Kimmy Scotti: Co-founder & CEO of Fig.1
Episode 389
Kimmy Scotti, Co-Founder and CEO of the skincare company Fig.1, is here with us today to share more about the skincare brand that delivers science-backed, refillable and priced right skincare products with clinically proven results. Kimmy is a serial entrepreneur and self professed skincare junkie. She wanted to change the landscape for consumers to have beautiful skin with great product formulation without breaking the bank. She is also a founding partner of a very successful venture capital fund called 8VC. I can’t wait for you to hear our discussion including all of the lessons and tips she shares. This episode is super enjoyable and, well, you don’t want to miss it! On this episode of #TheKaraGoldinShow.
Listeners can use GOLDIN20 for 20% off their order here https://fig-1.co/
Resources from
this episode:
Enjoying this episode of #TheKaraGoldinShow? Let Kara know by clicking on the links below and sending her a quick shout-out on social!
Follow Kara on LinkedIn – Instagram – X – Facebook – TikTok – YouTube – Threads
Have a question for Kara about one of our episodes? Reach out to Kara directly at [email protected]
To learn more about Kimmy Scotti, Fig.1 and 8VC:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmyscotti/
https://fig-1.co/
https://www.instagram.com/fig1co/
https://www.8vc.com/
Transcript
Kara Goldin 0:00
I am unwilling to give up that I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be I want to be, you just want to make sure you will get knocked down. But just make sure you don’t get knocked down knocked out. So your only choice should be go focus on what you can control control control. Hi, everyone and welcome to the Kara Goldin show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world’s greatest leaders. We’ll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can’t wait to get started. Let’s go. Let’s go. Hi, everyone. It’s Kara Goldin from the Kara Goldin show. And I am so excited to have my next guest here with an amazing, amazing background, but also incredible products. I’m actually holding fig one right now one of their incredible products. We’ll get the co founder, one of the co founders and the chairman of fig one to chat with us a lot more about these products. But we have Kim Kimmy Scotti, who is the co founder and chairman of the skincare company fig one, the BT brand that delivers science backed refillable, and priced right skincare products with clinically proven results. And she is a serial entrepreneur, and self professed skincare junkie, I love it. She wanted to change the landscape for consumers to have beautiful skin with great product formulations without breaking the bank. And she wanted the average person to not only be able to afford great skincare products, but also understand that there are ingredients that are better for you. And she’s done that it’s an incredible product. And by the way, Kimmy is also a founding partner at venture capital fund eight VC. So we’re gonna chat a little bit more about that too. And I’m excited to not only get the products but also meet Kimmy because I am so impressed with her story. So I will leave it at that and we’ll talk a lot more about it. So welcome, Kimmy, how are you?
Kimmy Scotti 2:16
I’m so good. Kara. Thank you so much for having me on. I’m so excited to chat with you. I’m such a fan of hint and everything you’ve built and also so grateful for the female entrepreneurs who have come before me.
Kara Goldin 2:28
Awesome. Well, thank you. And so before we get started hearing a lot more about fig one. I’d love to hear a little bit more about your journey. And I’d love to hear kind of even before you started phase one, what were you doing? I heard you started your first company at age 15. I mean, just incredible.
Kimmy Scotti 2:51
So fun. So I did I started my first company when I was in high school. It was a jewelry brand called Mims, which is my family’s nickname for me. And so I really, you know, I, I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. The story goes that when I was a little girl, I was probably six years old, I made my grandmother a necklace, it was too short. And so she asked me to add two inches. And so I calculated the cost of the beads. And I charged her for the two inches. Like that was my first six year old entrepreneurial endeavor that turned into, you know, me at 15 Really starting us, you know, a small brand. And this was you know, this was 20 plus years ago, right? This was like, almost 24 years ago today, and I you know, that ingenue bug never went away? I’ve been building ever since. And so I built Mims for about seven years. It took me all the way through college, I went to fit. And you know, if someone remembers me from fit, they probably remember me asking them to work nights and help me string beads, or, you know, do some metal work or something like that. And so I used to put up signs in the hallway that I needed peace, labor, and I will pay cash and she was so crazy. I would drop them off a box in in the evening and pick it up in the morning and pay them cash. And so it was so you know, it was it was really you know, the start of you know, what became a, you know, an entrepreneurial career.
