June 3, 2021 • 23 mins
For decades, buying paint for the home was a chore. Learn how Nicole Gibbons, who had already made her name in interior design, made a success of Clare, which offers designer-curated colors and an easy, enjoyable online experience.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses
face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we
bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to
help you successfully navigate in today's environment. I'm Kim Azzarelli,
(00:26):
and thanks so much for joining us today. Sometimes the
best business ideas come from the most ordinary places. Take
household paint. For instance, the experience of shopping for paint
had gone largely unchanged for decades, and then in two
thousand and eighteen, Claire came along. Claire turned buying paint
(00:46):
into a convenient and enjoyable online experience. What's more is
that Claire offers high quality, designer curated paint that is
sustainable and free of toxic solvents. Fast Company has called
Claire the war be Part Parker of paint. Claire founder
Nicole Gibbons, who was already well known as an interior
design expert on h G t V and the Oprah
(01:07):
Winfrey Network, was credited with upending the paint industry. Reviews
in publications like Apartment Therapy said Claire is simply quote,
the best place to buy paint. How did Nicole Gibbons
pull off this feat very methodically, it turns out, and
that's just one of the lessons we're going to learn
from her. Please enjoy my conversation with Claire, founder The
(01:28):
Coal Gibbons. Well, thanks so much for joining us, Thank
you for having me. So your company, Claire has been
called by Fast Company the Warby Parker of paint. How
would you describe Claire and what is the customer experience?
So funny? I feel like every startup is the warby
Parker Fill in the blank. But um, I guess it's
(01:51):
a compliment because they bolt a fantastic business. But Claire
is a modern paint company. We make the process of
buying paint for your home really easy with designer curated
paint colors, everything you need to paint delivered to your door. Plus,
our paint is better for you, better for the environment.
Um and we make sampling really easy with our pale
and sticks watches, so it's so much easier overall process
(02:13):
than going to a place like home depot. I love
it and I totally could see how you're disrupting the
market with that, because getting paint is such a hassle.
And not fun. And what you've just described sounds amazing.
So um makes a lot of sense. Your background is
an interior design and you are a style influencer for sure.
You've appeared on h G TV, on the Open Network,
g M A L Decor. But I want to take
(02:35):
you back to your early days. Where did you grow
up and how did you get to where you are?
I grew up in suburban Detroit. My career journey was
along winding road. I'll give you the abbreviated version. When
Northwestern thought I wanted to do broadcast journalism, came out
doing pr um in fashion. I did pr for a decade,
and while in that job doesn eight, I started a
(02:57):
decorating blog because I was super passionate out all things home.
My friends used to kind of joke and call me
like Mark, you know, Martha Steward and like a almost
like like a shade kind of way, you know, like
I don't know if it was a compliment, but um,
you know what at twenty five, when everyone else was
out at like bars and you know, clubs or whatever,
(03:18):
I was like at home, you know, trying to perfect
like the perfect vanilla kick recipe, and you know, decorating
and doing d I Y projects and all of that.
So then I think it was definitely a compliment. Then. Yeah,
So I you know, I was always a passionate about home,
and one of the things that I realized at the
time is I was like, you know, there's no one
that I see on TV speaking to me and my generation.
(03:39):
You know, all the personalities that were on networks like
called HDTV or other other kind of homebook as networks
were much older. Their style was a lot more you know,
maybe conservative and traditional or like just not as young
and kind of style forward as as my own personal style.
And so I think initially my idea was perhaps I
(03:59):
could be that kind of voice of authority on home
for a younger generation of people who are you know,
super passionate about their homes. And um, that's kind of
how I set out to build my career. So I
felt like I needed to establish myself as a designer
first to build that credibility. Um, I started taking on
side projects, but I still had a day job. I
was a global director of pr at a huge, you know,
multiple in dollar retail organization, and um, you know, I
(04:23):
sort of wrote out the whole entire recession and UM
at the beginning of is when I finally kind of
had the courage and you know, confidence to really take
the leap and focus on building my business full time.
And so I evolved pretty quickly into operating my design
firm full time, working on projects in and around New
York City, and I also simultaneously started tackling opportunities and media,
(04:43):
which is how I ended up booking a role on
the show UM on the Opra win Free network that
I did for three seasons. It was a D I R.
