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Gregg Renfrew

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2026-05-04
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2026-05-04
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  1. “Yeah, and I think that before we had the right to vote as women, Avon gave women an opportunity to gain some sense of financial independence. There are a lot of wonderful attributes to this business to certain of these businesses”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  2. “Well, first and foremost, we never sold the dream. There's a thing about the old school, and I want to, it's actually, I'd love to break this down because I do think that there are some really great companies out there doing really great work in the world. And I think that.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  3. “You can get a small, right? You can get a small. So the majority, so the way that we worked in our business, and the reason I did it was I really genuinely started the company not really giving a damn about Beauty products, but really caring about protecting people's health. So if you want to build a movement, you need people behind the movement. With respect to the MLM side of our business, and to be very clear, because there's a lot of misinformation out there, there are MLMs and network marketing companies that I think overpromise and under deliver that I'm not sure I would call them predatory like others do, but I don't like their business practices.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  4. “Oh, for sure. For sure, people did. People do. I mean, people still, well, first of all, I think that one of the things that was frustrating, and you know, you get to the point where you just defend the decision you made because people don't take the time to really understand your business model. We had attributes of an MLM business in that we allowed women to build teams. And in tiny, tiny percentage of the women, like less than 5% built teams.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  5. “Yes. And so I started doing some research on companies that were, whether they were calling direct sales like an Avon or social selling. There were a whole bunch of companies that were successfully powering up women to act as sales representatives for them and they could earn a commission on the products that they sold.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  6. “Friend of mine at the time said, you know, maybe you should consider direct sales to which I said, hell no, like I don't like those business models of people overpromising and under delivering and all this stuff.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  7. “I knew that e-commerce was going to be critical at this point in time. It's everything, right? You have to have an e-commerce platform. People are transacting online. And I didn't want to go into the department stores because the shelves were being controlled by the incumbents, and they didn't want the stories getting out there of safer ingredients because it didn't serve them particularly well. A lot of them at least. And again, remember, this is now, I'm having these conversations in 2011, 2012. The world's changed. But even today, people want to touch and field product. They want to match the skin tone to their skin. And it's while it's possible to do online and many people do, it's not as easy to do it online as it is in a physical store.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  8. “Multiple because, like any other industry. My opinion is you go to the company that specializes in the thing that you want to make. And so the company that's really good at doing a lipstick or a lip gloss may not be the company that's really good at doing shampoo and body wash or lotions. And also, I think it's just a prudent business exercise that you're not putting all your eggs into one basket because then you become incredibly dependent. You lose power to negotiate. But also if something goes wrong with that facility or that company, you're kind of screwed. We worked with a handful. I did want one of the things that I was intentional about is I wanted to create jobs in Places and not outsource everything to China. I really wanted to make our products in the US. So I had to take my time finding those people.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  9. “Yeah, skincare is a consumable product, and people do typically stick with their skincare routines for periods of time. They're less likely to switch out their day cream or their night cream than they are something else.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  10. “No, not really. You know, it's interesting because I went in with blind naivete. Like the thing that was, I think one of the things that made me successful, and I say this often to other founders, is don't spend so much time looking at the industry that you're entering into. I mean, yes, be aware of it, but you have a vision that is obviously you see opportunities. So focus on what you're trying to do. So for me, what I wanted to do is give you your essential products that met your day-to-day needs, just a basic cleanser, day cream and a night cream. And maybe we had an eye cream, but it was just an essential skincare line.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  11. “Yeah. So for me, clean means high-performing products that are significantly safer for your health void of certain chemicals of concern. And oftentimes with safer ingredients, they are more environmentally friendly. But that's not 100% a given. So to me, clean is complex. It's an arduous process and it's a comprehensive approach. To most brands, it means taking a few chemicals out and calling it a day.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  12. “So, I think you're absolutely right. I think the term natural or all natural means absolutely nothing. The challenge in the beauty industry, which is not the same thing in the food industry, is that it is not regulated to the extent that it needs to be. And people can make marketing claims, like save, clean, anything. Everybody.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  13. “There were Environmentally friendly natural brands that were successful, but the combination of high performance being significantly safer, void of chemicals of concern, that was not widely being done.