Kara Goldin 4:29
And how were you selling these products?
Kimmy Scotti 4:31
So, it’s so funny first I you know, I would go to Lucky magazine, my favorite magazine at the time, I remember. Yeah, and obsessed with Kim France and that whole like, it was really, you know, eye opening. I feel like it really changed the magazine landscape because it was really the first magazine for shopping. I actually literally think if I didn’t be their tagline and what that meant for me is that I could look at all of the brands that I thought I was like or thought I paired well with, right. So this was like the heyday of all the diffusion lines. Marc by Marc Jacobs, right, like all of the new, like less expensive, but still designer and fashion forward collections. And I was my brand was really, you know, a contemporary jewelry brand. And so it used semi precious stones, but still used golden silver. And so it really fit in well with that category. And so I would look for those brands, and then call stores in the magazine because their phone numbers were right in the magazine, it was like, buy this dress at bio and Soho or something like that. And so in BIOS not there anymore, but I you know, I loved that I loved that store. It was my first retailer. And I would literally just call on the stores and I pounded the pavement, the you know, the way that you really have to when you’re young entrepreneur.
Kara Goldin 5:57
And then what happened to mittens then, Lucia Yeah,
Kimmy Scotti 5:59
later on, when I was in college, I was at fit. I did a bunch of trunk shows within the Bloomingdale’s stores in New York. And so I started selling in Bloomingdale’s. And it was such an amazing, you know, amazing experience to be young entrepreneur, really on the floor and seeing my own customers and hearing what they wanted and to have the support of a retailer that I so admired. And so I, you know, I had such a great experience. And that was really my goal was to sell into Bloomingdale’s. And so I built that company for seven years, like I said, and then when I graduated fit, I went to work inside of a family office. And I didn’t even know what a family office was. But they were looking for someone entrepreneurial, to help them build companies. And when I went there, they said I had to wind down the jewelry business to take the job. So I did I did my last season. It was so great. I really went out with a bang I was on the runway for Project Runway, I did the accessories for one of the one of the runners up Dan Boskovic, who’s I knew from college and was an incredible talent. And he had me do accessories, really hair pieces, metal house hair pieces for his runway. And that was like a big, you know, I went out with a big bang.
Kara Goldin 7:15
Oh, that’s wild. And so how did you after that? What you’re working in the family office, like what other kinds of businesses were you building.
Kimmy Scotti 7:25
So fun. So the next the business I went to work on inside of this office was called works by Nicole Williams and Nicole is she’s really like a sister to me, I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to meet her. But she, you know, actually, your, your brand was one we talked about often when we would talk about, yeah, it’s so nice. We would talk about women who were building, you know, on their own, who were really, you know, creating their own path to success, separate from sort of the, you know, industrial complex of companies. And, you know, yours is a name that came up, Marcia from Bliss, like all the really amazing founders that we admired, and we talked about, if Martha could make ironing and crafts and the home, really exciting, then works. And Nicole could make a career really exciting. And, you know, help women, you know, really strive for what they deserved, and get it and get the tools, you know, to really reach their wildest dreams. And so I worked on that business for a number of years. We put a book out called Girl on top, it was the top 20 dating rules turned into career strategies is so amazing, really fun, like all the things that you used to read, like, oh, play hard to get and, you know, don’t accept a, you know, Friday interview on Wednesday kind of thing. So it’s really fun. And, you know, so I worked on that business, and then ended up CO founding a number of other companies while I was in this office. So the founder gave me two rules. And I thought these were now when I hear them, they’re crazy. But I thought they were the best two rules I’ve ever heard. He said, You can you can build whatever you want. But you can’t spend very much money trying and you have to be profitable, basically, immediately. And those were the two rules he gave me on my first day. And I thought, isn’t that what businesses right? I thought, yeah, I was like, of course, you know, because I was building my jewelry business to make because I needed the cash right to get through college and everything. And so I you know, I really thought that I was like the that’s the that’s the greatest. Those are the greatest rules ever. I could build whatever I want. And we ended up building a sports betting business. We ended up building probably most importantly, a prescription affordability company that helped you know many 10s of millions of Americans afford their prescription purchases. And it’s, you know, it was an early, you know, sort of an early business. Now we now we see that format more often, like Mark Cuban is building there, right. And we see more companies in that space. But this was the first of its kind really, that’s what was the name of it? It was called script relief, and, and ultimately, United Healthcare bought it. Yeah, that’s
Kara Goldin 10:24
wild. Really, really well. So you’re, so you’re the co founder and chairman of phase one, why did you decide to start this company?
