In 2010, only 2% of beauty products were being sold on the internet. When Katia Beauchamp and her Harvard Business School classmate, Hayley Barna, came across this statistic, they were floored. This seemed like a huge missed opportunity—so they decided to dig deeper.

What they discovered was that people were overwhelmed by the prospect of shopping for beauty products. With this problem in mind, Birchbox was created as the simple solution. The monthly subscription box contained a wide variety of beauty samples, and customers could buy the full size of whichever product they liked. In short, Birchbox made the beauty shopping experience easy for the casual consumer.

Since the brand’s launch in 2010, Birchbox has grown to a nine-figure business that now has access to thousands of products, offers over 100 types of boxes for consumers, and has expanded globally. Listen to this podcast episode to learn more about Beauchamp’s thoughts on scaling relationships, building a trustworthy brand, and appealing to your target customer.

If there’s any other type of content you’d like to see that would be valuable to you during this time, please don’t hesitate to reach out at support@foundr.com.

Key Takeaways

• Why people weren’t shopping for beauty products online in the mid-2000s
• How this problem inspired Beauchamp and co-founder Hayley Barna to launch their beauty subscription box, Birchbox
• The idea of the “casual consumer” and how this demographic became Birchbox’s target customer
• Why Beauchamp doesn’t view beauty stores like Sephora or department stores as competitors
• How Birchbox launched its beta test in 2010, and what it took to grow its customer base
• Beauchamp’s thoughts on scaling relationships and building a trustworthy brand
• What Beauchamp is most excited about when it comes to the future of Birchbox

It’s not easy to rebuild an entire company—especially when things are going well. But that’s exactly what Justin McLeod did with his dating app, Hinge.

After Hinge first launched in 2012, it saw exponential growth. Despite this, McLeod made the risky decision to rebuild his app from scratch in 2016. Why? He felt that the company had strayed too from its original vision or helping people find and build meaningful connections. So instead of remaining the brand that connects “friends with friends,” it rebranded to become “the dating app designed to be deleted.”

McLeod’s decision paid off. Today, Hinge is a subsidiary under Match.com, has seen huge growth on a global scale, and is setting up a date every three seconds globally. In this podcast episode, McLeod shares exactly what it took to get through this challenging transition and what’s in store for this beloved dating app in the near future. 

If there’s any other type of content you’d like to see that would be valuable to you during this time, please don’t hesitate to reach out at support@foundr.com. 

Key Takeaways

• McLeod’s own love story, and how it inspired the idea behind Hinge 
• Why, after years of success, McLeod decided to rebuild his dating app from scratch
• The reaction of Hinge’s board of directors and team in response to this change 
• How Hinge fulfills its mission of getting more people out on great dates
• The type of data that Hinge collects to set itself apart from competitors
• The power of word-of-mouth when it came to Hinge’s growth 
• What McLeod thinks are the mistakes he made while building Hinge for the first time (and how he fixed them the second time around) 
• Why McLeod decided to join forces with Match.com, and how this decision has helped the business scale globally 
• The type of research that’s happening at Hinge Labs 
• McLeod’s approach to user testing and product development with Hinge 
• Why McLeod recommends being firm about your vision but flexible about your tactics

Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools that brands can leverage during the pandemic. With face-to-face interactions still being limited and people spending most of their time at home, there has never been a better time to hit ‘send’ on those email campaigns and flows.

To help guide you in the right direction, we sat down with Chase Dimond to get his best recommendations on how to crisis-proof your email marketing strategy. Why Dimond? Not only is he the co-founder of Boundless Labs, an email marketing agency that was recently acquired by Structured Social, but he has also helped his clients make over $40 million in email attributable revenue during his career. 

In our conversation, Dimond shares specific examples of the most successful email messaging, campaigns, and flows that his clients have used during Covid-19. He also reveals fascinating data on the email marketing trends he’s noticed since the start of the pandemic. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just getting started on your email marketing journey, you’re sure to learn something valuable in this interview. 

If there’s any other type of content you’d like to see that would be valuable to you during this time, please don’t hesitate to reach out at support@foundr.com. 

Key Takeaways

• Dimond’s agency merge with Structured Social 
• How Dimond is thinking about Covid-19 from a business perspective
• Examples of email messaging to use during the pandemic 
• Why Dimond is staying away from fear mongering and focusing on adding value
• The difference between email campaigns and email flows
• Which categories of email campaigns are working well for Dimond’s clients
• The importance of creating an email marketing calendar 
• Why Dimond recommends splitting your time between campaigns and flows
• Examples of successful email campaigns Dimond’s clients have run in the past
• Dimond’s thoughts on giveaways
• What Structured Social’s data is showing when it comes to open rates, mobile traffic, and the impact of stimulus checks on email marketing
• Dimond’s recommendations on getting emails prepared for the summer 

Founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign Jason Vandeboom sits down with Foundr’s Nathan Chan to discuss his journey from launching a small part-time business to running a global SaaS empire.

An email marketing, marketing-automation, and sales CRM platform, Jason owes the company’s success to its “customer first” approach and mindful framework.

By throwing out the “product-first SaaS playbook” to a more customer-centric model, ActiveCampaign has evolved from an old-school on-premise contact management company to over 90,000 customers in 161 countries.

Jason doesn’t believe in a time-box window for creation, and he discusses his belief that you can create innovation over time. He says that when it comes to building a business that is sustainable and long-term, you have to start with the right framework.

With many small businesses facing uncertainty due to Covid-19, ActiveCampaign has made it their mission to provide support and security for their customers. Jason discusses how “there’s a former digital transformation that […] has become a necessity.” Above all, business is about trusting your instincts and trying to find a path that is a different shape to others.

If there’s any other type of content you’d like to see that would be valuable to you during this time, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us via email.

Key Takeaways

• Jason discusses his belief in the importance of staying true to being a small business
• How ActiveCampaign found its footing as an on-premise contact management businesses
• Why Jason believes the key to a successful business is customer-first over product-first, and how this can shape creative innovation
• How ActiveCampaign slowly built its foundations in order to secure 100k paying-active companies and over $100 million in annual recurring revenue
• Why you should ignore the typical SaaS playbook that insists that in order to obtain growth you will need to upmarket
• Jason advises that you should always trust your instincts, and allow time for your company to grow. You only need passion, joy, and the strength to find our way through it all.