Co-presidents, twist.new.brand.venture, LCC
www.jonathanproduct.com
How often can you get savvy business advice and sensational beauty insights at the same time? Not very.
Hedges and Catalano, whose resumes include high-level gigs with brands like Guerlain, LVMH, L’Oreal and Estee Lauder, quit the corporate world and started their own company, twist.new.brand.venture, LLC, to incubate new brands in beauty, health and wellness.
Their latest claim to fame – the launch of JONATHAN|product, a line of hair care products from Jonathan Antin, the Los Angeles-based celebrity stylist and star of Bravo TV’s hit show ‘Blow-Out.’ Antin believes purified water is so important for healthy hair that his product line includes Beauty Water, a purification system for your showerhead.
Thanks to Hedges and Catalano, Antin’s products are now available at major retailers like Sephora, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works and QVC. Here’s a sneak peak into what they’ll have to say at Ladies Who Launch Live…
Big Market for Beauty Start-Ups?
Tina: “Beth Ann and I recognized that there is a market opportunity out there (for start-up beauty, health and wellness companies) because big corporations are slow to make decisions, debating and researching the opportunities endlessly. Essentially these companies would rather buy a brand than incubate a brand. In our hearts, we wanted to do something on our own, so the first step was to leave the corporate world via consulting until we had our business plan finalized.
“There were several start-up brands that we wanted to launch prior to launching JONATHAN|product I met with investors, wrote business plans, and tried to get several other ideas off the ground. Even though the opportunities were viable, certain factors made it difficult to finalize the deals. Working against me was the fact that although I had almost 20 years of corporate training and successful global launches to reference, I didn’t have entrepreneurial experience. I would stress to women who are starting a business – don’t get discouraged right out of the gate. You have to be willing to go back repeatedly to pitch your idea.
“It was almost a moment of destiny when we were put in touch with Jonathan. Due to all of our independent networking and pitching, along the way we had met with the right investors who were willing to write a check based on our experience.”
Can You Do For Others What You Did for Jonathan?
Beth Ann: “We’re a brand incubator – we take brands like JONATHAN|product and then incubate them from conception to success. So many companies want to know, ‘Can you do for us what you did for Jonathan?’ We feel that we can, but are very selective about which brands that we want to build.
“We often find that the same common denominator with many start-ups is the fact that people don’t manage their outflows. If you don’t watch what money is going out, as well as what’s coming in, your business will fail. Cash flow is king, regardless of whether it’s (Proctor and Gamble) or JONATHAN|product, or any other business.”
What Investors Want
Beth Ann: “Everyone seemingly has the greatest idea for a product, but what the problem is normally when presenting to investors, entrepreneurs don’t accurately forecast what sales projections will be in a timely fashion. Underestimating and overestimating are very dangerous things when it comes to a start-up, especially when it comes to sales.”
Tina: “The first and foremost question on (investors’) minds was did we have the ‘Nike Just Do It’ attitude? Here we are waltzing in as former senior VPs for major beauty companies where there are major marketing and sales budgets as well as expense accounts covering luxuries like five-star hotels, and investors worried about our ability to be fiscally responsible and to handle the 350 degrees that one would have to handle in an entrepreneurial venture.”
Surprise in the Operations Department
Tina: “I was used to being the head of marketing, the head of product development, but (investors) wanted to know, could I also be head of packaging and operations? A funny story… when we started (with JONATHAN|product) we were under a tremendous ticking clock. We had six months to start a company, develop 15 products and all that goes with it – the brand name, packaging, PR campaign. We had to train all points of distribution and film the TV show.
“All of a sudden, we’re ready to release the artwork for the packaging and Beth Ann says to me, ‘I need the purchase orders for the retailers. What’s the bar code number (for the products)? I thought, ‘Bar code? How do I get a bar code?’ It was such a minor thing, but such a big reminder in a way. Success is in the details and in understanding how to execute every aspect of your business.”
Greatest Business Challenge – Strong Opinions and Personalities
Beth Ann: “The biggest challenge we’re faced with on a daily basis, is that we have four partners in a business JONATHAN|product with different personalities and different approaches to the business. Listening and negotiating with each other is important.”
Greatest Business Success – Turning Hardware Gadget into Luxury Item
Tina: “From my perspective, the thing I’m most proud of at JONATHAN|product is launching the (Beauty Water) shower filter. That was an example of taking an innovative approach to a traditional business model. We targeted what is traditionally an appliance in the hardware category, redefined it, giving it a beauty positioning, and launched it in the hair care segment of our retail distribution. We’re getting customers’ feedback that they have never had softer hair and skin than they have had with the shower filter and they’ve seen success within one week.”
Think Product Quality First, Celebrities Second
Tina: “Everyone wants to know, ‘How do you get your product endorsed by a celebrity?’
We created a brand founded by celebrity hair stylist Jonathan Antin, who came with a huge repertoire of celebrity clients we were able to leverage, but even having that list, it wasn’t as easy as one would imagine. Some celebrities, even if they use a product personally, don’t want to be associated with the product because it could interfere with their own licensing contracts. It’s a very delicate line. Your product needs to stand on its own. If your product performs, regardless of whether Alicia Silverstone uses it, it will get into the major publications and endorsed by beauty editors.”
PR Starts with Your Salespeople
Beth Ann: “Each person selling your product represents PR of your product in the way they understand it. Keep in mind the intermediary sellers… make sure people have tried the product and everyone understands why it is different. That is so important.”
Define Your Distribution Strategy
Beth Ann:: “One of the most important things is determining what your distribution is. JONATHAN|product distribution is not wide – it’s very narrow and deep. There are only a certain number of doors where you can find JONATHAN|product . We partner only with companies who are committed to training (salespeople) and providing support from an advertising, to a merchandising, to a total strategy perspective for the brand.”
Know Thyself and Learn to Let Go
Tina: ‘When I decided to enter the entrepreneurial world, I was sincere with myself. I sat down with a piece of paper and listed all my strengths and weaknesses. I was honest about what I didn’t do well or didn’t want to do. When people ask me, ‘To what do you attribute the success of twist.new.brand.venture and JONATHAN|product ?’ I say, ‘My partnership with Beth Ann.’ She brings alternative strengths that are complementary to mine, and as a team we are stronger than as individuals. People are so worried about holding onto 100 percent of their venture, not sourcing out the correct human resources to really grow the business out of fear of equity dilution, but in actuality they’re better off having a smaller piece of a larger pie.”