Decorating show, Homemade Simple that's actually still on UM and
I really kind of worked super hard to position myself
as an expert. And then the next chapter, I started
thinking about how could I evolve my aesthetic. I had
started to really establish my design firm. I had a
(05:04):
lot of them work that was published, you know, got
featured in a lot of you know, amazing places, and um,
you know I you know, again going back to the
mark the Stewart business model, I kept thinking, how could
I evolve my own personal brand into something that's a
massive scale or or a much larger scale, so that
I could help, you know, really tie back to my
core mission, which has helped people make their homes beautiful.
(05:24):
How can I do that on a broad scale? And
so I kept exploring different market opportunities and I came
across the you know, pain or you know, as a designer,
I was super passionate about color, and I realized this
industry was archaic, the shopping experience was broken. And that's
how I knew I had a good opportunity on my hands.
It's amazing asked to hear you talk about that, because
(05:45):
a lot of people think there's like an idea in
the middle of the night and someone jumps out of
bed and starts their company. But what you just described
was so thoughtful, such a thoughtful process of what you
wanted to do and establish your as you say, your
credentials and your credibility, and then then you saw an
opening in the market. I'm gonna ask a very simple question, though,
how did you come up with the name? Yeah, so
I saw that all the brands in paint were hyper masculine,
(06:06):
So you know, Benjamin Moore, Drwin Williams, Dutch Boy, you know,
they all found like dudes and plaid shirts. And I
know from my experience at home and that the people
who were really making the color decisions and household or
women UM, and I felt like brands were failing to
appeal to women. UM. So I intentionally wanted a name
that was feminine, approachable, easier to remember, friendly sounding, UM,
(06:29):
and a name that could be personified so you could
really build a personality around the brand. And then lastly,
I wanted a name that tied back to some deeper
meaning related to color. And so Claire comes from a
Latin root word laris that means bright and brilliant um.
And so the word play there felt really appropriate because
both brilliant in terms of being innovative and forward thinking,
(06:50):
but also in terms of color, and it was, you know,
it kind of checked all those boxes. And it was
originally just a working title because I wasn't sure what
to call the brand, but after a while it just
felt right and and sort of stuck. So what were
the first steps you took to get this vision off
the ground. Yeah, So first I really thought about it
for you know, about a year. UM. I kept you know,
(07:12):
super busy in my company, and I kept thinking like,
this is such a good idea, you know, how do
I make this happen? What do I do to focus
my attention. So I thought of this as an idea
in the beginning of and then you know, really kind
of thought about it off and on the entire year. Um.
And then in the meeting of January, you know how
you wake up on the first of the year and
it's kind of like new Year. Knew me, what am
(07:33):
I going to do with my life this year? UM?
I came back to the idea for Claire, and I'm like,
if I don't do this now, I probably will never
do it. So what are the steps I need to
take to need to take to make this happen? So
I decided to take a quarter off from my design firm.
I was in a lucky position that I was wrapping
up a couple of projects from UH and so, you know,
(07:55):
I finished up those projects, but I didn't take on
any new clients, and I spent I said, I was
going to give myself one quarter to explore the opportunity.