Kimmy Scotti 10:33
Okay. First of all, as you said earlier, I’m a skincare junkie, I think, before everything, right, I’m an 11 year old girl, and my mother is giving me a Clinique yellow cream sample that she got in like a gift with purchase at Bloomingdale’s. And that was my first sort of foray into having a beauty routine. But I’ve had one ever since it’s the, it’s really the first thing I can remember, like, deciding I was doing this ritual of, I’m gonna put my cream on in the morning and make cream on at night. And, you know, I really, you know, have continued to be obsessed with beauty since and also the changing nature of the beauty industry and what you know what beauty means. And for my, you know, what it means for me and others, like, for me, it’s really about being confident. And I think, you know, when you’re a teenager, and you’re sort of going through that, like acne ik period of your skin, your hormones are aging, and you know, you’re, you know, you’re just trying to, like, really fit in, right is really what everyone’s doing. It’s so hard, it’s so distracting. And so I really think that great skin builds confidence, and putting your best face forward is really, you know, really important to be able to keep your mind on what matters, and really focus on you know, the tasks at hand versus like, Oh, my, you know, I have a pimple can everybody see it and trying to cover things up. And that’s the other thing I kept looking around, you know, I was like, in the, you know, I feel like, when I was growing up, it was like, the heyday of foundation, it was like, everyone was just like covering up and you know, covering up everything. And I remember, you know, getting my makeup done at the, you know, at the Mac counter for like junior prom and saying like no foundation, like I just want, you know, I want my like natural skin to come through, I have little freckles, I want my freckles out. And, you know, I felt like this, there was this like, tendency to do to like cake on and I really feel like, great. And I feel like having great skin and being able to let that shine through and we’re very lightweight makeup actually makes it wearable all day, right you can, that’s when you can really go day to night is you know is that your your skin underneath is a great foundation for everything you’re putting on top. And, you know, I think that’s why I got obsessed with skincare and you know, as being part of the most important part of my routine. And so that grew into an obsession with ingredients. The cost of skincare, you know, I spent a lot of my career building affordability, you know, oriented products, and, you know, especially in the prescription space, and I felt like I was spending 1000s of dollars on beauty products, and in particular my skincare routine. And so, you know, I would you know, I take a lot of care of my skin, my friends are always asking me, my family’s always asking me, What are you using now? You know, what’s the, you know, what’s the best serum? What’s the best? You know, what’s the best moisturizer? What’s the best eye cream, and I’m looking at all my products going? These products are 234 $100 $1,200 A bottle, you know, for some of these products. And I’m like this is not achievable for almost anyone and so sure I can do it. But like, what am I going to do tell my sister I’m using a $1,200 product, my facial look at me like I’m insane. And so I’m like, I’m from Queens, there are some, you know, no one’s paying 1200 bucks on their on their products. And so I said, What’s making these products so expensive. I started digging into the industry meeting with all the top dermatologists the head of Harvard, Derm, Stanford, Derm, Pender, UCLA drum, all of them and asking them what’s the most important ingredients and skin and really focus my attention on healthy aging. How do you keep your skin aging, you know, beautifully. And they all were saying the same ingredients for retinol, vitamin C, but you know, is nothing really new. And when I went researching the cogs, the cost of goods for you know, for everybody on these ingredients, they weren’t that crazy. And I was like, this is really a brand premium that we’re paying. And so I found, you know, I found that really frustrating. I partnered with two people I’d come across during all of my research phase, Dr. Courtney Rubin, who’s amazing board certified dermatologist. She’s my co founder. And she was practice. She was at Penn when I met her then she practiced at Harvard. And now she’s in private practice in LA. And Lizzy Charles had our head of chemistry, who I love so much. She came out of Columbia University, and she’s a fabulous cosmetics, obsessed head of chemistry. And we together created the, you know, the big one lineup.
Kara Goldin 15:24
That’s amazing. Well, and they’re incredible, incredible products. But I also love the fact that they are affordable, too. So your strategy has really been not just to be in DC, but also get into places where people can buy them that it’s, you know, price accessible? So can you talk a little bit more about that? Yes.
Kimmy Scotti 15:49
So I think there’s, you know, sort of in the, you know, entrepreneurial vernacular, you hear often and, you know, around distribution or around pricing, an idea of accessibility. And I think it often means pricing, right there. They’re like, Oh, we’re accessible, we’re accessible. But ordering things over the internet is not accessible for everybody. And, you know, coming to your website to check out finding you there. I think discovery is hard when you’re just here to see as well. And so for me, accessibility meant two things, it meant pricing. So every all of our products are under really they’re under $42. But almost everything is under 40. We’ve one product over. And those that are retinol are more potent retinol products are over 40. But they start below. And so pricing, and then distribution. For me distribution that’s accessible means I can grab it, when I’m doing my regular errands. I’m, you know, I’m running to get diapers for my twins. And we’re there. And so that to me, meant the pharmacies and we partnered with CVS, who are have been so amazing to us. We launched this past March, so just just a little over a month ago, in 3221. Stores. I always say the last one, because I think that’s as important as all the other 3200. And I think it’s really putting our money where our mouth is in terms of saying we’re an accessible brand.
Kara Goldin 17:23
Yeah, definitely. Well, and I think just the how many SKUs do you have right now?
Kimmy Scotti 17:29
It’s such a good question. I think we’re about 17 skews right now. And, you know, we’re launching, I say it that way, because we’re launching new skews every day. So we we launched with healthy aging, healthy aging was eight SKUs. And then we’ve added additional products, additional treatment products, treatments are akin to serums. We, you know, we use the words interchangeably, it’s the more It’s potent product, you know, for after facewash, before moisturizer. And we you know, we’ve launched additional sense. We’ve also launched our body collection in March.
Kara Goldin 18:07
Well, and your body scrub is amazing. It’s so good. And then also you and I were talking before we even got started the face cleansing oil is so so nice. So it’s really different than a lot of other oils out there. So thank you highly, highly recommend it. For sure.
Kimmy Scotti 18:26
That your cult favorite, the micellar oil cleanser, we see it we see makeup artists using it and touting it as their favorite. We see them showing their empties like you know we’re we’re so obsessed because I’m a beauty junkie we’re obsessed with like TD Jane Hughes and Aaron Parsons and all these girls. And when they post their empties of Meisler, oil cleanser. I am like so jazzed about it.
Kara Goldin 18:50
So how are you getting the word out about it? I mean, you’re just getting started. So But how, how are you building this brand? And and, you know, are you using influencers? Are you like, how are you getting the word out?
Kimmy Scotti 19:06
So we do partner with influencers and a lot with micro influencers, right. And so we don’t similarly to the way we think about accessibility in distribution and in pricing, we also think about it in marketing. And so, you know, we want our users to hear about the product from a trusted resource. And that often means a more micro influencer, who they really trust to tell us what they’re using. And so we gift a lot of products to people, which you know, a lot of brands do, and you know, we’re often not even paying for, you know, for posts. It’s just something that they’re using in their regular routine. We also love the professionals category. So, right now about 70 Different dermatologists in med spa as distributor product. We think of the dermatologist and the esthetician as like a first order recommender, right, that’s your most trusted resource if you’re there rheumatologist tells you to do something, you do it. And so we love working with the professional channel, and we think of derms estheticians. And the professionals, you know, that are also using Instagram and other social platforms, as part of the way they talk about skin. You know, they often will talk about our products there too. And so we think of them as, as our own influencers.
Kara Goldin 20:23
I love it. So you’re a serial entrepreneur, and you’re also a partner in the VC, firm, eight VC. And I love that you don’t find very many entrepreneurs who are actually splitting their time between both places, which you are, talk to me a little bit about how you made the decision to do both.
Kimmy Scotti 20:50
Let me say, it’s interesting. It’s almost like a decision, I didn’t actually make it. part of who I am. I’ve always been an entrepreneur, which we’ve been talking about, I wrote my first check in 2012, into a friend’s company, to girlfriends, secara life is the company, you probably also know it, we’ve had more or less exactly the other guys were in your category than mine. And, you know, I was saving. I was starting to save money to go to business school while I was building script relief. And I thought I would go I always thought that after I was done with that particular build, it would be time and I would go, you know, I’d go to school. And I, you know, I reached out to one school, and they basically gave me an adjunct professorship and I flick, I don’t know, like, this is not what I wanted, I really wanted to like sit in school, like a regular student, you know, but you start building a big company, and people, you know, they’re, you know, they start taking you less seriously as a student. So, I took that money, and I gave it to Danielle and Whitney, actually, and they only learned recently that it was all the money I had in cash. I was, you know, I didn’t have any cash, right? And so as often entrepreneurs don’t, you’re very tied up in the businesses you’re working on. And so I, I had $25,700, and I gave them $25,000. And they, you know, they were like, horrified to learn this. They’re like, didn’t you sign some piece of paper saying you were allowed to do this? I was like, Yeah, sure I did. It was so funny. And that really started my career as an investor, I fell in love with investing, I got to learn a lot by investing in their business, but also others. And so that’s, that was my start as an angel. I started joining New York angels angel investing group here in New York, I learned a lot from the other investors around me. And then when, you know, when I was working my way out of building, you know, the prescription affordability company, I said, you know, I think I’m gonna raise a small fund, and ended up partnering with my amazing partners. They’re like my brothers, Joe, Drew, Jake and Alex at the time. Now, we’re a bigger partnership on a much larger platform, and, you know, really learned for the last eight years, I really cut my teeth investing, you know, with the best of the best and fell in love with that process, you know, again, and again, and working with entrepreneurs, but always joked, I’m in danger of leaving with whoever is pitching whatever entrepreneurs pitching, I’m obsessed, and I’m in danger of leaving with them. And, you know, really, you know, couldn’t help but build. And so we we started a platform, part of ABC is build where we can co found companies in areas we’re obsessed with have unfair advantages in what you know, whatever the case is, you know, it’s very much case by case different situations. And when I was looking for a skincare investment to make, it was clear, we should build something new. And so I brought together Courtney, Lizzie and myself to, you know, to build the company, and I couldn’t do both things. Without the incredible team. I work with Diana Markman, who’s been working with me, since relief days, you know, for a long time, really runs the business day to day as my really strategic partner in the business. So she’s, you know, she’s allows me to be able to have that flexibility to both invest and build.
Kara Goldin 24:26
That’s awesome. So great. So you’ve seen you’ve not only been an entrepreneur and a founder, but also you’ve invested in plenty of companies and been a part of incubating companies too. So oftentimes, for first time entrepreneurs, not to mention women entrepreneurs, it’s really tough. What what sort of the advice you have and people going out and raising funds today.
Kimmy Scotti 24:53
So, so important, so I always tell women, you have to Find the right investor for you, not just investor and you know how important this is, a lot of the time, you know, you have to start with your immediate network. So, you know, I might be in someone’s immediate network. And even though I might not invest in their category, they start with me. But investors all know other investors. So when you reach out to that investor, that you, you might have your closest relationship to a friend of a friend or something, I often get this outreach, you’re not asking them for capital, actually, what you really need from them is advice on your pitch, and then a stepping stone to the investor, that’s right for them. And so that’s where I would focus as close of your network as you can that’s trusted, who can leapfrog you to the investor that’s right for your category, and really try to leverage those, you know, those connections. If you’re, you know, if you’re not, you know, in a, you know, in a place, or an industry where you have that direct, you know, in to a fund, I would start with local angel groups. So there’s every basic, basically, every city in town has a local angel group, you don’t necessarily need to start with like a big seed raise, you really need to get into a network of investors who can support you from early and help you on to, you know, on to the next investor, that they know who’s right for you. And so and start building and getting results. And so I would really focus on the network around you, and then your local community beyond that, and they will often help you to that next face.
Kara Goldin 26:39
That’s great advice. What what do you think are like the key things today, that people are looking for that kind of gets them over the hump of investing? Obviously, it’s like, you know, it’s crazy out there. And the markets are crazy. There’s all kinds of stuff most most of the time, I mean, hopefully people are meeting more and more in person, but over the last, you know, couple of years, it’s been over zoom, you know, it’s like, it’s hard, like, what, what do you think is the the key thing that kind of gets people who are investing over the hump to take a chance on people? What do they need to show?
Kimmy Scotti 27:14
It’s such a good question. And I think it’s different category by category, but we’re talking a lot about consumer. So I would focus there, what they really want to see what you know, what I really want to see when I’m investing in a consumer brand, is an obsessed user. So the metric that would tell me that your user is absolutely rabid for your product, are things like, repeat purchase rates, right? If somebody’s tried your product, and then they’re back to buy it again, that tells me a lot about your product. Next, I would say is referral rates, if somebody loves your product so much that they tell their friend, and they’re using those referral codes that you’re creating things like that, that will also tell me a lot about your product, right? It’s, it’s something that is showing that the product is quality, and then the consumer is there for it, and then wants to hand it to the next person. So that all those organic growth method, you know, methods, and the metrics that describe them, I would say are, you know, repeat purchasing and referrals? And so, you know, the more that you can show around, you know, those,
Kara Goldin 28:22
you know, those areas, the better. Yeah, definitely, I always refer to it as like, Loden. As one thing. It’s nice to be on that, but are people actually buying it? And are they coming back in to buy it? I mean, that’s the beauty of DTC you can actually truly measure it. But But it’s, you know, as time goes on, if you can actually see those repeat purchasers. And, obviously, I think it’s really helpful that you’ve been an entrepreneur yourself with a lot of hustle I mean, talking about, you know, hanging up signs in the hallways and getting people to help you. I mean, that’s really what it takes in the early days. And yes, it takes capital, but it also takes, you know, a lot of rolling up your sleeves and going out and doing things on your own, to make
Kimmy Scotti 29:13
it your job to smile. Yeah, no job to roll up your sleeves and dig in. And also you have to ask for every favor, right? So when you’re, you know, when you’re in the early part of your build, getting your friends and friends of friends to try your products and give you feedback and really hear the feedback, right? You know, there’s you’ve to balance it because consumers often don’t know what they want until you give it to them. Right? So if you ask someone, oh, what kind of skincare do you want, they’re probably not going to come up with the actual answer of the thing they need. But if you create something that they can interact with, and then give you feedback on that, you’ll get much, much, much farther.
Kara Goldin 29:51
Total. So so true. So last question, best advice that you’ve ever received, that is not only A helping you, as a founder today be able to build your brand, but also something that you think will help a lot of other people too.
Kimmy Scotti 30:11
Such a good question. And I’ve been I have been given so much advice, luckily, in line with what I was just saying about getting feedback, following and listening to the data, that, you know, whatever, whatever it is the sort of output from your company, right? And what for for us at fig one, right now, it’s its sales data, its repeat purchase data, its lifetime value data, right? It’s all of that. But also, the comments that come in I, you know, I’m always reading all night, or the comments on our Instagram stories, and tick tock and things like that. A lot of important information is in there total. And I have Yeah, and over my career, I, you know, it looks really kind of erratic, right? When you look at, okay, so I was making drew, I was building a jewelry line, and then I, you know, and then there’s like, magazines, and sports, betting, and healthcare and all these things all over the place. But actually, if I describe why every change was made, or why every pivot was taken, I was really following data. And data is not always loud, it is often really like, you know, sort of, under the, you know, under the radar, you have to dig for it, or you have to make sense of it. And so, you know, if I was when we were we were building, building a digital magazine platform, when we transitioned into building this health care, you know, prescription affordability company. And if we were just looking at the loud data, we would have thought our health magazine is very popular. And when we actually dug down deep into the information, it was actually an ad in that magazine was popular, right? It was like, a really particular data point that we had to dig for. And you know, we’re in this like, digital age where our data is all over the place. And so you really have to, you know, you really have to dig for it, and then decipher it really intelligently. And without your ego as part of it. If I wanted to believe my magazine was successful, that’s what I would have seen. But if I wanted to, if you want to understand what’s really going on, you have to take your what you were hoping for the Holy out of the equation. And instead really, yeah, really search for, you know, what’s being said,
Kara Goldin 32:29
No, I love that. That is such great advice. It’s, I just had another guest that I was interviewing that was actually an attorney for years and was talking about board governance and fiduciary responsibility and all these different, we’re talking about shareholder activism. And anyway, totally different topic. But along the same lines, actually, he mentioned that, you know, shareholder activism isn’t such a bad thing. Sometimes, like sometimes, yeah, might have other ideas about what you should be doing. And, you know, and taking those into account is something that, you know, great CEOs, great founders do, as well. So, anyway, has me has me thinking along those lines, based on what you said to so well, thank you so much.
Kimmy Scotti 33:20
I was gonna add one just thought like that’s yeah, similar to that, which is take your own customer service calls.
Kara Goldin 33:25
Totally your own customers. Yes.
Kimmy Scotti 33:29
I have often, especially with companies also we invest in, I will often go in and sit and take customer service calls before we invest. Or even after the fact when they’re when we’re trying to figure out a problem in the business. I’m like, if there’s a problem, we’re going to hear it in two days of customer service calls, we’re going to know what it is fast. And so I think that’s the other thing you should do is take your own customer service calls and read your own customer service emails.
Kara Goldin 33:51
Yeah, totally. Well, in the early days of hint, I was doing that. And I continued to do that all the way through, I would pop in. And actually it’s it’s interesting, I would send our interns and to also go and join some of the customer service calls even if they were an engineering and intern because sometimes you’re gonna actually hear people on the phone talking about things and it may actually have something to do with design or navigation or something. I mean, most of the time it isn’t but it might actually and yeah, not and so you never know how about all you know whines together so it’s Yeah, definitely. Well thank you so much Kimmy I loved this and everybody will have all the info in the show notes but fig one is awesome and follow Kimmy Scott will have all the info and also eight VC will be watching you too. So well. Good luck with everything and and very, very excellent product. So thanks again, everyone.
Kimmy Scotti 34:56
Thank you.
Kara Goldin 34:57
Thanks again for listening to the Kara Goldin show. If you would, please give us a review and feel free to share this podcast with others who would benefit. And of course, feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode of our podcast. Just a reminder that I can be found on all platforms at Kara Goldin. And if you want to hear more about my journey, I hope you will have a listen. Or pick up a copy of my book undaunted, which I share my journey, including founding and building hint. We are here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And thanks everyone for listening. Have a great rest of the week, and 2023 and goodbye for now. Before we sign off, I want to talk to you about fear. People like to talk about fearless leaders. But achieving big goals isn’t about fearlessness. Successful leaders recognize their fears and decide to deal with them head on in order to move forward. This is where my new book undaunted comes in. This book is designed for anyone who wants to succeed in the face of fear, overcome doubts and live a little undaunted. Order your copy today at undaunted, the book.com and learn how to look your doubts and doubters in the eye and achieve your dreams. For a limited time. You’ll also receive a free case of hint water. Do you have a question for me or want to nominate an innovator to spotlight send me a tweet at Kara Goldin and let me know. And if you liked what you heard, please leave me a review on Apple podcasts. You can also follow along with me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn at Kara Goldin. Thanks for listening