Giorgos Tsetis: Co-Founder & CEO of Nutrafol

Episode 630

In this episode of The Kara Goldin Show, we dive into the inspiring story of Giorgos Tsetis, Co-Founder and CEO of Nutrafol, the #1 dermatologist-recommended hair growth supplement brand. Giorgos shares how his personal struggle with hair thinning as a fashion model led him to create a science-backed, drug-free solution that has transformed the lives of over a million customers.
We discuss Nutrafol’s innovative approach to hair and skin wellness, its recent expansion into skincare, and how the company stays ahead in the competitive supplement market. Giorgos also shares insights into navigating Nutrafol’s 2022 acquisition by Unilever, the challenges of scaling a direct-to-consumer brand, and the importance of sustainability and clinical research in product development.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a wellness enthusiast, or someone looking for inspiration to turn personal challenges into opportunities, this episode is packed with actionable insights and inspiring stories.
Don’t miss it! Tune in now on The Kara Goldin Show!

Resources from
this episode:

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 out, knocked out. So your only choice should be go focus on what you can 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, and welcome back to the Kara Goldin show. Super, super excited to have a truly inspiring entrepreneur a guest who is the co founder and CEO of an incredible, incredible brand called Nutrafol. And if you are not familiar with Nutrafol. Get ready, because he’s going to talk to us all about CO founding this company. It’s we have Giorgos Tsetis, who is, as I mentioned, the co founder and CEO. He took a personal struggle facing hair thinning as a young fashion model, and turned it into a mission to help millions and Nutrafol has redefined the hair wellness space with its science backed, drug free approach, becoming the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand and since its launch almost 10 years ago. Now, right? Is it? Is it right? Yeah, right. At 10 years, it’s grown into a trusted name and wellness. It was acquired by Unilever in 2022 and it’s changing lives for the better, for so many people. So I’m very excited to hear the backstory, and super, super excited to have you here and finally meet you. So welcome Georges. How are you?

Giorgos Tsetis 2:05
Thank you, Kara, thank you for having me. Thank you so much. Very

Kara Goldin 2:08
excited. So Okay, so first question, what is Nutrafol for those who might be hiding under a rock and have not heard of the incredible brand that you built.

Giorgos Tsetis 2:21
So nutrifo is focusing on hair. We remained quite focused around solving hair struggles for men and for women. The brand started originally it was we tried to solve our personal hair struggles. So so the initial formulation was, was a men’s formulation, but then very quickly, we realized that this was a much a broader concern for women. So we, we launched a women’s formulation as well. So we focus on hair thinning, and we we have supplements that we that we offer, so probably supplements, but we also further personalizing the experience for our customers and our partners. So we’re doing hair testing as well. So we first personalize the experience, making sure that people are set up for success. Recently, we launched a skin nutraceutical targeting acne for for women, but we can talk about that a little later, but we we really want to help people with their hair, because it’s unfortunately, it’s an emotional journey for many.

Kara Goldin 3:42
Yeah, definitely. So what were you doing before co founding neutral? I was

Giorgos Tsetis 3:47
seven engineering background. I i studied back in, back in the Netherlands, and in order for me to finance my studying, I was fortunate enough to be a fashion model, and I traveled the world, and I was able to finance my studies in doing so when I came to New York that was under a 01 visa. So I used the modeling to get to New York and but quickly I realized that would not be a long term successful career, so I doubled down on engineering, and I started my engineering company in New York City, focusing on structural, structure engineering. And that became, that became quite, quite successful. But my my personal desire to solve my my own experience with thinning hair, and unfortunately, I suffered a lot from the side effects of some of the pharmaceuticals that I was taking, which which unfortunately affected my my health severely one of the side of. Sex is actually horrific. It’s sexual dysfunction. So it in order to keep my hair. So I was extremely motivated to find a solution that was healthy and very effective. So we, yeah, I basically, I dropped everything, I closed down my engineering company, even though that was quite comfortable, I was still modeling there at the time. But, you know, I decided to pursue that mission, and I connect with doctors to understand how things work when it comes to hair biology. So never in my wildest dreams, I could have imagined for that to happen, but it was a personal problem for myself, and I was just extremely determined to solve it

Kara Goldin 5:44
so interesting. So you were just literally Googling, searching around, trying to figure it out, what were the alternatives, and then starting to talk to doctors, it sounds like. And how long was that process before you finally said, I think I can go do this. I think I could develop a product that, first of all, it sounds like you started taking to see whether or not it would work. But how long did that take?