I'm going to talk to people in the paint industry
figure out, you know, how I might go about doing this,
and also how to get the company funded. So within
a month I sort of had the plan. I you know, um,
UH serendipitously got connected with someone who UM is a
(08:21):
leading architectural coding's chemist in the in the industry. UM,
and she gave me some wonderful advice around paint formulation
and how to think about, you know, kind of the
kind of production side of things. And then UM, I
had a chat with a VC who gave me some
really positive feedback just about the idea and some advice
(08:42):
on raising capital UM. And both of those conversations gave
me a lot of confidence. The person who, UM, you know,
works in R and D and paint, was like, I've
been in the business for twenty years and even I
hate shopping for paint, So I think you're you're onto something,
you know. She's like, I know every ingredient in paint
and still shop. It's still a terrible experience. UM. And
(09:03):
then the VC was just like, this is a massive
market opportunity. I had no idea the pain industry was
this big. I'm really curious to learn more. When you're ready,
I'd love to hear your pitch. And the fact that
even just one BC was interested in hearing my pitch
signaled to me that there would be a lot of
others whose interest I could peak and who might potentially
(09:23):
help help me get the business off the ground. So
did you did you go out early and raise a
brave money or did you wait? Um? I raised So
I ended up spending the whole pretty much majority of
the year building out our supply chain and kind of
laying the whole foundation for the business, every single supplier, um,
every you know, partner to build a website, you know,
(09:45):
just operational processes, just how we were going to actually
do this, How are we going to ship paint, what
does the financial model look like? And then putting together
pitch materials to go out and fund raise. And so
probably by the fall I had all of that, you know,
kind of checked off off and went out to raise
capital in the fall, and by the end of the
year I closed or preceded round, which was two million dollars. Well, congratulations,
(10:08):
it's a huge accomplishment. Thank you. We'll be back with
Senecas made by Women after this short break. After hearing
you speak about this, I mean you just seem so
on it and so organized about your vision. What were
(10:30):
the obstacles you faced early on? If any? Yeah, I
mean I think like our biggest because you know, everything.
I don't want to say it felt easy, but because
I think I was so thoughtful about it. A lot
of things went exactly according to plan in the pre
launched days, you know, like everything went super smoothly. The
brand exactly as I envisioned, came to life, and then
(10:51):
we launched right. And so I think I think the
biggest challenge, like, you know, getting to launch is one thing,
but then once you're a live and out into the world,
you've got to actually sell a product. And so I'd
say like that was a bigger challenge than actually like
developing the brand and kind of getting you know, getting
that off the ground and getting the product manufactured. You know,
to be able to grow in scale business at venture
(11:12):
expectations required a lot of learning something I've never done before. UM,
Building a team. Um. You know, a lot of those
things were really challenging and are still challenging because you know,
we're still a young company. We're not yet three years old, um,
and so we still have a lot of growth to achieve,
and we still need to grow our team, and um,
(11:32):
you know, really trying to figure out the right secret
sauce to building a team and the right secret sauce
for for growth. Um, you know, are probably the two
biggest challenges because without those things that are you know,
there's no business because I can't do this by myself.
So um, those are really you know, have have been
the biggest challenges. And paints are really tough category. It's
(11:54):
high consideration purchase. It's not the kind of thing you know,
like I always say that beauty is like the best business.
It is a little over saturated, but you know, super
high margins, small and light to ship, you know, really easy,
you know, kind of straightforward just from a from a
fulfillment process. You know, paint is super complicated, heavy to ship,
high consideration, their samples involved before people actually buy the product, um,
(12:19):
you know, and just really trying to unlock all of
that and understand the data around that. You know, it
takes a lot of time in learning because you know,
people don't just buy paint sight unseen off a click
on the on the internet, you know, and once they
buy samples, they have to then convert into a paint buyer,
and so it takes a while to kind of learn
and gather the data so that you can kind of
(12:40):
take those data driven insights and then optimize your business.
So UM you know a lot of things with our category,
we're just let me probably a lot slower than maybe
it's kind of higher higher impulse, lower consideration type of
product UM And that adds a layer kind of challenges
in complexity to everything we do. One thing that makes
(13:02):
your products so unique beyond its convenience is how sustainable
your products are. Can you tell us a little bit
about this and why sustainability is so important to your business? Yeah,
I think UM two core reasons. Number one is because
it's it's personally important to me. You know, I really
care about the environment. I really care about UM you know,
at least how I lived my day to day life
(13:22):
making the best possible choices for both my own personal