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  14. “Well, it was way more challenging because as one of my partners later on used to say, for us to make the makeup our skincare products that I wanted would be the same as going to the fanciest restaurant in town, having the most decadent chocolate cake and saying, I want that same chocolate cake except you can't use flour, eggs, or sugar and I want it done in six months. So we were called brutal counter and people found me really challenging, not me, but us as a company really challenging. They bought into my dream and the idea that you could create high-performing products that were void of certain chemicals of concern. Because just to be clear, not all chemicals are bad for you and water's chemical. There are lots of things that are perfectly safe for health that are being used in the cosmetics and personal care industry. And there were some offensive chemicals that were there that I wanted out. And so what was really hard was that there was no such thing as clean beauty. People were still calling it green. In general, Clean Beauty didn't exist.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  15. “You know, it's interesting because I did have really lots of experience, but I had no experience in beauty. I wanted to bring in products that performed as well as the traditional beauty brands, and I wanted them to be void of certain chemicals of concern. So the first, literally the first thing I did is I called a friend of mine who works for L'Oreal and I said, I know you're in the hair care business, but can you tell me a little bit about how you all do things? And then she led me to a friend at Estee Lauder, who then led me to someone at the Environmental Working Group who led me to a green chemist. So I started just having lots of conversations with people. You know, I had more questions than I had answers.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  16. “But when it came to skincare and color cosmetic products at the time, there were some really great sort of all natural types of brands, but most of them didn't really work very well or they didn't smell very good or they weren't presented in a way that was aesthetically pleasing to me. And that was how I ultimately came to decide to enter into the beauty space. I had been introduced to Christy Coleman, who was a leading makeup artist during my tenure with Jessica as I was exploring a whole bunch of different things. And she and I really clicked. She was the first leading makeup artist to clean up her kit and start working with what was then called Green Products. She and I just started talking about what her dreams were in terms of, you know, creating safer makeup and my dreams about really taking on this industry. And we started having a lot of conversations.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  17. “I had become impassioned with the environmental health movement. And as I made changes to my life, I found that there were opportunities in the marketplace. It was really easy just to switch my household cleaning products or just start washing my floors with water and vinegar. It was easy over time to switch from plastic to glass. It was easy to take my shoes off at the door. There were solutions out there in certain aspects of my life.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  18. “Maybe there's a way to create safer products for babies and kids, and maybe it's not about clothing so much. So the conversations that she and I are having during the time during which I was consulting for her, we're moving away from this clothing line and closer towards what ultimately became the honest company. And I was not a founder of the honest company, but I helped inform some of the decisions that led her to that. Took me a while to figure out what my next thing was going to be.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  19. “And this is part of my story. When I was still in New York, I had become really obsessed with toxic chemicals. I watched a number of my friends be diagnosed with different types of cancer. I had my nanny who died of cancer at 31. I had friends that were giving birth to kids with significant health issues. So when I moved to Los Angeles and I was introduced to Jessica, I understood that she was excited about this organic clothing line, but I started to question her like, well, what are they going to wash the clothes with? And are those detergents safe for their health? And, you know, Jessica and I started talking about maybe there's a different angle here. Maybe.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  20. “Was looking to have someone help her with a children's clothing company that she wanted to start. And I signed a six-month contract to consult for her in a full-time capacity to help her explore the opportunity of starting a new company. And we did that. Although very quickly”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  21. “Think I remember walking out telling the team that I've been fired, and I remember walking back into my office and starting to pack up what I could bring with me. And I think I remember calling my friend and asking her to come pick me up And like losing it, I feel like she picked me up and I was like sobbing. And I think we drove out of town for the night. But yeah, it was humiliating”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  22. “I knew there was tension, but yes, I was shocked. I mean, first of all, being fired by messengers, that was shocking. Maybe if she had sat me down and said, this isn't really working, we're not agreeing on things, maybe that wouldn't have come as such a surprise. But being fired by Messenger was absolutely shocking.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  23. “I'm literally in the middle of a meeting and a messenger comes to the door and asks me if I'm Greg Renfrew and I say I am and he hands me he serves me papers. I guess like how people get served papers if they're getting divorced. And it basically says you've been fired and you are to leave the premises.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  24. “I think that with Susie, she was all about the way that she wanted things to look and the types of clothing she wanted to buy. And so it was challenging because I would say things like, well, those little dresses that you're purchasing are absolutely beautiful, but they're probably only going to be worn for Easter or Hanukkah, you know, or Christmas. But that's not a day-to-day. If we want to capture the dollars from that customer, we need to show her leggings. I remember leggings were a thing for little kids all of a sudden. And J. Crew was just launching crew cuts and people were buying, you know, more affordable clothing. And so it was hard to balance that with her.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  25. “Entrepreneurs that people knew about had been highlighted in Vogue and all these magazines. Like, I thought I was pretty talented. And I definitely came into my relationship with Susie with a level of arrogance. And I think it bit me in the ass, to be totally honest, because I don't think I treated her with the respect she deserved. And I didn't create the working relationship with her that if I were to be working with her today, I think I would approach things very differently than I had at the time.