Stairway to CEO

Description:

Sometimes not getting what you want paves the way to a better story. Niki Leondakis is the CEO of the largest yoga studio brand in the US, and her journey has been characterized by learning from challenges time and time again. She joins us to share how she has found opportunity in adversity, honed her listening skills as a leader, and leveraged the incredible power of yoga to overcome grief before finding a new purpose in sharing its power with the world. Tune in to hear more. 

Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:

AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at [email protected] to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• [02:19] Niki’s ethnocentric childhood as the artistic child of one of five children of Greek immigrants. 
• [05:04] What Niki learned by not getting what she wanted in jobs and leadership roles in high school and hospitality.
• [15:43] Working in leadership at Kempton during an innovative time in their hospitality.
• [19:20] Overseeing hotels and the listening tour that facilitated her goal to put people first.
• [28:01] Being recruited for a San Francisco boutique hotel company and continuing Bill’s legacy.
• [32:47] How her passion for fitness and wellness led to being recruited by Equinox.
• [37:56] Landing her dream job as CEO of CorePower Yoga and leading with purpose.
• [42:20] Starting a role in yoga at the start of the pandemic and where she found the courage to power through.
• [48:36] Future projections for Core Power Yoga, including geographic growth and beyond.

To Find Out More:

Niki Leondakis on LinkedIn

Niki Leondakis on X

CorePower Yoga

Corporate Athlete

Equinox

Just Keep Livin Foundation

Awesome CX

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Quotes:

“No matter how good you are, you have to prepare.” [0:06:12]

“I learned to see opportunities and how I could impact them and make a difference, and I got rewarded for that.” [0:07:49]

“If you don’t get what you want, keep trying.” [0:13:05]

“I learned [so much] along the way about the importance of how you treat people, how you care for people, how you inspire, motivate, and lead them. And that was my way of getting the business results that I was tasked with.” [0:17:19]

“If you’re going to alienate people along the way you’re going to look behind you and you won’t have any followers.” s [0:25:56]

“To be our best self, we have to be healthy.” [0:33:25]

“When I found myself without my career, my husband, or my home, what got me through that transition was getting on my yoga mat every day.” [0:39:36]

“You can’t shortstep or expedite your way through grief. You have to feel it. You have to go through it. You can’t move around it.” [0:40:10]

“Part of the way that I have always remained highly motivated and energized and passionate about my work is finding the purpose in the work.”  [0:41:08]

“For me, listening has been one of the incredible keys to my success.” [0:49:48]

“We were ahead of the curve. It simply came from being there to listen.” [0:51:28]

“Our higher purpose is to power love from the inside out, putting more love in the world and helping people access that love.” [0:52:47]

“When you face adversity, don’t let it get you down and don’t wallow in it. Within that adversity lies opportunity” [0:54:51]

Description:

In this episode of Stairway to CEO, you’ll learn all about Puneet Mehta's captivating entrepreneurial journey, from his upbringing in India and fulfilling his childhood dream of living in Silicon Valley to spearheading AI advancements at Netomi. He tells us how his parents inspired him to embrace daunting challenges, what he learned from his years developing trading engines on Wall Street, the transformative encounter he had with Mike Bloomberg, and how these experiences have fueled his entrepreneurial drive. Join us as we uncover Puneet's perspective on the AI landscape, his pivotal role in founding Netomi, and the profound benefits of integrating AI to elevate customer experiences.

Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:

AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at [email protected] to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• [01:51] What it was like for Puneet growing up in Chandigarh, India, and how his mother and father inspired him to pursue difficult goals.
• [06:17] Why he feels so lucky to have studied engineering and computer science at one of the top schools in India, and how he realized his childhood dream of moving to Silicon Valley.
• [07:15] The value of his experiences on Wall Street developing trading engines and how his fortuitous meeting with Mike Bloomberg empowered him to build his own company.
• [11:38] How he built his first company leveraging prediction algorithms, their strategic partnership with BMW, and key takeaways that helped him build Netomi.
• [15:47] What inspired him to found Netomi, how he got the company off the ground, and what it was like building a chatbot for Sony Pictures.
• [23:37] Recognizing the high demand for improved customer experience, how they are solving key pain points for customers using AI, and the many uses of Netomi’s co-pilot.
• [33:43] Partnerships in the AI space and what it means for a company to be powered by another company or tool.
• [35:52] How Netomi addresses fears around outsourcing customer service needs, and why AI won’t replace humans working in customer service.
• [41:25] Netomi’s partnership with Awesome CX, where Puneet sees it going in the coming years, and how he expects other aspects of his business to be impacted by AI.
• [47:49] His advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on how empathy is misunderstood and why you shouldn’t do it for the money; what is next for Netomi, and what Puneet is most excited about!

To Find Out More:

Netomi

Puneet Mehta on Linkedin

Gong

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Quotes:

“Being aligned on the core mindset is so incredibly important. It's more important than your business strategy. It's more important than any other part of the business.” [0:13:09]

“As you start bringing new technology to life, and as you introduce it to the world, you have to make the adoption completely frictionless. You have to do it in a way that engages or [accompanies] a habit that somebody's already used to.” [0:13:42]

“[When you] think about business outcomes, to stay excited about what you're doing, you have to focus on the journey. You cannot just focus on the end goal.” [0:14:39]

“That's what the AI co-pilot from Netomi does. It gives them a superpower where AI can now gather information from these different systems, it can prepare a response for you, it can also help an agent get trained quicker.” [0:30:28]

“[The Netomi co-pilot] also gives you insights based on what your customers are telling you. Because it's humanly impossible to go back and listen to every single phone call.” [0:31:43]

“The founders that are growing these companies are looking for insight [from Netomi’s co-pilot] because conversations with their customers are the biggest asset.”  [0:37:17]

“The demand is there to feel like we are treated well as customers [and] to have that customer love. We want those questions answered. There just isn't enough resources available with these brands to answer all of these questions promptly.”  [0:40:47]

“The top use case for AI for large companies is customer experience.” [0:44:22]

“That's how fast this change is coming. We should see every company in the world in the next 12 to 18 months adopt AI in some shape or form for customer experience.” [0:46:01]

“There are much easier ways of making money [than starting a company]. This is a really hard way to do it – but if you're connected to what you do, [then] the journey itself would be quite enriching.” [0:49:23]

“[Starting a company] will give you experiences and it'll help you come across people that you want to have shared experiences with.” [0:49:35]

Description:

What does it look like to bring innovation to a static industry? A lifelong love for entrepreneurship and the food and beverage industry led Ben Lewis to take a massive risk to disrupt the baby food industry, and with $90 million raised to date, it certainly paid off! In this episode of Stairway to CEO, Ben shares the story of continuing his dad’s legacy in business, finding out-of-the-box solutions to the complex problem of manufacturing his product, and much more!

Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:

AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at [email protected] to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

•   [01:05] Ben Lewis’s first taste of entrepreneurship as a child and how he continued his father’s legacy, starting with a bottled water start-up.

•   [12:00] His exposure to the food and beverage industry by developing a Greek yogurt brand.

•   [15:50] Learning essential lessons through bootstrapping a food distribution company.

•   [20:45] Ben's involvement in angel investment in the food and beverage space.

•   [21:48] Founding Little Spoon with the motivation to disrupt a static industry, naming the product, and developing the product and packaging.

•   [28:46] Product expansion and the philosophy of growing with the customer that underpins Little Spoon’s growth.

•   [34:30] Surprises on the road to building a D2C business, including an unlikely partnership with a tamale company.

•   [40:25] How Ben’s role has evolved with the company and Little Spoon’s approach to talent.

•   [42:29] Fundraising in the baby food industry, finding a new approach to return on investment, and what’s next for Little Spoon.

To Find Out More:

Little Spoon

Ben Lewis on X

Ben Lewis on LinkedIn

The Equity Studio

Kairos HQ

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Awesome CX

Quotes:

“You could have the best product in the world, the best brand in the world, and even the right team and the right capital – but ultimately so much of it, especially in the traditional retail space, depends on the distribution and what happens at the point of sale.” [0:15:14]

“For the right brand and the right product, having a direct relationship with your customer is so critically important.” [0:19:17]

“Being detached from your ultimate customer is a real hindrance to building a brand.” [0:20:01]

“There’s a big opportunity for us, not just within that baby stage with the baby blends, but for Little Spoon as a brand to be the go-to as that kid is growing up and as the family is growing.” [0:31:32]

“[We’ve grown our business] largely through growing with our customers.” [0:31:48]

“That was how we started. We turned this manufacturing roadblock into a very unlikely partnership.” [0:39:29]

“One of the things I’m most proud of at Little Spoon is that we’ve had extremely low attrition, so our retention is literally best in class.” [0:40:58]

“Optics matter, but at the end of the day, you need to do what’s right.” [0:44:35]

“For us, it’s about listening to our customers and finding where those pockets of opportunity are.” [0:46:59]

“We’re building a brand for a new generation of parents.” [0:47:42]

“As an entrepreneur, you’re often having to choose between speed, quality, and cost.” [0:47:54]

“Don’t aim for perfection.” [0:48:46]

Description:

Today, Hudson Davis-Ross joins the show to share about Co-Founding a mission-driven company that truly helps people with their health needs. From being diagnosed with ADHD in middle school to undergoing spinal surgery, Hudson has faced his fair share of health challenges. Tune in to learn all about his captivating entrepreneurial journey, from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, to founding his first company, RISE, to ultimately becoming the co-founder of Plant People – whose plant-based products offer natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals. Along the way, we explore how he navigated major setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and gain insights into his refreshing perspective on building purpose-driven businesses!

Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:

AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at [email protected] to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• [01:54] What it was like growing up in New York, at the epicenter of so many industries, within a household dominated by women.

• [06:43] Hudson’s ADHD diagnosis in middle school, the many different interests he pursued, and the benefits and drawbacks of having ADHD when you’re an entrepreneur.

• [10:23] His experience working at Gilt Groupe from its early stages as a small startup to having over two thousand employees.

• [14:13] Why he decided to leave Gilt Groupe and take on a role at Aloha as part of the founding team, and his top takeaways from the experience.

• [18:25] What made Hudson shift to co-founding his first company, RISE Brewing Company, key lessons he learned, and how he met his partners.

• [25:32] Fundraising for RISE, and how it led to him starting his branding and business strategy firm, CROSBY.

• [27:29] The drastic spinal surgery that Hudson had to get, how it led to the founding of Plant People, and what it was like entering into the CBD and cannabis space.

• [30:22] How they stepped up their business, educated consumers, and the innovations they were doing with regards to ingredients and formulations.

• [32:42] Their decision to scale up, why they decided not to take on more funding, the dramatic impact that COVID-19 had on their revenue, and how they recovered.

• [35:27] Hudson’s insights on partnering with retailers and distributors, advice for aspiring and up-and-coming entrepreneurs, and what’s next for Plant People.

To Find Out More:

Hudson Davis-Ross on Linkedin

Plant People

RISE Brewing Company

CROSBY

Gilt

Expo West

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Quotes:

“I always hope to, at some point in my life, write a book on having ADHD and being an entrepreneur, because I think there's a lot of pluses and minuses – mostly pluses.” [0:07:19]

“If you have [a] really big vision, and momentum with other investors, people will invest. It really is a hype game. And so I learned a lot around fundraising [at Aloha].” [0:17:12]

“[To be] the Apple of anything – takes decades. You can't just do that [in a] matter of a year or two. But that's what we pitched [to] a lot of the investors. And so I think there was a bit of a disconnect there.” [0:18:43]

“The main reason I started this business, [Plant People] is I had spinal surgery, [I had to] learn how to walk again.” [0:27:31]

“My now co-founder also had a spinal surgery and was exploring plant-based modalities himself. And so we started together.” [0:28:01]

“I had more passion for making an impact in people's lives.” [0:28:12]

“We had so much pushback in the beginning because people didn't understand CBD. They thought it was weed. They thought it was THC, they were like, ‘Will I get high from this?’ That was the biggest education point.” [0:30:59]

“Tap into what customers want [and] are already [buying], [but do] it better.” [0:36:09]

“In general, you just got to hustle. You have to go with momentum, you have to have a lot of boutiques [and] a lot of independents. And when you have that momentum, then you can get the attention of distributors.” [0:36:27]

“The secret sauce is to be an entrepreneur – is to use the resources you don't have, to achieve what you believe in.” [0:37:56]

“You can hire sales managers who have been in sales, and they have rolodexes. And that does help. But I think no one sells better than the founder or the CEO.” [0:39:39]

“One of the things that is key to success is showing your team, or showing your initial hires, that you're all in.” [0:41:06]

“If you're doing it, the team can do it. And if you're passionate about it, the team gets passionate about it, they see the value.” [0:43:09]

Description:

Joining the show today is Allegra Moet Brantley, the Founder and CEO of Factora. This women-led personal finances company is on a mission to lead one million women to $1 million in wealth. Today she shares her journey from building her first company to becoming a salary negotiation coach to leading partnerships and marketing at Financial Gym, where she ultimately came up with the idea to build Factora. Tuning in, you’ll gain insight into the importance of financial transparency, the challenges that can come with fundraising, building a sustainable business while growing a family, and much more. Allegra also has some valuable, go-getting advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, so if you have a business idea that has been nagging at you, you won’t want to miss this episode!

Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:

•   AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at [email protected] to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

•   [02:53] Why transparency is the key to rid conversations about personal wealth of taboo.

•   [05:43] Insight into Allegra’s upbringing across the country, her education, and her first jobs.

•   [16:35] The importance of always negotiating for more and reading contracts thoroughly!

•   [19:45] Lessons from Allegra’s time in the marketing department at Estee Lauder.

•   [21:35] What her first steps into entrepreneurship in 2011 taught her about financial freedom.

•   [30:13] Allegra’s valuable experiences at Financial Gym and the origin story of Factora.

•   [38:29] How Factora has evolved and how The Wealth Circle community has grown.

•   [40:45] Some of the challenges of fundraising, bootstrapping the business from the ground up, combating burnout while raising a family, and how Allegra overcame them.

•   [49:37] Price ranges for Factora’s courses, what they entail, and how you can benefit for life!

•   [53:50] What the future holds for Factora, how they take women from overwhelm to sustainable wealth-building, why this industry is ripe for disruption, and more.

To Find Out More:

Factora

The Wealth Circle

6 Figure Savings

Coffee & Coin Podcast

Allegra Moet Brantley on LinkedIn

Allegra Moet Brantley on Instagram

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Quotes:

“It is so nerve-wracking and cathartic to share these numbers we never [talk about]. In the very first call, [Wealth Circle members] are sharing their salary.” [0:04:26]

“When we share resources and investment strategies, it’s such a wealth of knowledge.” [0:05:33]

“[Becoming] a salary negotiation coach – only reemphasized what I was experiencing personally. Now that I’m good at asking for more money [and] getting more money, it doesn’t mean I have more money. Making and keeping [money] are two very different things!” [0:29:02]

“I was more passionate about helping women build wealth than anything else I had touched on in my career. It’s one thing to understand where your income goes. It’s a whole other thing to make a strategy for investing it [and] feel confident enough to do so.” [0:34:25]

“It felt like a sentence would not stop tapping at the base of my neck – ‘Help women build wealth, help women build wealth, help women build wealth,’ all day long.” [0:35:51]

“When you raise funding, and now you have investors involved, and they have a vision too, oftentimes you have to acquiesce and collaborate with that vision. I felt so strongly [about] my own [vision]. I didn’t want to bring in anything to muddy that.” [0:43:57]

“90% of women come to Factora for the stick market portion. They say for the community and the access to additional creative investment ideas.” [0:52:32]