health as well as the environment. And I wanted, you know,
my business to reflect those personal values as well. But
then secondarily, like the industry has been UM notorious for
misleading consumers about what's in their product. Um and has
been one of the least transparent industries. And it's actually
(13:44):
quite a regulated industry, believe it or not, because it
is a chemical product and because UM a lot of
other paint contributes v O C s into the environment,
which you know contributes to global warming and you know
all of that, and so um you know, it's actually
a pretty highly regulated industry. And so from that perspective,
(14:06):
we just I wanted to do everything I could to
make sure customers felt safe using our products, especially since
we were a new to market brand. Right Like, you know,
there's this idea of, oh, maybe we trust a brand
that's been around for a hundred years, but rien in reality,
those are the brands that have actually been the most misleading,
you know, stemming back to the days of um you know,
(14:28):
lead paint. Lead was banned in paint in the in
the seventies, but before that, similar to like the water
crisis in Flint, Michigan, everyone knew at a certain point,
probably twenty years before it was banned, or probably more
than that, that paint was harmed or sorry, that lead
in paint was harmful to human health, but many paint
companies continued selling it for decades because they just didn't
(14:52):
want to change what was driving business for them, right Like,
we're driving revenue, We're selling lots of this paint, So
if it ain't bro we're not going to fix it
unless we're forced to. And so you know, some of
the biggest paint prints in the world, UM knowingly sold
lead paint two consumers for decades, you know, things like that. Yeah,
(15:12):
and even when when the EPA started regulating d o
C contents and paint brands were super shady and misleading
about UM the v o C contents in their in
their product. A lot of people don't realize this, but
when you buy paint at a traditional retail outlet, they're
really just stocking a white bass and the paint is
tinted at the store, right you all see in the
paint counter at a home depot or lows um Well
(15:34):
brands would produce the base formula according to the e
p A regulations, but the colorance were not. So you
think you're buying a zero BC paint. But when they
actually tint the paint in the store, because no one's
buying untinted paint, right, they would tint the paint and
it would put all the VOCs back in the in
the container and you you're really not getting what you thought. UM.
(15:56):
And so those are just examples of how the pain
industry has been really really misleading. And we wanted to
do the polar opposite of that, we're like, how can
we be as transparent as possible? What can we do
to give customers the utmost competence that our products is,
you know, kind of better for for your home, your health,
and the environment. And we've kind of made that a priority.
And I think, you know, at the end of the day,
we're not reinventing paint. I think we're reinventing the experience,
(16:19):
and we're taking a different approach around transparency and the
kind of relationship that we build with our customers, and
I think that's really what differentiates us. Well, well, thank
you for doing that, because that that seems like a major,
a major disruption and an important one for all of us. Yeah.
I mean we've been in this obviously crazy time of
the pandemic, which has been so difficult on so many levels,
(16:41):
but it has been a time when people have reconnected
with their homes. What's been the impact of the pandemic, Unclaire,
It's it's you know, it's bitter sweet to say this,
because I wish there were never a pandemic, but it
did drive a lot of growth for us, you know,
with like you said, with people reconnecting with their homes
and being forced to stay indoors. I think a lot
of folks were staring around at their walls, looking at
(17:01):
all the things they don't like and wanting to improve
their space and how they feel when they're in their home.
And so that resulted in lots of people buying paint.
We saw a tremendous amount of growth about five from
the year prior. Um and uh, you know, it really
put our business on a different trajectory and also helped
to increase our brand awareness a ton. So you know,
(17:22):
for us, um, you know, we were very um lucky
beneficiaries of the kind of pandemic home boom, so to speak.
Um and uh you know, we're I'm really grateful for that. Well,
hopefully people will you know, this will be kind of
a permanent shift and what people think about home. I
feel like people are rediscovering that it's it's great to
(17:44):
be home. You don't always have to be out. So
that's a good outcome of the pandemic. Let me ask
you for the women out there who are thinking about
starting a business, maybe on the fence, what have you
learned that you wish someone would have told you early
on about starting your own company. I think there's two things.
I think the biggest thing it prevents people from starting
businesses your failure, and statistics show that most startups will fail.
(18:08):
But I've in this journey have met a lot of
people who startups didn't work out. But I never once
heard someone say I wish I hadn't have done it. Um.
What everyone who I've talked to has had a failed
startup UM says is that I learned so much and
I would not trade that experience through the world. So
it really will challenge you. Um, it is the hardest
(18:31):
thing I've ever done. And everyone I talked to is
running a startup says it's the hardest thing they've ever done. UM.