Giorgos Tsetis 6:12
It took about one and a half year. And maybe I can elaborate a little bit on that and be be more specific, I, at the time, had a very good friend of mine. He’s my co founder, rollin Peralta, and I was just very fascinated on how he was reverse engineering his his health concerns. And he suffered quite a bit from rheumatoid arthritis, ra, and the way he was treating that was quite extraordinary, very successfully. So at the time, it was just faith. We we came together, and he was just a very trusted friend of mine who I shared my story with, which was, I’m losing my hair. I’m taking these pharmaceuticals. It’s really affecting my health. Every single time I stopped using these pharmaceuticals. My hair starts, is starting to fall out. I need a solution. And he shared, and it was all faith and coincidence. He shared his own personal story around thyroid cancer and rheumatoid arthritis and how we went all about it, and his treatment protocol for RA included some very potent anti inflammatory curcuminoids. These are enriched pseudacles. And one of the side benefits that he was experiencing is his hair started to become healthier. He was he was balding, and is he had some new hairs growing. So that sparked this whole conversation around, okay, how do you by targeting inflammation, how does that affect the hair growth cycle for hair? And nobody was talking about information and hair growth, so we didn’t just start researching on the Internet. We just looked at the available solutions out there, and we also spoke to doctors and very simple as critical consumers or critical questions that we had around. For example, you know, we all know that when you go through very stressful periods in your life, you often lose your hair. So what is that? What is at the root of stress? And are the available solutions targeting what’s at a root of stress, which is elevated cortisol within a body, hormone. And none of the solutions were doing so. So very quickly, we realized that the problem just hair health in general, right? Or hair struggles, whether it’s thinning hair or hair loss, it’s multifactorial. And all the available solutions out there, whether they were drugs or just simply basic vitamins minerals, which is targeting singular factors, and the issue was broader, so we just became very passionate about the goal was not to start a business. The goal was to to research and understand and hopefully find something that was better than what was available out there, because all the basic vitamins and minerals were not powerful enough, and they were not working, and all the FDA approved drugs and OTC solutions were very limited in in efficacy, but also most of them are associated with side effects that are not pleasant, especially for women. So that really, that really motivated us, and we spent about one and a half years shoulder to shoulder in his apartment, cooking rice and beans every day, being on a budget, trying to understand what’s going on. And obviously we included a lot of doctors along the way to help us connect dots. And ultimately, that white paper, that research that we basically rewrote the Bible for hair biology. It was originally a 300 page document, and I. We had a few doctors break that down and and, and they obviously elaborated on it. And that research now is something that we’re very proud of, because it’s published and it’s used on a global level to to address hair, hair sitting differently for men and for women. That’s

Kara Goldin 10:18
so, so interesting. So in some ways, that was your business plan, I guess, to some extent, the early preface to the business plan, maybe in in some ways, but the first neutral product you had mentioned was men. You were really focused on men. And what did that look like? What was the actual product? And how is that different from it is from where it is today, the