“I don’t want people to hand over their entire financial autonomy because they don’t think they’re smart enough to do it themselves. That is why I think this industry is ripe for disruption.” [0:57:55]

“For aspiring entrepreneurs; if you have an idea that’s banging at the base of your neck, it’s going to create value in this world both for potential customers but also for you and what you are going to learn [through your failures, strifes, and success]. Make like Nike and do it!” [0:58:20]

“Investing is not hard. Investing is not complicated. You are meant to think – that it is. You’re already doing it if you’ve ever utilized a 401k or an IRA. You can do more of it, and I suggest that you do.” [0:59:49]

Mary van Praag joins us today to talk about how she became Global CEO of Milani Cosmetics, a 20-year-old company built on the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to own and enjoy luxury beauty. From her entrepreneurial pursuits in high school to her first CEO role at Perricone MD, Mary tells us about her remarkable career journey and how she became the Global CEO of Milani cosmetics. Tune in today to learn about Mary’s passion for transforming companies, the lessons she’s learned about being vulnerable as a leader, and much more!

AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at [email protected] to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• [02:31] Mary’s upbringing in Ohio; how her parents’ divorce (and being the eldest) informed her early leadership development, her first entrepreneurial pursuits, and her college years.
• [10:12] What it was like moving 17 times in her professional life, how this has proven her ability to manage change, and why she loves making things better.
• [14:46] How Mary found her internal drive as a leader and her advice to others struggling to find their voice.
• [21:18] Her early career in sales and how her experiences as general manager at Coty and OPI Products set her on the path towards CEO.
• [27:07] Mary’s first role as CEO at Perricone MD, the destabilizing impact of the COVID pandemic, and how she adapted and ultimately became CEO of Milani Cosmetics.
• [30:54] Key lessons on building your team as a CEO.
• [34:44] What Mary has learned about turnarounds since she first started out, and her insights on how being CEO resembles running your own business.
• [37:53] Why being vulnerable as a leader is one of the most important lessons Mary has had to learn, and her thoughts on what sets the role of CEO apart from other positions.
• [46:02] Milani Cosmetics’ approach to remote work and an overview of the exciting things the brand has coming up!
• [52:18] Mary’s practical advice for aspiring CEOs.

Mary van Praag on LinkedIn

Milani Cosmetics

Coty

Perricone MD

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

“Moving, I think, indicates my ability to manage change and transformation. But at the same time, create a great network of deep-seated roots and connections that I will forever have in my life.” [0:12:13]

“I'm at my best, as a leader – when you look at the context of a situation – when something requires change and transformation. I love to make things better.”  [0:12:40]

“Some people are great at constructive conflict, others are analytical geniuses, others are great teachers. I always say ‘find that thing that makes you unique, [and] whatever your superpower is, really feed into it.’” [0:16:14]

“Leaders don't have all the answers. What I want to hear is the people [who] are closest to the business [and] have a unique point of view. And we need to hear that.” [0:16:56]

“I can be interesting, but I have to be interested first.”   [0:19:54]

“You always have to respect the past, but you have to get people aligned to create the new future. And you quickly find out who wants to do that, and who doesn't. And that's a lot of work.” [0:25:02]

“Thinking about how you build teams is an important part of what a CEO does. I have amassed a fabulous team with very high engagement scores and a really strong culture. And we built it brick by brick, but it started with my leadership team.” [0:33:04]

“We're all motivated towards the same future that we want to build. And that's very, very rewarding.” [0:33:51]

“Depending on the circumstances, [a turnaround] this is like running our own business.” [0:35:26]

“The biggest thing I had to learn was to be vulnerable.” [0:37:55]

“If you don't give people an inspiring vision, they have nothing to hope for. Especially when you're in a turnaround.” [0:38:53]

“I don't necessarily think everybody needs to be in the office every day to get productivity or work. I think we have happier employees, because we're hybrid, and that’s part of our culture now. We work hybrid.” [0:47:14]

“Have a bias [towards] action. The strategic agility part is really important in today's day and age with the millions of things that we have flying at us.” [0:53:08]

Description:

Today’s guest fell into entrepreneurship when she started to create experiences with her own needs in mind. Julie Rice is the Co-Founder and CEO of Peoplehood, where she facilitates deep conversation and connection to develop ‘relationship fitness’. During this episode, she shares her childhood passion for theatre, talks about the start of her career in talent management in New York, and tells the story of how she built and exited her first startup, SoulCycle. Tune in to hear all this and more!

Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:

AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at [email protected] to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. 

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• [02:16] How growing up as a theatre lover in small town New York started her off on a creative and collaborative path.

• [06:24] Early leadership tendencies, working in the entertainment industry, and translating those skills to working in brand.

• [12:44] The story of SoulCycle’s inception in New York in 200; starting with a business plan on the back of a napkin.

• [17:11] Starting and growing SoulCycle and the premise that motivated Julie and her business partner to start Peoplehood.

• [26:41] What Peoplehood is and how it is unfolding as a business.

• [34:02] Tips for truly getting to know the people in your sphere.

• [43:28] Communication insights from Peoplehood and advice for entrepreneurs.

To Find Out More:

Julie Rice on LinkedIn

Peoplehood

SoulCycle

Awesome CX

Lee Greene Email

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Quotes:

“For me, the great fun in any business that I create is really about collaboration and the gifts that different people can bring to a project.” [0:06:34]

“Community and team activity is something that I’ve always loved participating in.” [0:07:04]

“A lot of the things that I learned in the entertainment business absolutely affected the way that I thought about brand building.” [0:09:55]

“Brand is really about who you want to be in the world; what does it feel like, sound like,, what does it smell like, what does it look like?” [0:10:13]

“The funny thing is, I never set out to be an entrepreneur. I never actually thought of myself that way until people started to use the word retroactively.” [0:15:14]

“We created something that we wanted to use.” [0:15:31]

“As an entrepreneur, having a business partner, if you can find the right partner, is great.” [0:18:14]

“We began to think about what it would look like to create something that was relational fitness; a place where we could teach people how to listen to each other, how to talk to each other and build a different kind of muscle.” [0:23:13]

“When you look at all the information out there, what we know for sure is that we cannot lead physically or mentally healthy lives without being in productive relationships.” — Julie Rice [0:24:17]

“We spend so much of our lives and our time in relationships and we really don’t spend the intentional time figuring out how to be in these relationships.” — Julie Rice [0:24:49]

“What people really want from people they are in relationships with is to feel heard by them, to feel seen by them, and to feel like their opinions matter to somebody.” — Julie Rice [0:27:29]

“What we’re doing at Peoplehood is really giving somebody space to peel the layers of their own onion.” — Julie Rice [0:31:46]

“An underpracticed and underappreciated skill is listening.” — Julie Rice [0:33:28]

“There’s something about stepping back and letting someone finish that is very powerful.” — Julie Rice [0:42:00]

Description:

Nathan Kondamuri didn’t know that he wanted to start a business until the pieces fell together, and he co-founded the highly customizable Pair Eyewear, where he now acts as CEO. He joins us today to share the story of how his little brother inspired him to start Pair, how he scaled his customer experience team to over 100 members, and the challenges he faced in building on-demand production. Tune in to hear all this and more!

Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:

AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at [email protected] to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. 

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• [02:22] Signs of an inherent love for iteration and business development from Nathan’s childhood in small-town Indiana.

• [10:58] His growing interest in mechanical engineering and his introduction to the start-up world beyond college.

• [17:00] How Nathan and his best friend had the idea for Pair in a Stanford dorm room.

• [20:58] Researching customers of all ages, early angel capital fundraising, and annual growth since launching to market in 2019.

• [26:59] Pivotal moments in Pair Eyewear’s distribution and growth, including building a design platform for customers to bring their favorite brands to life and blowing up on TikTok.

• [30:27] Scaling challenges like developing the on-demand production process.

• [35:57] The secret to structuring a team with the support of Awesome CX.

