wild guess.

Instead, McCandless was leaning on years of on-the-ground experience, including a grueling job as a truck dispatcher where he first started thinking about ways to improve efficiency.

“I think it happens to a lot of folks that are in these roles. They think that something could be done better, and if you stay with it and really think about it, that’s essentially what happened here,” he told Founder Brew.

McCandless went on to other logistics companies and even founded a management consulting firm. By the time it came to start project44, his experience gave him a deep knowledge to pull from.

An outsider, he says, might’ve parachuted in without an appreciation for the reality on the ground.

“When you look at the folks out of San Francisco or the coastal cities without the logistics experience, they might get a $5 million, or even a $50 million check, but they usually actually approach the industry in a fairly arrogant way,” he told Founder Brew.

Read more about using your expertise to build your company.—DL

      

Sponsored By Capital One Business

Two high-stakes situations + a sold-out workshop. One spent her career in corporate crisis rooms. The other spent 22 years as an FBI negotiator. Adele and Chip met, compared notes, and built The Convincing Lab, an assessment to guide people through high-pressure situations.Their Capital One Business card covered their first workshop. Where will your journey take you?

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Sponsored By Elly

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Stat: 68%. That’s the percentage of retailers that now charge a fee on returns at least some of the time, up from 43% five years ago, according to Loop Returns. Retailers say they’re trying to recoup payment-processing fees and the time and cost of picking and packing orders. (the Wall Street Journal)

Quote: “I make a note in the door to just tell people to go home and hug their kids a little longer and not take things for granted.”—Matt Vilardo, founder of New Jersey shoe store Root Runners, on how he communicates with customers that his store is closed every September 11; Vilardo’s father was a Cantor Fitzgerald executive killed in the 9/11 attacks in 2001 (NJ.com)

Read: Forget “lean startup.” The new standard is “abundance entrepreneurship,” as solo founders harness AI-powered tools to create new businesses. (Harvard Business Review)

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