Giorgos Tsetis 10:44
formulation was is still very similar to what what it is today. We after we identified multiple root causes, including DHD hormones, which is one of the when people refer to genetic predisposition. Often, what they refer to is your sensitivity to that specific hormone, which is dehydro testosterone. That’s why, when with pharmaceuticals, you block that it has affecting testosterone and it affects other things as well in a negative way. So DHT, inflammation, elevated cortisol, oxidative stress, all these underlying causes that we believed were at the root of the problem, we identified very powerful nutraceuticals. Now people are more familiar with the term nutraceuticals. Now, at the time, nobody knew what it actually means. But essentially, naturals, they’re they’re bioactives extracted from natural plants, however, they are clinically tested for their efficacy, their bioavailability, etc. So once we identify these root causes, what we try to do is like, can we identify the right ingredients that hopefully work in synergy to address those? So it was, it was a gamble, to be honest, right? Because we the white paper was still an hypothesis that was not, that was not yet confirmed, so, but the white paper described the new mechanism of action of these those ingredients, and we formulated the first product, and we became our first customers. We gave it to ourselves and to our families. And I remember I walked into a well known hair salon in the Plaza Hotel in New York City, and I had some friends there, and I started to give out the men’s formulation. And I will never forget the reaction I received from women, and that that was really such a that was such an aha moment for us, and that quickly made us realize, okay, if we want to address this concern for women, we need a very different formulation, because all the other products out there, including some of the pharmaceuticals and OTC solutions there were, these were all products that were mostly tested on men, just simply given to women. So that was a that was an aha moment, and concerning, obviously. And we doubled down. We doubled down, and we included some some additional dermatologists to help us formulate this formulation for women, which fast forward, our entire business, actually, at the moment, is 85% women, which is absolutely incredible. So interesting. That just shows you how much of a demand there was and such a white space, because women didn’t have some of the pharmaceuticals available to them, like Propecia and finostrite, are typically not given to women. Some doctors do, which is concerning, in my opinion, but you don’t want to block the software for women. So it’s, it’s, there were limited available, efficacious solutions out there for women, which we tried to address, and we did

Kara Goldin 14:12
so, so interesting. So when you first launched Nutrafol, what was probably the biggest challenge in actually getting it out there. I mean, you’re an you’re an engineer, but you and you’re obviously a consumer too. But how did you figure out your strategy of actually going to market, because you’re available in, you know, multiple channels now today, but you didn’t. Where did you start? And how did you figure that out,

Giorgos Tsetis 14:41
everything was challenging, but we also very ignorant, which I think is very powerful, because we didn’t understand how difficult it, it would have been, right? So, and I think that helped us reflecting back. We were so incredibly determined and so incredibly. Curious, and we tried to overcome every problem. The most challenging in the beginning was like, I’m not a doctor, right? I’m not a scientist. Our business partner did not have a science degree. He was a science bio hiker. He’s very curious, and he’s amazing, and he’s incredibly intelligent. But we did not not have science backgrounds or or doctor backgrounds. So we we believed, if we want to make a difference, we need to engage the doctors, and we need to present our science, and we have to present our hypothesis and the mechanism of action to get their buy in. So and that was very challenging, because people didn’t know us. We showed up with 100 page document and talking very passionately about hair biology and how we believed this could make a difference or for their patients with sample products. And in the beginning, we were not taking seriously. And the way we resolved that was we simply just gave product away. We’re like, if we just put our money where our mouth was, and it’s like, okay, well, clearly you don’t have any great solutions available for your patients, because if that was true, then not everyone would suffer. We’re talking about 50 million women in the United States, at least, right, and about 50 million men in the United States. So and we gave product away, and the the results were just absolutely remarkable. But it took us to your point. It took us a long time to to educate and to walk into these offices and to engage with the thought leaders and the people who had credibility in order to get their buy in and to convince them that took us years. It still got by the way, it’s even though we’ve now, obviously we’re the number one dermatologist recommended brand. But even today, that remains a very an active strategy to engage with doctors and thought leaders, to educate and we never tried to sell the product to them. And I think that was reflecting back again. I think that was quite powerful, because very often I see when companies launch products or brands, they try to sell and sometimes they don’t want to cheapen their product by giving it away, right? But if in our category where we had to gain credibility, we didn’t have an option. So, and we got very lucky, because the product worked incredibly. After that, of course, we invested heavily in clinical trials, state of the art, clinical trials, placebo control, double blinded, and that was a big risk too. We didn’t necessarily have to do that because, unfortunately, the you don’t necessarily in order to launch your product or or a supplement, you don’t have to do a clinical trial. You can rely on existing ingredient claims, which I think is very tricky, but at the time we we took the risk and we said, we need to prove to ourselves that this is this is efficacious, this is safe. Let’s double down. And that’s what we did,

Kara Goldin 18:24
very, very cool. Well, it’s, it’s interesting, as you were describing that, I remember when we were launching hint, many in 2005 we were not just launching a new company and a new product, but also an entirely new category, very similar. And when you’re launching a new category, you are doing a ton of education. So, and we always found too that if we couldn’t give out little sample cups, because it wasn’t enough, like if somebody had just had a cupcake before they drank hint, they wouldn’t be able to taste it right? So you had to have. We would give out whole bottles. And people would look at us and say, Wow, you’re giving entire bottles out. And we do tons of events, and you know, we’d be on the promenade and in one of the beaches in LA and give them out. And we found that once people had it, and I would imagine this was the same with nutrifoll. If it worked right, then people would reorder it, and then they would start buying it. But it’s not every single product that ends up doing that that it’s necessary, but certainly, if you’re starting a new at New Category and you have to educate people on what you’re doing, I think it’s it’s the best way to get people to understand it. So. So when you Yeah, so, so then what, at what point were you actually being sold in dermatology offices? Was that your first channel, or direct to consumer was really the first

Giorgos Tsetis 19:54
Yeah, just to build on that original strategy, everything was about credibility. Remember we were, we were having supplements for hair that even that nine, 910, years ago, was like, Why do I need a supplement for my hair? I can just use a shampoo or condition it. Right? We’re told for decades that, um, rubbing something in your hair, in your scalp, would would solve the problem. We were like, No, it’s the problem is internal, like, it’s the hormones it it’s the imbalance. You need a whole body approach to this. So that was that alone was such a such a roadblock to to overcome. So, yes, we once the dermatologist, saw the results and and we witnessed them even recommending mutual instead of some of the existing legacy products and pharmaceuticals in their office, which was a huge win for us, because it gave us, gave us confidence that they believe in it. They they clearly can, can help the patients with this run to something so slowly, we started to to sell it in their offices. Not every doctor wants to sell product in their office, especially when you go through universities, they they obviously cannot sell any, any products within their facilities. So, but even today, we, yeah, we’ve got about 6000 7000 employees that are selling the product. So that became a very powerful strategy. And moving forward again, because credibility and thought leadership was, was where we’re going for we didn’t just become a a marketing brand, right or or just a basic formulation off the shelf. It was real innovation. Doctors were involved. It was different. We had the backing, we had the mechanism of action, we had the white papers, we had clinical studies, and we believe that with the doctor support, including stylists, because, you know, you trust your stylist, definitely we could, we could build a brand that hopefully can make a difference in people’s lives.

Kara Goldin 22:14
So as you’ve mentioned, you have male and female, and then there’s amongst the different genders, there’s, there’s also a few different life stages, life stages, I guess, yeah, life stages. And so how do you really separate that out for people?

Giorgos Tsetis 22:32
Yeah. So it was, it was actually interesting, because the dermatologists were starting to give the men’s formulation to women over 40, and we’re like, why is that happening? And they, they gave us feedback. And I think that was a big takeaway. It’s like, including the physicians, and including the doctors with with product development, and constantly just asking them for feedback, like, often, often, you sell something, and then it all becomes about how much product you’re selling. For us, it was always about, what can we do better? Right? Give this feedback. Who’s it working for? Who’s not working for? What’s your experience like? What are the struggles that people experience? And one of the feedback that one of the feedback I would receive, was they would give the men’s formation to women post 40, including menopause, and the product was working really well. And obviously that’s confusing to to give a men’s product to a woman. So we, we saw that as a sign, and we, we dove in with our science teams and r, d teams internally. And we, we, we formulated a new formulation for women that go through pre and post menopause. And at the time, I even remember some of our original investors were like, Why are you doing this? You’re gonna confuse people. Another formulation for women. We thought this was a men’s bed, and we’re like, Well, no, this is clearly what’s needed. And let’s let’s double down. Nobody is talking to women who are going through menopause. There’s not even a single clinical study on on hair sitting for this audience out there, right? Let’s, let’s do it. Let’s, let’s, let’s, let, let’s see if we can introduce a product that is of meeting, right? So we double down and fast forward. That entire product became larger than the entire men’s category.

Kara Goldin 24:39
So that’s crazy. It’s it’s

Giorgos Tsetis 24:42
just, and the reason why I’m sharing this is, is we always listened to our customers. We always and continue to listen and to our partners, because that’s where very often it’s nice to innovate, right? It’s great to innovate, and you’re using an entrepreneurial head to. To introduce products, but we our goal was to remain hyper, hyper focused. And if you continue to listen, then you tweaking, you’re basically tweaking your existing approach as must, but as must as possible, in order for it to to become further optimized. And this was just one way of doing it. So menopause was a big category, and still was a big category for us. And then we launched a hair product for women who are going through post parta, also a serious concern. My wife went through it herself. Post baby things change, and again, we wanted to provide value there. And also that product became very successful because nobody was really talking about that with authority, and nobody took the effort to formulate something, and then also to the actual research and clinical trials in order to prove to themselves and to the world that it could be effective. So that’s what we did, and that’s something that we are very, very proud of.

Kara Goldin 26:09
So if somebody takes the men’s formulation, a woman takes the men’s formulation, nothing at their it’s nothing. Is nothing terrible is going to happen? No, no, not

Giorgos Tsetis 26:21
at all, because these are not, these are not pharmaceuticals. It’s a drug free solution, and a lot of these ingredients are super antioxidants and anti inflammatories. And really what the formulations all do, and all have in common, they bring the body back to a state of balance, right, homeostasis and and that’s what’s important, because if it’s a little off, it it disrupts different systems and mechanisms within the body, and sometimes that is being expressed through, through, Through hair thinning or lost. So all these ingredients are incredibly healthy for people. We’re using the clinical, efficacious dosages as well, and that’s why it’s four pills a day. Very often we get the questions like, Why four pills a day? Well, we would have been way easier to do less pills, but we want to make sure that the daily dosage can actually make a difference. So No, it’s not the end of the world for for these formulations to be switched up, but if, if for maximum results, we obviously recommend and people to to use what’s what’s appropriate.

Kara Goldin 27:35
So COVID obviously had impact on anyone who was running a business during that time, and in addition to personally challenging, but when, when you think about COVID as it relates to hair loss, have you seen a big, I guess, surge? And I’ve heard this over and over again, Nobody’s really sure it could be the stress it could be, you know, lots of different things. But I’m curious if you’ve heard from consumers that, yes, unfortunately,

Giorgos Tsetis 28:07
unfortunately, we’ve also heard a lot that that some of the side effects of COVID were hair loss and thinning hair, which was unfortunate. It’s not that we, we as a company, experience this shirt because of it. We were just frankly lucky that we were very well positioned, because we always talked about the underlying causes of hair thinning and the disruption of the hair growth cycle. So we always talked about stress, always talked about the importance of metabolism, right, and liver function so and and clearly during COVID and post COVID, which I think is a good thing, people did become more health conscious, right, and more aware of being healthy, right, And what that actually means, and how to build a resistance to to do COVID, for example, and that has continued so that that’s that’s been obviously helpful. But as a company, it’s not like, like, like some of the fitness FinTech companies that experienced an immediate surge and then plateaued or dropped post post COVID. For us, it was a very gradual growth, and we were just very happy that we would be able to make a difference in people’s lives, because people would not be able to go to the dermatologists anymore during COVID, and we were able to share product to their patients. We developed a special program. We built technology for doctors to ship to their patients through us directly, which was quite unique at the time, but it was extremely helpful for. Or at least dermatology offices, to to remain in business. So that was that was very good.