• [40:08] Pair Eyewear’s five-year focus to deliver a joyful customizable eyewear experience.

• [46:59] Why, given a do-over, Nathan would hire people in key areas earlier, how his role as co-CEO has changed, and advice for new entrepreneurs.

To Find Out More:

Nathan Kondamuri on LinkedIn

Pair Eyewear

Pair Eyewear on TikTok

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Awesome CX

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Quotes:

“I didn’t know I wanted to start a company – until Pair came about and one thing led to another.” [0:12:53]

“[My experience at Bain] gave me a very different way of looking at a business – I got to learn a lot about how a business runs, and how experienced people view and understand a business model.” [0:16:02]

“I had worn glasses since I was seven or eight years old, and it had always been an unexciting experience compared to any other consumer product in my life.” [0:17:31]

“We got to thinking, why had nobody ever tried to [recreate, redefine, and redesign] the glasses experience for consumers to be more personalized, to be more joyful, and dynamic, just as people are?” [0:18:14]

“We just knew we liked each other, we were really good friends and had been friends for four years, we had this idea, and we were excited to put our everything into that idea.” [0:20:04]

“Surround yourself with people that are absolute experts at their craft, at their area of expertise.” [0:24:26]

“We quickly, not pivoted, but expanded our mission and vision for the business to be able to personalize the eyewear experience not just for children, but for all people.” [0:26:23]

“We were trying to build a solution for kids like my brother to not be afraid of their glasses and not be daunted by the experience, but have it be something they were excited about.”  [0:26:40]

“We were a real pioneer on the platform of TikTok where we grew heavily on the platform through an influencer-led strategy.” [0:27:34]

“Our mission and vision over the next five-plus years is to become one of the largest global eyecare companies in the world that’s focused on bringing personalization into the eyecare and broader eyewear end-to-end experience.” [0:40:08]

“We thought a lot about, when is the right time to vertically integrate? You really want to do it at a time when volume and demand is growing.” [0:45:33]

“The job of co-CEO now is not the same as it was when we first started the business.” [0:48:59]

“Just get out and start! That is one of the biggest roadblocks that people have.”  [0:50:50]

“The only way to learn what it’s like to be a founder is to just dive right in and do it.” [0:51:20]

“Starting a company is a marathon, not a sprint.” [0:52:31]

Description:

Joining us today to share her entrepreneurial story is Courtney Toll, co-founder and CEO of Nori, an innovative company in the ironing and steaming market. Tuning in, you’ll hear about her remarkable journey, from coming up with the idea for Nori (which is iron spelled backward!) in her cramped New York apartment to raising money in the depths of COVID to bringing a successful product to market. Courtney also shares details about how learning to do cold outreach at her job bolstered her entrepreneurial journey, the challenges of innovating with hardware, how they put together their distribution and branding strategy, and much more. You won’t want to miss this fascinating deep dive into the many intricacies of hardware innovation and what goes into making your vision happen!

Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:

AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at [email protected] to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.     

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• [05:11] Courtney’s idyllic childhood in Connecticut, her lifelong perfectionism, the legacy of entrepreneurship in her family, her early jobs, and how her career goals evolved.

• [11:48] Key skills she learned from cold outreach; how this supported her entrepreneurship.

• [15:59] How she got the idea for Nori while living in a cramped New York apartment.

• [18:37] Courtney’s research; what she learned from interviewing over 500 consumers.

• [21:17] How she and her co-founder overcame the challenges of innovating with hardware.

• [26:19] Insight into their unexpectedly long product development process and how they implemented their distribution and branding strategy.

• [30:15] Raising money in the depths of COVID, the far-reaching usefulness of a demo video, and how having difficulty fundraising worked to their advantage.

• [38:27] Reflections on organic marketing and how to partner with the right influencers.

• [43:44] Their company’s approach to marketing and the primary lesson Courtney has learned about building a successful marketing stack.

• [46:22] What’s next for Nori, including launching some exciting new products, and parting words of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs!

