Glossier is a next-gen CPG company that prioritizes quality, transparency, and two-way interaction with customers, empowering women in the beauty industry and fostering a non-hierarchical work environment.

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  00:00

  Glossier, founded by Emily Weiss, celebrates women sharing their own makeup reviews and beauty routines, and has a female-heavy tech team in a city with a 77% female population.

  • Emily Weiss founded Into the Gloss, a beauty-focused blog, which later led to the launch of Glossier, a direct-to-consumer beauty brand that celebrates women sharing their own makeup reviews, product recommendations, and beauty routines with one another.
  • New York has a 77% female population and over 40% female tech team.
  • Beauty is a great conduit for women to connect and share with each other, and technology has completely upended the industry.
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  03:22

  Into the Gloss democratizes beauty by listening to customer feedback and allowing anyone on their team to suggest new product ideas.

  • Commerce is being democratized and beauty is no exception, with Into the Gloss serving as an aggregator and instigator of women electing their own brands and products.
  • Glossy listens to customer feedback by allowing anyone on their team to put up a blog post with a new product idea and considers opinions on texture, fragrance, shade, and price point.
  • Having conversations with people and sifting through feedback on social media is more valuable than relying solely on personal opinions when creating beauty products.
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  06:22

  Prioritizing quality and transparency is key for successful beauty products, while societal pressure often leads to downplaying the use of beauty products.

  • Beauty is subjective and opinions can be wrong, as seen in a backstage debate over the necessity of mascara.
  • Transparency with customers and prioritizing quality over everything else is key, as evidenced by the success of a best-selling product that had to be put in a jar instead of a pump due to formula constraints.
  • The lecture covered women and beauty, with a focus on the speaker's personal love for beauty products and their experience before the rise of social media.
  • YouTube has transformed from a solitary activity to a connected and shared knowledge resource, and interestingly, many powerful women have downplayed their beauty routines when asked about them.
  • The speaker discusses the societal pressure to downplay the use of beauty products and the anthropological significance of beauty, and shares her experience conducting interviews with high-profile women about their personal beauty routines.
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  10:48

  Quality content and attention to detail are key in the world of social media, as Gracia reinvents the beauty experience with premium products and a direct-to-consumer model launching internationally in October.

  • Technology and social media have made it easier for anyone to start something, but quality is what truly speaks for itself.
  • Quality content and attention to detail are crucial in the fast-paced world of social media, and Gracia is reinventing the traditional beauty experience through premium products and attention to detail.
  • The speaker's company is launching internationally in October, with a direct-to-consumer model as their value proposition.
  • Glossier's direct one-to-one connection with customers through email and personalized promotions allows for a more special and modern beauty experience, with the added impact of creating a brand with values and a community through their showroom.
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  14:51

  Scaling the relationship between women and beauty is a challenge, but Glossier's two-way interaction with customers is crucial for their success as a next-gen CPG company.

  • Scaling the relationship between women and their relationship with themselves is a challenge, similar to how religion is scaled, but it's an interesting opportunity to explore what beauty means offline and bring women together.
  • Glossier is a beauty lifestyle brand that offers a variety of products and allows customers to interact with them in ways they choose.
  • Building a brand involves creating a two-way relationship with customers, which is crucial for the success of next-generation CPG companies.
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  17:17

  The company raised $24 million in a series and plans to keep it in the bank, being conservative and accidentally profitable.

  • The company raised $24 million in a series and plans to keep it in the bank, being conservative and accidentally profitable.
  • The speaker's company has experienced 600% growth in the past two years due to their focus and discipline in saying no to opportunities that do not align with their long-term impact goals.
  • 79% of Glossier's growth last year was due to peer-to-peer recommendations, leading the company to invest more in community efforts and offline retail experiences.
  • The speaker envisions a future of experiential shopping with a focus on hospitality and customer satisfaction, where the excitement and energy of going into a mecca-like space replaces the need for traditional offline stores.
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  21:15

  Women are taking control in the beauty industry, Glossier's founder launched the company as a hardware company and as CEO, the speaker prioritizes HR and fostering a non-hierarchical environment.

  • The abundance of options and information in the beauty industry has shifted power dynamics, allowing women to be the authors of their own lives.
  • Launching Glossier as a hardware company was difficult and there were challenges, but the founder always knew it was the right thing to do.
  • Launching Glossier was scary, but they kept going without knowing if anyone would order anything.
  • As CEO, the speaker focuses on HR and hiring, spending over 50% of her day interviewing and meeting with team members, and believes in the importance of sitting with everyone and fostering a non-hierarchical environment for idea sharing.
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  25:37

  Glossier takes big bets on people, like their SVP of marketing who had no prior experience in marketing but is now crushing it, as experience is not always the most important indicator of success in fields like marketing that are constantly evolving.