Kara Goldin 30:08
I always talk about the timeline, and every founder can look back on on those times, the the high points, the low points, what was probably the lowest point in your timeline over the last 10 years where you thought, I don’t know, like this, this is, I’m not sure this is gonna make it. Or, you know, I’ve heard, I’ve heard from so many people, you know, whether it’s an initial run of the product was a disaster. The packaging. You know,

Giorgos Tsetis 30:44
we’ve experienced so many disasters.

Kara Goldin 30:48
I love it even,

Giorgos Tsetis 30:49
even, even in the beginning we put, would put all, all our money was self funded in the beginning. And our first batch of product, it’s all these expensive nutriceuticals all all bought ourselves, and the first run, we got the pills back, and the capsules themselves tasted a little funny, and was like, holy shit. That is, that is not good, because we obviously tested these capsules beforehand, and they were tasting just fine, and we that was it, that was it. That was the first massive roadblock which made me, made me realize, I think, it was a great, great experience, because you just have to always assume for the worst, we we recovered from that, we decided to to to at the time, we decided to crush all these pills and to to with special technology, and to try to preserve some of that, some of that, some of that raw material, And then filtering out the the capsules themselves, which was a process that was quite complex, but we did it successfully, just to save the raw the raw material, because it was that expensive. But, you know, from ranging from experiences like that to just even even even challenges with people like, I’m sure you know, it’s once a company grows, building a culture that is, that is that is unique, that is true to who you are, is always very hard, right? And especially when you grow exponentially. We, as we have fortunately, especially in the beginning, we’re growing 300% every every single year. And even even to date, our growth rate is 40, 50% year over year, which is which we’re very grateful for. But you have to scale accordingly, and you do that with people, and that that’s always challenging right to, to find the right people, to create the right structures and to make sure everyone is happy and thriving. I still find that probably the most challenging piece right to, especially in today’s world where we still work on a virtual basis. So yes, we do have an office, but how do you, how do you be there for people? How do you, how do you support people in general? How do you show a level of empathy, right? And how can you remain curious to make sure everyone is in a good place? So that’s, that’s an ongoing that’s an ongoing journey, but we’re very fortunate with, obviously, the team that we have, but we definitely had some struggles along the way. Yeah,

Kara Goldin 33:46
no, it’s building teams is probably the hardest. It’s an exciting time, but it’s also, as one guest long time ago said to me, and I’ll never forget it. Do you know, Eugene REM by any chance, from rumble fitness. I’ve heard of him here. Anyway. It was, it was fascinating, because he talked a bit about this exact issue. But he said that the real problem is, you think you know where people come from, and everybody’s got a journey, right? And then all of a sudden, you throw all the journeys into a room, and just because somebody’s got a skill set and maybe even an interest in your product, you’re still dealing with things that oftentimes you can’t hear in an interview, right? Whether, in his case, you know, he was Russian immigrant. His first company, he had gone bankrupt. He wasn’t going to go there again. So, you know, it was just, it was interesting to kind of hear him sort of spell that out. And think, you know, of course, it’s really hard to put all these people together in a room. But the bigger you get, the more people you end up having. So I thought it was fascinating in many ways,

Giorgos Tsetis 35:06
no, especially in the beginning, because right now, we have so many people that can assess and making sure that we’re making the right decisions. But in the beginning, you don’t have so many people, so you’re just relying on yourself, your intuition, your gut feeling, and, yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s hard building, building a successful business, I think all depends on on people, right? It’s all about people. So incredibly foundational, fundamental, if you cannot get that right, that that’s challenging. So I always encourage people to to, to optimize these processes to make sure that that you get the right people on board so you can make a difference. Yeah,

Kara Goldin 35:49
and you also talked about empathy. I think it’s it sadly. I was talking to a friend who was going through layoffs, and she was asking my advice on having to lay people off. And, you know, I do think understanding before you’re having to go through that process of laying people off, you know who these people are, where they’re coming from, and whether it’s good karma or, you know, it’s having an understanding and a caring for these people. So if you don’t know that they have families or kids in college or whatever it is, that’s, that’s, you know, if you just don’t know that about them and they’ve been working in your company for the last, you know, six months or a year, or whatever it is, shame on you as a leader. You should know that

Giorgos Tsetis 36:35
absolutely, I think firing people is probably one of the hardest thing, and for some people, it becomes easier. And I think that becomes a problem. If that becomes easy or not challenging, I think it’s time to replace yourself.

Kara Goldin 36:52
Yeah, exactly. So you were acquired by Unilever, and I can imagine the excitement of being able to accomplish that, but also a little scary, right? So somebody else is taking care of your baby. You I know you have two small children, but it’s, you know, in many ways, it’s like having somebody who does not have that same connection, and you’re teaching them, but it’s how does that feel? And I guess it’s been a few years now, but in a very successful partnership, as far as I can tell. But how is that like for you? And yes,

Giorgos Tsetis 37:31
same, it’s a great question. Same for same as hiring, right? You’re looking to to partner up with someone that’s a that’s a big, big decision, and we’re fortunate that we had, we’re exploring an acquisition, and we had a very good m&a process in place with some some great advices. And we took our time. It took us, it was, I believe, about one and a half year from start to finish. And we, we met with a lot of companies, a lot of individuals. And for me, it was all about, can you, can you trust? Can you, can you connect with people and and often, which is a problem, when things go really well, when things go well, everyone is nice, everyone, everyone is happy, right? And everyone is supportive. But the problem is when, when things go south for whatever reason, and there’s always disruption that any company how, how are the people or your partners, how they’re going to respond to that? And I really try to get to the bottom of that exactly right, because these rides are never smooth. Can you trust someone? Are they going to do the right thing? Are your values aligned? So it was, it was a dating process, and we’re really, really connected with with with Unilever, and the people are really, really great. And that’s important, because that’s, that’s where it starts. I truly believe, and it’s great that we’ve had now. We’ve have had now two and a half years under our belt. Yes, there was disruption. It was never been easy, but they’ve been amazing, amazing partners, and they’ve supported us through difficult times. And we, yeah, we’ve, we’ve become very, very successful working together and creating synergy there. We it’s quite, it’s quite uncommon for a company to continue to thrive post and acquisition. And we actually grew three times under their watch, which is quite incredible, but it starts with people. And yes, it was hard, but we we trust them and and even now moving forward as as we’re looking into the future, you know, for me. It’s very, very important that the Mission Continues to to be alive and that we’re aligned around values.

Kara Goldin 40:09
That’s terrific. Well, Georges, thank you so much for coming on. This is such a treat, and I’m an even bigger fan of the company and brand. Now, after meeting you and hearing the back story, I think that that’s just so important for people to really understand in any products that that they buy, and you’ve done an amazing job of building a company that is not only helping a lot of people, but also continuing to help people get healthier and keep well and all of those things. So we’ll have all the info in the show notes everyone needs to try. Nutrafol, even if you’re just trying to get healthier, I believe, and get thicker hair. Who doesn’t want that? And Giorgos, thank you so much for coming on.

Giorgos Tsetis 40:59
Thank you, Kara. Thank you so much for your time. Thanks again

Kara Goldin 41:03
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. I would love to hear from you, too. So feel free to DM me, and if you want to hear more about my journey, I hope you will have a listen or pick up a copy of my Wall Street Journal, best selling book, undaunted, where I share more about my journey, including founding and building hint, we are here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thanks for listening, and goodbye for now. Bye.

Click to subscribe:

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen OnApple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Listen OnSpotify
Listen on Overcast
Listen OnOvercast
Listen on PlayerFM
Listen OnPlayerFM

People Also Liked

629

Sharon Price John: CEO of Build-A-Bear

628

Kari Warberg Block : Founder & CEO of EarthKind

629

Eric Dawson: CEO of RIVET

626

Kim Vaccarella: Founder & CEO of Bogg

625

Maria Ross: Author of The Empathy Dilemma