629: $50K to $300M+: How Two L'Oréal Employees Built Glow Recipe | Sarah Lee

629: $50K to $300M+: How Two L'Oréal Employees Built Glow Recipe | Sarah Lee

Sarah Lee went from cold-emailing 700 journalists by hand and sleeping two hours a night to building Glow Recipe into a nine-figure global skincare brand inside Sephora. And she did it without raising venture capital. In this interview, the co-founder of Glow Recipe breaks down how a $50,000 bootstrapped Korean beauty curation site turned into one of the most recognisable modern skincare brands in the world — including how they broke even in just three months, why they walked away from millions to stay in control, and the exact moment they knew it was time to build their own products. From getting on Shark Tank in year one to launching their first SKU with nothing but a white jar and an iPad mockup, this episode is a masterclass in brand building, retail strategy, and founder-led execution. What you’ll learn in this interview: • How Glow Recipe broke even in just 3 months with a $50K bootstrap • Why Sarah and Christine personally cold-emailed 700+ press contacts • The real economics of starting as a curated marketplace vs owning the brand • How they validated product demand before manufacturing anything • What it took to pitch Sephora with no finished product • Why Glow Recipe walked away from millions in potential funding • Lessons from Shark Tank — and what didn’t make it on TV • How Korean beauty education became their unfair advantage • The biggest mistakes founders make when launching beauty products • How Glow Recipe scaled from curation to a nine-figure product brand By the end of this episode, you’ll understand how to validate demand early, build leverage without capital, and turn brand education into long-term defensibility — even in one of the most competitive categories in ecommerce. If you’re building a product brand, thinking about retail expansion, or deciding whether to raise capital or stay bootstrapped, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about control, growth, and timing. SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://your.omnisend.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get started. HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ → Already have a store? Apply here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CONNECT WITH SARAH LEE Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/sarah_glow/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahleenewyork/ Website→ https://www.glowrecipe.com/ FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/foundr/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/podcast⁠

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Episoder(640)

684: She Bet Her House Deposit on Hair Gel - and Built an 8-Figure Brand

684: She Bet Her House Deposit on Hair Gel - and Built an 8-Figure Brand

Yasmina Elmerkaoui had one shot - use the house deposit to buy a home, or bet it all on a hair gel she'd spent two years formulating. She chose the hair gel. On launch night she packed orders until 5a...

16 Jul 51min

683: (Solo) The Expense Audit That Could Save Your Brand Thousands This Year

683: (Solo) The Expense Audit That Could Save Your Brand Thousands This Year

This is not a growth hack. It is not going to go viral on a Twitter thread. But I genuinely believe it is one of the highest leverage things you can do for your brand right now, and most founders neve...

13 Jul 12min

682: From $2M in Debt to a $250M Gum Company | Pur Gum

682: From $2M in Debt to a $250M Gum Company | Pur Gum

Jay Klein lost $2 million on a gum nobody wanted. He sold the remaining stock to a pig feed company for $13,000 - then used every cent of it to launch Pur. Sixteen years later, Pur is the fastest-gr...

9 Jul 58min

681: Dr. Angela Spent $350K Building The Skincare Brand Her Daughters Needed — Now It Does $40K/Month

681: Dr. Angela Spent $350K Building The Skincare Brand Her Daughters Needed — Now It Does $40K/Month

Dr. Angela Casey spent nearly 15 years treating skin cancer before she had her business idea. She didn't come from entrepreneurship - she came from molecular biology, medical school, residency, and a ...

8 Jul 33min

680: (Solo) The Thing Nobody Tells You About Building a Business Alone

680: (Solo) The Thing Nobody Tells You About Building a Business Alone

After interviewing over 700 founders, including more than 100 billionaires, I kept noticing something that never made it onto the podcast. When the recording stopped and I asked privately how they wer...

6 Jul 12min

679: The $20 Jar of Salt Behind Her 9-Figure Jewelry Brand

679: The $20 Jar of Salt Behind Her 9-Figure Jewelry Brand

Jennifer Fisher started with $5,000 and a dog tag she sketched on a piece of paper for her son - a son she almost never had, after chemotherapy, failed IVF, and years of surrogacy attempts. She knoc...

2 Jul 47min

678: (Solo) The First Hire Mistake That Trips Up Almost Every Solo Founder

678: (Solo) The First Hire Mistake That Trips Up Almost Every Solo Founder

Most founders make their first hire reactively. They're overwhelmed, stretched across every function, and they just want someone to take the pressure off right now. So they bring in a generalist, hand...

29 Jun 9min

677: We Built a $250M Cold Plunge Brand - From a Garage | Plunge

677: We Built a $250M Cold Plunge Brand - From a Garage | Plunge

Ryan Duey was living in an RV with his float spas closed and no backup plan when he and Michael Garrett built their first cold plunge from a retrofitted $100 bathtub in a garage. They turned their S...

25 Jun 1h

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