YouSaid · the spoken record

Ju Rhyu

lines on the record: 63
first: 2024-12-30
most recent: 2024-12-30
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I agree. I mean, I think the hard work is, you know, that's what it takes. Really, if you're going to commit to an entrepreneurial journey, you got to work really hard. But I think we were so lucky in many, many instances. Like, you know, I think the timing of when we launch, the timing of when we sold, you know, me meeting Dwight and Andy and us turning out to be a really great team actually, like. Are a lot of, I think, happy accidents that I attribute to luck.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, you're right. I mean, signing it is just one step, and then there's a whole due diligence process You know, for us when we were selling the company, partnership was really critical. Like culture fit was a must. So we wanted someone who, you know, we could trust with the culture and the team and someone who also had the platform to continue to grow and scale this business. And we got to know the management team at Turt and White. Ended up being”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, the first is sort of are we at that scale where we would be attractive to people? And I remember 2021, it was clear we were going to hit that $100 million threshold. So there was a board meeting and then it was a topic. And the question was like, should we start a process? Should we think about this? And then everyone was like, yes, it is time. So we kicked that off in 2022.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, we didn't. I mean Luckily, we were in the channels that were still deemed like essential retailers. So Amazon was still online, Target was deemed essential retailer So we really didn't see much impact.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I remember the Dow dropped by a thousand points. And then there were a bunch of firms that were interested who suddenly dropped out because they had to do triage on their current portfolio companies. But we did get some term sheets.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They had this new beauty mini section, which kind of acts like a discovery, cash wrap type of thing. And they were like, we had this new thing. It's doing really well. Can you do a miniskew version of your Mighty Patch for it? And it'll be in around 700, 800 doors. So that's what we did. We created a special skew. I think we priced it at like $7 and it was kind of a sampler. And I mean, yeah, the worry was, well, it's one thing to get in and then it's another thing to get people to buy it. So I remember we had queued up some, I mean, this was 2019, so we didn't, I mean, TikTok wasn't even a thing, but we had hired someone who had the foresight to tell us we should be on TikTok. So remember we met a big TikTok push, Instagram push, just letting everyone know. I mean, every channel we had control over, we pushed them to Target because we knew it had...”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, the dilemma that I think the buyer had was they were intrigued, but we didn't have a lot of SKUs at the time. And then also she didn't know where to put us. And so what we decided together was.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And we already had people dispersed and on all the communication systems. So, I mean, of course, there are other difficulties, but I think we were pretty used to remote working situations.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, my meetings didn't really start until two, but in the mornings I would do all my catch up work or my thinking work. And then I stopped taking meetings at 8 p.m., which is 2 p.m. Eastern. So, I mean, there wasn't a lot of overlap with anyone Pacific time. But I mean, at the time, like really Dwight was the only one who was on the West Coast.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I would structure my days where my meeting started at 2 p.m. Yeah, because it's a six hour difference with New York. And New York was really the hub because that's where the team was, the office was.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, when for daytime, one for nighttime, a bigger one for larger surface areas, any type of like acne problem that we could solve with our patches, that's what we try to do for a good like two years.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I just remember thinking she's right. And so we shelved the face mask product. And then we came out with Mighty Patch, Invisible Plus, Surface, Variety Pack.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We had one of those sort of like pivotal moments that really, I think, in my opinion, Chang's trajectory of the business. But we had this product, the Mighty Patch. It was doing really well. And so logically you think, well, you're going to launch a new product, offer something else in your product portfolio. And we were talking about doing a wash-off mask, who's going to be like a clay mask that you mix with water, you apply it to your face, and you rinse off. And then I had a coffee chat with this investor in the space. Showed her Mighty Patch. I said, I want to do this new product. I think it's going to be a wash-off face mask. She said, no, you should not do that. You should stick to patches. You should dominate this category. Do them in every shape, every size, for every knee. Just go all in.