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  26. “I'd say around a year, maybe a little year. And I was hired by Tommy's, so Tommy and Susie were estranged at the time and on the process of getting divorced. And I only bring this up to say that that's an important fact because Tommy wanted me to turn the business into a profitable business. And Susie is a true creative and wasn't focused on the financials. And I worked with Susie on the day-to-day, but Tommy was the ultimate owner of the business. And so it was complicated. And, you know, and honestly. Was cocky. The thing about the dot com world, even though my company sold for not a lot of money at all, I was one of those like.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  27. “Well, I mean the end of the story. I'll start with that is that I was fired by Messenger in front of my team when I was a CEO.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  28. “I didn't want to be that type of leader and that I, and not that I haven't had my moments because there are people who have worked for me that would sure say I'm a pain in the ass and I can be a real pain in the ass, but I think that what I didn't enjoy at that time, and I've said this to her and I've said it publicly, was not taking responsibility sometimes for decisions that have been made by her. And I got under Martha's skin because I was confident enough to go back at her. And so when she would say something like, who chose that ugly shade of blue on that plate yesterday, I would say you did. At the two o'clock meeting when we were with so-and-so, and she would just look at me, you know, I was a little probably cocky pain in her ass too.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  29. “Yes, it's such a different world today. So, with all that said, yes, Martha was very challenging to work for because she is a perfectionist and she led, you know, a sort of, I would say a fear-based organization. People worshipped her. And I think what I learned from her was Attention to detail matters and that. The combination of creativity and business is something that works. What I also learned from her, though, is that”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  30. “Because the culture was just different. People yelled. I was yelled at. When I was a young reporter, I got yelled at It was how everybody operated. It was like what the people doing that had done to them and excellence was expected. People were harsh. I have to say, in defense of that, I don't think I would have become as good of a journalist, which I used to be, and do what I do now without that kind of trial by fire.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  31. “I will say this. Well, first of all, I worked directly for Martha, and I also worked directly for Sharon Patrick, who was the chief operating officer at the time. Martha and Sharon fought a lot. They had differences of opinion on just about everything. So that was the first thing. And I think dual reporting of equal measure is challenging. Martha is exceptional. I will give her that. She's highly intelligent and she is truly one of the most creative people that I've ever met ever. And she was able to take the average middle income woman in the United States of America and make her look like a goddess in her home and done on a budget. But Martha was incredibly demanding. And I think that people have no idea what it was like in the 90s, in the work.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  32. “It was a different time. You know, her house that she shows in the documentary is actually, I think, where I might have arguably had my first kiss, my friend's family had that property and it was like a kind of a not dilapidated, but it was kind of an old farm and she turned it into this extraordinary piece of property and we used to place in the bottle there literally. So it was such a full circle moment for me”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  33. “Oh, they did, and I was brought in under contract to fold this business into Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which marked their very first acquisition.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  34. “I mean, look, it's flattering. I'm a relatively young entrepreneur and I've got Martha Stewart talking about my business and courting me. And I think at the time, Martha Stewart had a really successful wedding magazine called Martha Stewart Weddings. And they were incredibly good at creating content and building audience. We had an opportunity for them to monetize that audience in a way that they had not yet been capable of doing.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  35. “Correct a woman named Darcy Miller who ran Martha Stewart weddings had introduced Martha to the concept and brought Martha by our showroom.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  36. “Yes, we were in trouble and it was really frustrating because it forced us to sell the company prematurely and not in a particularly successful way. And when the dot-com market blew up, you know, I remember our investors saying, we're not going to fund anymore. But unfortunately for us, and this is a lesson learned, they were so bullish. And this happens all the time. They're like, let's go, let's go, let's go. Growth at all costs, growth at all costs. And that's all good when things are going well. But if you're doing growth at all costs and the tides turn, whether that's of your doing or not, and you're out over your skis, you're screwed. And that's basically what happened to me because we're expanding the retail presence faster than I would have otherwise done. And it was a good lesson learned. So we were forced into making a sale.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  37. “We immediately garnered press in the US, and the couples really liked it because unlike walking around Bloomingdales on a Saturday afternoon, just scanning something, you were actually met by a consultant who said, okay, tell me about your life. What do you do? Do you like to entertain? Do you like to cook or do you not like to cook? So for them, it was like they were getting to set up their lives in a way that tailored their needs. And then on the other side, I think, you know, over the two years or so that we were really running things, people became more comfortable shopping online. Some people still wanted to come to the stores, but people adopted it and we exceeded all of our revenue expectations.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  38. “You as a department store, you're really catering to an older demographic. And maybe that woman's 45, but you just missed 20 years for spending. If you intercept her when she's getting married and all of her guests, this is a really big business opportunity for you. And I actually went through my own wedding and all the money that was spent around it and was able to demonstrate it. And I went back and forth between Saxon 5th Avenue and Nordstrom. And ultimately, Nordstrom was known for having just exceptional customer experience and they were willing to put a million dollars into the business. And so I ultimately partnered with Nordstrom. And so then the concept became We were opening other stores and we did in Boston. We were going to open in San Francisco, and we had Nordstrom.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  39. “It was a really good idea. And I think that it was, we also struck a deal with Nordstrom because they had challenges with their wedding registry and saw the opportunity of bringing a young customer into the fold. I spent a lot of time pitching, I remember cold calling CEOs of different companies. I remember so distinctly the thing to do was you got up early in the morning and you started calling the office of the CEO because typically the person supporting them wasn't in the office till like 8.30 or 9. And so if you got up at seven, most of these people were in the office early and you could get through to them. And one of the people that I got through to was the CEO of Saxoth Avenue. And he was like, what? I said, I want 20 minutes of your time. I want to pitch you on this business concept. And I went in and I pitched him on the fact that”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  40. “I mean, this was the heyday of the dot-com boom. Yes. So money was definitely flowing. I mean, all of a sudden, it seemed like people, you know, were just... Throwing money at all these dot com businesses, and some of them, you know, like broadcast.com and others were selling for big dollars. So probably, I mean, this certainly seemed like a really great idea.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  41. “Well, Nicole and I, but mostly me because she was in London. So I raised. I don't remember how much, let's just say half a million dollars or something through kind of friends and people I knew in my network. Maybe it was a million dollars. I don't remember it.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  42. “Right. So anyone who's bought something off a registry knows it's super easy. You just go to a website. But that was not easy to do in 1997 when you're starting this thing. Today it's different. You go to Shopify and you're done, right? But you would need people who are computer engineers and you have to pay for server space. And this is like orders of magnitude more complex and more expensive. So tell me how first of all, how are you going to finance it?”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  43. “Well, my idea was yes, we're going to have this little atelier, and we had a little place on 73rd between Madison and 5th, which was a showroom. I went out and pitched all of these different companies from Wedgwood to Cuisine Art to, I mean, you name it and to say, I'm going to do something that's going to change the wedding industry. And the innovation came when I said we're going to migrate all of the purchasing online. Click and be done.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  44. “So tell me what that meant. See the name the wedding list, but you were going to recreate her business in New York. You were going to have an atelier and like a showroom. Like you were going to do it that way.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  45. “And clients are having to go to Bloomingdale's and buy the president. And this is an inefficient system. And it doesn't feel very good for the bride and groom. It's not very fun for the people purchasing the gift. And I kind of think she's on to something, but I think there are ways to change it to make it more efficient. And so ultimately, I called Nicole and I said I have an idea. I want to license your name. I want to do this over in the States. And they were like, well, we don't really want to license, but we'll partner with you and we'll bring it to the US. And so we did.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  46. “I did. You know, again, remember, I'm in my mid to late 20s at this point, and I'm going to millions of weddings, and I'm looking at the process by which people are attaining their wedding gifts. And I'm thinking people are standing with the scanner gun in the middle of Bloomingdale's.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  47. “Like a cuisine art, or would you like you know, what do you want? And she would then run around London and purchase all the things for the bride and groom.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  48. “So, what she was doing was she was getting a lot of the very fancy British people to come into this townhouse that she had created. Her sister's a famous handbag designer, Anja Heidmarch. Anja had the upstairs, Nicole had the downstairs. And you would come if you were bride and groom at the time would come in and have a cup of tea and talk to her about your life, how you like to entertain, what you like to do. And she would then help you put together a list of presents that you might want for your registry. But she didn't actually go and get the things at the time. It wasn't like a store. It was a showroom. And then once someone had gotten married, she would go to the couple and she would say, okay, you have 5,000 pounds. I'm making this up worth of credits now that we've gotten your list together. What do you actually want? Do you want a full set of China? Or would you?”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  49. “But she and I struck up a friendship because I thought her concept was really interesting, and so we kept in touch. And so even though I never sold any dresses to her, I was intrigued by her wedding registry concept.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  50. “And when I moved to London with my day job, I wanted to bring this little dress company along with me. And a friend of mine said, you should go speak with this woman, Nicole Heindmarch. She has a company called the wedding list, which is the British nomenclature for wedding registry. You should go meet her. Maybe she'll sell your dresses. And so I was introduced to her and went to her. And I pitched her on the concept of these dresses. And she just said, we don't use bridesmaids in the UK like you all do. We only use little children. And sort of a funny British patronizing kind of way.”

    2026-05-04 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT