This is a Linkedin post by Jesse Pujji. Jessi a serial entrepreneur that lives in the US. He has:
- Bootstrapped to an 8-figure exist with his previous startup, Ampush
- Is currently building GatewayX, a venture studio that he plans to bootstrap to $1B+
- Executive Chairman & Founder of GrowthAssistant.com
- ex-McKinsey Consultant
Guest Author: Jesse Pujji
A 10 year corporate veteran quit to build a $700 MILLION pimple care brand.
The crazy part? She bootstrapped it in just 5 years. This is her story 👇👇
1/ Ju Rhyu‘s family immigrated from Korea to Seattle when she was 3.
Her dad was an entrepreneur, exporting wooden logs in WA to his clients in Korea.
2/ Watching him operate growing up instilled the urge to build her own business one day.
But she was soon given the chance to solve an issue she faced herself…
3/ Ever since she was a teenager, she would consistently experience unfortunate breakouts.
All the traditional products (pink creams + white creams) actually left her skin in worse condition.
Her skin was always left dry, irritated, and red.
Until one fateful career move …
4/ In 2013, Samsung recruited Ju to work in their Seoul office.
At the time, her adult acne rebounded.
She saw many people on the streets, subways, and buses wearing patches.
So she asked around and found out that they were Hydrocolloid patches.
After testing them out …
5/ she found that they were the solution she had always been looking for:
+ Hydrated the skin
+ Effective and easy to apply
She quickly realized there was an opportunity:
+ Not sold in retail stores in the US
+ Most brands were in Korean/Chinese
6/ …she got to work
But in her words: she chickened out.
It was too daunting to do alone.
7/ So she took a job back in the US and left her dreams of building a brand behind.
But the idea wouldn’t stop nagging her.
She would bring it up at every dinner and social event she would attend.
And that was ultimately how she met her co-founders …
8/ In 2017, she met Dwight and Andrew Lee.
They shared her vision, and now, she could have co-founders to help her shoulder the workload.
Hero was formed …
Their strategy?
9/ They decided to take the reverse playbook of all the big DTC brands.
+ No VC $$
+ Focus only on ONE product (Mighty Patch) and ONE channel (Amazon)
+ Build a sustainable, cash-flowing business
and it paid off…
By the end of year 1:
10/ They did $1.6 MILLION in revenue even though all 3 co-founders were working their full-time jobs.
Their next big inflection point followed quickly …
11/ They reached a deal with their first big retailer, Anthropologie.
After that, the momentum came:
+ One retailer turned into conversations with 4-5 more
+ One press article led to 15+ editors wanting to do a profile
They kept on bootstrapping for 3 more years …
12/ And by 2020, the 3 co-founders started having conversations on selling the business.
They sold a small stake to a PE firm to build brand recognition + get finances ready for an acquisition.
13/ In 2022, they found the perfect partner: they sold to manufacturing firm Church & Dwight for $630 million.
14/ Why I love this story, it’s a reminder to:
1) Focus on one product and one channel
2) Perfect that playbook before replicating
3) Momentum opens all doors
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