To Find Out More:

Courtney Toll on LinkedIn

Nori

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Awesome CX

Quotes:

“I'm so grateful that I have gone on this path. And when I reflect on the things that are decisions that my family members made, I think it makes a lot of sense why I also went down this road.” [0:11:07]

“There's always more to be done, there's always growth to be seen, and therefore, I push myself quite hard to succeed.” [0:11:33]

“My co-founder and I ended up interviewing over 500 plus consumers to talk about what they liked about their existing ironing and steaming solutions, [and] what they didn't like.” [0:19:17]

“It wasn't easy by any means. But we also weren't pitching this random idea and asking for a very subjective 300,000 [dollars]. At that point in time, we had outlines [of] exactly where all of this money was going to.” [0:23:20]

“By the time that it was fully deployed, we had a working prototype and a lot of consumer feedback to validate the fact that we had stumbled onto something that we should take to market.” [0:24:25]

“We decided on one product development firm, a satellite office in China.” [0:26:30]

“With something like hardware, you do need to take your time really trying to get something right and [make] sure that it's giving you the desired output that you're looking for.”  [0:27:24]

“The ironing steaming market is one that lives almost exclusively in big box retailers.” [0:29:06]

“We wanted to be a direct consumer business, we wanted this to be a one-to-one conversation with the customer. And we wanted to make this a really cool branded sexy purchase which feels totally in conflict with a product like an iron.” [0:29:16]

“Everything from our branding to the design of the product to the actual performance of the product was designed to sort of change the way you think about this type of chore.” [0:29:33]

“[With a demo video] you're not just hearing a testimonial about why you like [a] product, but you're actually watching it.” [0:33:22]

“I think the key takeaway here is building a marketing stack to support your direct consumer channel but making sure that all of the aspects of that marketing stack are feeding one another.”  [0:44:58]

Joining the show today is Fiona Chan, the Founder and CEO of Youthforia, a beauty brand creating innovative makeup that acts as a part of your skincare routine. Join us as she shares her story of starting a business during the pandemic, self-funding before finding Shark Tank support, and much more! 

AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at [email protected] to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. 

• [01:56] Fiona paints the picture of her early life, education and early jobs.
• [10:44] Working in tech and a startup accelerator before becoming a founder. 
• [14:41] How travel inspired the Youthforia brand and the hands-on process behind perfecting the product. 
• [21:06] Building the brand on social media through storytelling and education. 
• [24:49] Solving the funding problem through prioritizing inventory.
• [25:48] The Shark Tank experience and the story of getting funded.
• [29:21] Navigating new ways to get necessary data in a B2B context. 
• [31:32] Product development and what’s next for Youthforia. 

Fiona Chan on LinkedIn

Fiona Chan on Instagram

Youthforia 

Youthforia on TikTok

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Awesome CX

“You learn so much through osmosis.”  [0:12:13]

“There was something about the pandemic that really made me think about what I actually wanted to do.” [0:14:13]

“The sharks, the way I perceived it, really love and support entrepreneurship and enjoy what they’re doing. They’re really happy to see deals go through” [0:27:24]

“When I had the idea to create makeup that you could sleep in, my first idea was to make a really nice foundation.”  [0:28:42]

“When you switch from a purely B2C business to having a few sales channels, you don’t get data the same way as you would directly from Shopify.”  [0:29:22]

“Once you have a retail partner, there are more complexities, especially on the operations side.” [0:30:06]

“I did not start this business to be in legal docs and spreadsheets all day, but it is a big part of fundraising.” [0:30:58]

“I am always in a state of product development. I would say that product development is my number one passion in what I get to do.” [0:31:39]

“I always like to tell people exactly what to expect from me.” [0:32:18]

“Finding people whose working style aligns with mine has been really helpful.” [0:34:24]

“I really love sitting down and just defining what I expect in a role and what the best outcomes are. Doing that really makes the hiring process a lot easier” [0:34:52]

“When I onboard people, I tell them, this is what you can expect from my personality and my working style.” [0:35:07]

“My biggest advice would be just to start. It’s never going to be the right time.” [0:36:28]