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, overnight, yeah, probably took a few years to get there, but I mean, we did a lot of the education. I consider us a category creator in the US and sampling and talking about the benefits. And then also a big thing that we did with Hero was really kind of what we call like normalized acne because I think there's a lot of shame associated with having that breakout or having acne. And so just being a brand that says you break out, you have acne. It's okay. Like we understand we have it too. And I think that's communication that resonates with people. And so we're seeing, I think, a whole generation that is okay now with that occasional breakout. And sometimes. Know they kind of flump the fact that they have that breakout and they wear the patch on their face and they just don't care and I think it's great.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so Amazon for us was a very profitable channel and the money we made from Amazon we put towards launching our DDC site, launching slowly in retail. And I mean, we bootstrapped for the first three years. And I think largely the economics of our product and the way we built the business, yeah, it lended itself to a lot of efficiency.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“2018 was a year of specialty retail. So after anthropology, it was free people, Neiman Marcus, Goop, Urban Outfitters, like those types of kind of lifestyle, fashion retailers that had a beauty assortment.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I did that when I was able to pay myself a salary from Hero, which I want to say, you know, we launched in September 2017. I want to say it was around March or April of 2018. It wasn't a big salary, it was a small salary, but still that was when I decided, okay, I'm all in on this.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, and I think retailers like that tend to be more trend forward too, and they can take more risks versus like a massive chain that has, I don't know, 10,000 stores. And then I think for us too, like it was good for us to sort of dip our toe into retail because we weren't launching again like with a massive retailer. It was 80 stores, you know. And then we expanded to 200. So it was very sort of thoughtfully approached.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Were the only ones at the time. So, I mean, we launched September, probably immediately I started pitching retailers. And then, yeah, I can't remember exactly when, maybe like October, November anthropology said, okay, like we'll test you in 80 stores. And that started in January of 2018. So just a few months after launch.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I also cold emailed retailers. So I just shot off a bunch of emails to different buyers at different retailers. Some of them I had had their contacts, some of them I literally just went on to LinkedIn, found the name of the buyer, guessed their email, pitched the product and why thought they needed it. And the first retailer to say yes was anthropology.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, just because I thought it should be an American brand for this American audience. And that was actually part of the value prop because sometimes when you buy, I mean, even today it still happens, like I think there's a little bit of a trust issue because the supply chain of sometimes the products that come from one country that end up in another, it's not always clear. And I mean sometimes there are a lot of dupes or a lot of fakes and things like that. So us being like this American based brand for the American audience and then adjusting our marketing.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, we did. I mean, I think within 90 days we had run out of our initial inventory. So, and I remember before launch, we were talking about like how long do you think it's going to take us to sell through 10,000 units? Would it take us a year? Is it going to take us six months? And ended up taking us 90 days. The traction was there from early on pretty quickly. And I think we also benefited from the fact that the category wasn't as saturated as it is today. I mean, today, if you go to Amazon and you search pimple patches, you have like pages and pages of search results. But when we launched in 2017, it wasn't like that. We were one of like a handful. So I think that also helped us stand out a bit.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, there is a website where it's almost like DIYPR. So you pay for the service and then you log on and they, because there are a lot of editors who are doing articles and they'll submit their requests. They'll say, I'm doing an article on this, so I'm sourcing brands that are in Acne or in Baby Care or in whatnot, you know, and they share their email. So I took that, I took their emails, and I would pitch them.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Was really popular, and we got a write up into the gloss. And we only had one channel. We were only selling on Amazon. So I remember that article went out. And then our sales on Amazon spiked. And so that was a moment where I thought like we've got to double down a press.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because when you again have, when you wake up with that breakout, you know, before an important moment, you panic. And yeah, then it's always like a little bit of like, is it trademark free? Is it a URL free? You know, all that stuff. But really behind it was more of an emotional. Motivat”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We started with a product name, which is the Mighty Patch. So that's the Hydra Cole acne patch that we were talking about. I remember for me, it was really important that the name be emotional because my insight was that acne, like it sucks to get acne. No matter your age, you wake up, you have that pimple, you're like, oh, you know. I mean, I personally know because it happens to me. And so I knew the power of this product. It was an amazing product with real results. And I wanted a name that was like positive and punchy and emotive. And it's actually Andy. They came up with the name. I remember we were like, just brainstorming all sorts of different names. And I think when he was like, oh, mighty, mighty patch. I think we're like, that's the one. And then with Hero, again, like wanted something positive, emotional. And the product, you know, I mean, it's a little bit literal, but it literally can save the day.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, you know, I sort of had more of this corporate marketing experience. And then Dwight is a technical engineer. And then Andy is a creative person. And now in retrospect, I'm like, oh, that's a really good kind of cross-section of skill sets because we covered big parts of the business just with the three of us. Luckily, I mean, it just happened very organically.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, this is where I feel like we were so lucky in many ways because it was not that I had this idea and it was looking for a co-founder. It really was a very organic discussion where like, oh gosh, like someone should do this. I think it's such a good idea. And I just remember Dwight saying like, hey, if you want to do it, I'll do it with you. And it turns out, so there's three of us, right? There's Andy, myself, and Dwight, it actually turned out that we have very complimentary experiences and skills.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, it was still nagging at me. It was still in the back of my head. And, you know, now I work at this K-Beauty startup and I am kind of watching the industry and I see that some of these Korean brands that have these acne patches are doing quite well. And I'm seeing this kind of emerging category take off. And I just kept thinking to myself, like, oh my gosh, like someone needs to do this.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So the American audience just suddenly became really interested in products that were beauty products that were Korean from Korean brands and it spurred a whole industry in the US where there were these e-commerce sites. So Pich and Lily is one where they would bring these Korean brands into the US and create a marketplace for the American consumer to access them.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, I think there's probably maybe a little bit of debate about the definition, but really it's Korean brands. Korean beauty brands that have a Korean approach to beauty and skincare. So that's usually like innovative textures, very interesting ingredients, like one of the really popular products is a snail mucin moisturizer.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“At that time, K Beauty, Korean beauty was really trending and I was doing a little bit of consultancy. And then I ended up taking a marketing job at a K Beauty startup called Peach Lily.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A lot of money, it's a lot of work, like, do I know that it's going to work out? I don't know. So, yeah, I checked out, got cold feet.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Put your label on the Yeah. And I remember him saying, like, oh, it's not going to work because it has to be in a box to protect. Patches because the patches, you know. I remember I had some other colleagues, you know, who were in my social circle, who are also wanting to do something entrepreneurial. And I kept pitching the idea to them like, oh, you know, like, what about this? And, you know, I think it could do well. So yeah, I went down the rabbit hole of launching this. This was probably 2013, 2014. And then in the end, did not do it.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I did. And I went down the rabbit hole. Like I had a name. I hired a designer. I had like a sleeve design that was like ready to go. And then I remember I submitted it to the manufacturer and they were like, oh,”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, first, I got some samples and then. Actually, one of them I actually visited their factory. They invited me. They were like, come, come visit. We'll show you a little bit about how we make these products. And then it was just sort of conversations around, well, can this be changed? Can that be changed? Can I increase this? Can I change that to see if the capabilities were there to make something more unique for the American audience?”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so I went to a pharmacy. I bought up like 10 to 15 different brands. I turned over the box and I listed the name of all the manufacturers that these brands were using. And I just started cold contacting them. I would call them, I would email them. And I mean, most of them didn't write back to me. But there were two or three maybe that did. And I remember there was one where I had to buy some samples. I asked for some samples. And so that was sort of the first step in identifying a potential supplier to kind of figure out how I would get this product created.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“People saw that they were like, oh, there is an opportunity here. So similarly, when I read that people were buying the big ones and cutting them up into smaller squares and using them for their pimples, I just thought, you know, this is it, this is more proof that people want this type of product.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, the way that that got innovated or launched is because they were doing focus groups and they saw women, moms, buy a whole box of triscots or writs or whatever and decamp them into their own small ziploc bags for portion control.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, and I mean, this is where, you know, I can connect sort of this insight with an experience I had when I was working at Crafus Mondalese. You know the 100 calorie packs?”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There were some band-aid oriented brands that had the big ones and people would comment, oh, I buy the big ones and I cut them up into small squares and I just put them on my face.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I mean, after that first use, I was like, why is this not more available or well known? Like, it works so well, so much better than anything I've used before. And I started doing research, and I just saw all these Reddit threads, I remember, of people talking about these hydrocholate patches. Oh, you know, I can't get them here. I just ask my sister who's going to Hong Kong or to Korea, can she pick them up? And so for me, like reading that showed me that there was actually demand for this type of product and people, you know, people were already talking about it on the web. But, you know, there was no brand really focused on the U.S. market. There was, I think, a Korean brand, even at that time, I think they were probably starting to slowly sell in the US.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, so hydrocoloid, the concept originally started as kind of a new type of bandage or wound dressing and what they realized was that if you keep the kind of damaged skin area moist, Actually, helps with the healing of the skin. Like dryness is not good. So, you want to keep it well moisturized in a moist environment. And so that's how it started. And then, you know, Koreans being very ingenious also realized, well, acne has inflammatory fluid and pus inside and perhaps if you cut it up and make it round and make it a little bit smaller, it could work on pimples. And I mean, I think it started getting popularized in Korea probably in the early 2000s.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes. And I at the time was breaking out, unfortunately. I've always had a history of sensitive skin that like at the tiniest. And so I tried it for myself. I went to a pharmacy. I bought some of these acne patches. And I mean, literally, I was so amazed at how effective it was because, you know, even just with the first use, it got all the gunk out of the pimple that I put it on. And that pimple had flattened overnight.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, and people would have them sort of like, they would have several of them on their faces and they'd go to the office like that. Like, no questions. It was just very normal.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Totally. I know. So, on one hand, it's, you know, you kind of admire it in some ways or like, okay, well, this is why they've made so much progress. But then on the other hand, I don't know. I mean, culture's changing. You know, where culture is changing.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Another anecdote related to that is they had another rule where everyone had to be in their seat at 8 a.m. watching what they call Samsung News because they would have sort of like corporate communications at eight. And they'd have people with clipboards walking the aisle at 8.01. And if you were not in your seat with your eyes on TV, they would like you'd get a little like demerit, you know?”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was definitely for a foreigner. It's a very foreign place. So for example, sometimes you wouldn't leave the office until like eight or nine. Because your boss was still there, and so you had to stay because you can't leave before the boss. So they were worried about people staying at the office too long and they instituted something called Family Day. And Family Day was every Wednesday and you were supposed to leave the office at 6. And it wasn't enough just to have the policy. The literally reconfigured everyone's computers to shut down at 6 p.m., like 6.00. I just remember at 59, you know, I would be writing this email and then you get a message that would pop up on your computer. Your computer is going to shut down in 10, 9, 8. And you just try to get that last email out. But it's sort of, you know, I think the intent was really good. And then the way that they would.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It became real, like I had to make a decision and then ended up deciding, you know, why not? If anything, it'll be an interesting experience. And it was a two-year assignment. So at the end of two years, I can always come back.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So they had an overall initiative to diversify the talent pool. And one of the things that they wanted to do was bring Korean Americans to their offices in Korea to bring a little bit more diversity and experience and thought. So they had recruiters who were based in New York, who had actively scout the right profile in all of America to do expat stints in Korea. So I got contacted by one and, you know, I remember just taking the meeting, just, you know, why not have a conversation and became more and more serious and then they had me meet certain executives who were in town, et cetera. And then one day I got the job offer. So then, I mean, then.”
2024-12-30 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu and Dwight Lee · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT