Sephora Accelerator Demo Day SF (10/27/17)
One of my new partners in crime, Monique Woodard of 500 Startups, joined me at the second ever Accelerate Sephora accelerator demo day at the W Hotel in San Francisco. I have to say I was a bit skeptical going in but left very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the companies and presenters. Loved that they were all women. There was a champagne reception after the presentations and we all got goodie bags. This is how you do a demo day (and we know it was planned by the ladies!).
Eleven companies presented after participating in the six-month program (deadline is 11/20/17 for the third cohort in 2018). Every single founder called out and thanked their specific mentor during her pitch. That was a first for me.
The first company was Able and Founder Dana Rae Ashburn (from Brooklyn). Able helps customers create the looks that they otherwise would not be able to do. They have their first (patented) product for cat eyes (cat eye 101) with two more in the pipeline. (I just ordered the product so I will be able to give an official opinion on whether it makes some of us who are challenged more ABLE).
The next one was very popular with the crowd and I am pretty sure that Monique used it recently when she was in New York City and was very happy with the service. Swivel Beauty matches up women of color with stylists to allow them to look and book in the same place. They are in New York and Washington DC right now but don’t be surprised if you see them national in the near future. Jihan Thompson is the Founder and CEO and told a very compelling story.
I was surprised with how global the group was and the next company was Aloe Vida out of Mexico City, Mexico. Adriana Oyervides, CEO and Founder, presented how her company is ‘transforming the beauty ritual into a self care ritual.’ She has an aloe skincare line which is quite lovely but only available in Mexico. We got samples in our goody bags and boy do they smell good!
I was thrilled to see Mary Futher of kaia naturals because she wasn’t just another 20 something. I also loved the natural products and how she positioned them. I just ordered the charcoal detox deodorant (it comes with the stages of detox) and the juicy bamboo facial wipes (you can plant them and they disappear) and a seaweed detox hot bath (I figure with how 2017 has been politically that I can use all the detox I can get).
Pollini Jorio from Sao Paolo, Brazil pitched her company Brand Lovers. She has an app that helps match users to the best beauty products in essence creating a personalized store.
Yve-Car Momperousse from Florida pitched her company Kreyol Essence. She is creating and distributing natural and ethical products from Haiti for dry/damaged hair and skin using Haitian black castor oil which is infused into the products. I am so obsessed with my facial oil from Beauty Counter that I decided to place an order (I’ll have to do a separate post on how beautiful and sweet smelling I became as a result of all of these products). She is also focused on providing income to Haitian women and thus considers herself a positive social impact company. I think NextWave Ventures needs to take a look at this one.
Marta Cros from Brooklyn (yes, another one!) pitched her companies The Ritualist and Apto Skincare. The Ritualist provides on-demand skincare treatments in your home. They are looking for a retail partner and are currently based in New York and San Francisco.
The crowd favorite seemed to be Vitruvi, an essential oil company founded by a sister and brother team out of Vancouver, Canada. Sarah Panton is the CEO/Co-Founder of the company which was started three years ago. I I remember correctly, both she and her brother were in college when they started and left to start the company. Maybe it was grad school. Their target market is 18–35 year old women and they are trying to disrupt the $45B (in 2018) market that is held captive by only a few older companies right now.
With two left to go, the crowd of about 200 people was getting restless and Kirsty Williams pitched her company DashHound HQ which is in private beta right now. Their solution tracks influencers and the products they are using and makes recommendations to the users based on the influencers they follow. Apparently 60% of beauty purchases are influenced by YouTube. Who knew? (not me)
The last of the day was Barb Stegemann of 7 Virtues out of Halifax, Canada who shared the inspirational story behind the company and products. She is sourcing oils on a mission of peace and is working with a perfumer out of England to create perfumes for GenXers.
Needless to say this was not your typical demo day. After the pitches we went downstairs to enjoy some champagne in a somewhat cramped socializing spot. I gave up trying to mingle and talk to Niki Quinn from Lightspeed and Jeremy Yap and the founders and headed down to the bar at the W where I met up with the founder of a start up I am really excited about called Quinn Style (sign up for their waiting list with my code http://www.quinnstyle.com/code/idxkd). I met John, the founder, through Jason Calacanis’ Launch incubator back in May. More to come on this one.
But now I need to stop ordering beauty products and get back to my regularly scheduled program which is a lot less fun (but there is wine involved).