And it's I think it's a little bit different for
companies that launch and our small businesses and want to
stay pretty small and kind of cell phwned, But for
companies who have raised venture capital, but just the expectations
for growth that comes with that and the pressure that
(18:53):
comes with that adds on a whole other layer of
like kind of challenge and stress, innings and all of
that to do to do the job. So I'd say
one thing is like just like, do not be afraid
because regardless of the outcome, this is an experience that
will forever change you for the better. Um. And then
I'd say the second piece of advice is just be
(19:14):
sure this is something that you really love, because it
is going to be a very challenging journey and you
you have to be dedicated and in it. I see
so many people who think, like, oh, I'm gonna be
the Warby Parker for fill in the blank, and this
is gonna be the We're going to crush it and
this is a great market opportunity and there and they're
they're really focused on a market opportunity versus something that
(19:37):
they're truly passionate about. And what ends up happening because
the journey is so challenging, as they end up giving
up really soon. Um And maybe they you know get
acquired or you know shut down or whatever, just because
they're they just aren't deeply invested enough to um, you know,
(19:59):
kind of deal with the all of the ups and
downs and challenges that comes along with growing that business.
If it wasn't an instant success. In most businesses, even
the ones that look from the outside looking in like
they were runaway smash successes behind the scenes. It's still
is a giant uphill battle and um, so you have
to make sure that you are truly committed and you're
not just like, you know, using this as like a
(20:22):
business school case study because you think it's a great
market opportunity that can turn into a business. I think
it's harder and harder to grow a worthy Parker esque
business these days, and that you've got to really love
what you're doing and be super passionate. Awesome advice. They
totally agree with everything you just said. So I cannot
let you go before asking you for your advice on
(20:43):
your favorite paint colors. Ah, that's like asking a parent
their favorite child. I love the ball now, I mean
I do have some personal favorites. I am. I happen
to be sitting in my living room, which is where
I'm working from home, um in this pandemic, and my
living room is our best selling nut color called Penthouse.
It's a really soft shade of grage, and grage is
(21:04):
like the category of colors that we define is the
perfect mix between gray and beige, and so it's just
an airy light color. So if you want to settle
hint to color on your walls, that's not white, that
adds a little bit of warmth and a little bit
of dimension. Penthouse is such a beautiful color, so that's one.
I also love a lot of our more vibrant colors.
Headspace is a really soft, airy blue that's calming and serene,
(21:26):
hence the name Headspace. UM. And another favorite is Current Mood.
It's a super deep, super deep, rich moody green that
everyone loves. It's super popular in Instagram, and it's our
best selling non neutral color. So fun, so fun. I'm
so I'm gonna look into that immediately because I am
looking for some new colors. So thank you for that.
It was a personal, personal request. Yeah. Well, thank you
(21:49):
so much for everything you're doing, UM to really make
it healthier for all of us in our homes and
to make it more beautiful, and also for just sharing
your journey. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Thanks so much.
There were so many valuable lessons in that conversation with
Claire founder Nicole Gibbons. Here are three things I took
from the conversation. First, Nicole was extremely methodical in building
(22:13):
her skill set prior to launching her company. She enhanced
her credibility in the space by taking on all the
side projects she could before focusing on her business idea
full time. She found success by first learning all she
could about what she was getting into before jumping in
with both feet. Second, Nicole shows just how important it
(22:34):
is to make a detailed plan, and when she made
her plan, she followed it to a t. First, she
networked with as many people in the paint industry as
she could to learn the lay of the land. Then
she spent a significant amount of time developing her supply chain.
Once she had all the pieces in place, she was
able to get her online business going. Finally, it was
(22:55):
important to Nicole to focus on sustainability. She wanted to
sell pay ain't that buyers could trust. Her unwavering desire
to be transparent with customers about ingredients has resulted in
a loyal customer base who shares her values. Made by
Women is brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio, with support from founding partner
(23:17):
PNG
Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses
face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we
bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to
help you successfully navigate in today's environment. I'm Kim Azzarelli,
(00:26):
and thanks so much for joining us today. Sometimes the
best business ideas come from the most ordinary places. Take
household paint. For instance, the experience of shopping for paint
had gone largely unchanged for decades, and then in two
thousand and eighteen, Claire came along. Claire turned buying paint
(00:46):
into a convenient and enjoyable online experience. What's more is
that Claire offers high quality, designer curated paint that is
sustainable and free of toxic solvents. Fast Company has called
Claire the war be Part Parker of paint. Claire founder
Nicole Gibbons, who was already well known as an interior
design expert on h G t V and the Oprah
(01:07):
Winfrey Network, was credited with upending the paint industry. Reviews
in publications like Apartment Therapy said Claire is simply quote,
the best place to buy paint. How did Nicole Gibbons
pull off this feat very methodically, it turns out, and
that's just one of the lessons we're going to learn
from her. Please enjoy my conversation with Claire, founder The
(01:28):
Coal Gibbons. Well, thanks so much for joining us, Thank
you for having me. So your company, Claire has been
called by Fast Company the Warby Parker of paint. How
would you describe Claire and what is the customer experience?
So funny? I feel like every startup is the warby
Parker Fill in the blank. But um, I guess it's
(01:51):
a compliment because they bolt a fantastic business. But Claire
is a modern paint company. We make the process of
buying paint for your home really easy with designer curated
paint colors, everything you need to paint delivered to your door. Plus,
our paint is better for you, better for the environment.
Um and we make sampling really easy with our pale
and sticks watches, so it's so much easier overall process
(02:13):
than going to a place like home depot. I love
it and I totally could see how you're disrupting the
market with that, because getting paint is such a hassle.
And not fun. And what you've just described sounds amazing.
So um makes a lot of sense. Your background is
an interior design and you are a style influencer for sure.
You've appeared on h G TV, on the Open Network,
g M A L Decor. But I want to take
(02:35):
you back to your early days. Where did you grow
up and how did you get to where you are?
I grew up in suburban Detroit. My career journey was
along winding road. I'll give you the abbreviated version. When
Northwestern thought I wanted to do broadcast journalism, came out
doing pr um in fashion. I did pr for a decade,
and while in that job doesn eight, I started a
(02:57):
decorating blog because I was super passionate out all things home.
My friends used to kind of joke and call me
like Mark, you know, Martha Steward and like a almost
like like a shade kind of way, you know, like
I don't know if it was a compliment, but um,
you know what at twenty five, when everyone else was
out at like bars and you know, clubs or whatever,
(03:18):
I was like at home, you know, trying to perfect
like the perfect vanilla kick recipe, and you know, decorating
and doing d I Y projects and all of that.
So then I think it was definitely a compliment. Then. Yeah,
So I you know, I was always a passionate about home,
and one of the things that I realized at the
time is I was like, you know, there's no one
that I see on TV speaking to me and my generation.
(03:39):
You know, all the personalities that were on networks like
called HDTV or other other kind of homebook as networks
were much older. Their style was a lot more you know,
maybe conservative and traditional or like just not as young
and kind of style forward as as my own personal style.
And so I think initially my idea was perhaps I
(03:59):
could be that kind of voice of authority on home
for a younger generation of people who are you know,
super passionate about their homes. And um, that's kind of
how I set out to build my career. So I
felt like I needed to establish myself as a designer
first to build that credibility. Um, I started taking on
side projects, but I still had a day job. I
was a global director of pr at a huge, you know,
multiple in dollar retail organization, and um, you know, I
(04:23):
sort of wrote out the whole entire recession and UM
at the beginning of is when I finally kind of
had the courage and you know, confidence to really take
the leap and focus on building my business full time.
And so I evolved pretty quickly into operating my design
firm full time, working on projects in and around New
York City, and I also simultaneously started tackling opportunities and media,
(04:43):
which is how I ended up booking a role on
the show UM on the Opra win Free network that
I did for three seasons. It was a D I R.
Decorating show, Homemade Simple that's actually still on UM and
I really kind of worked super hard to position myself
as an expert. And then the next chapter, I started
thinking about how could I evolve my aesthetic. I had
started to really establish my design firm. I had a
(05:04):
lot of them work that was published, you know, got
featured in a lot of you know, amazing places, and um,
you know I you know, again going back to the
mark the Stewart business model, I kept thinking, how could
I evolve my own personal brand into something that's a
massive scale or or a much larger scale, so that
I could help, you know, really tie back to my
core mission, which has helped people make their homes beautiful.
(05:24):
How can I do that on a broad scale? And
so I kept exploring different market opportunities and I came
across the you know, pain or you know, as a designer,
I was super passionate about color, and I realized this
industry was archaic, the shopping experience was broken. And that's
how I knew I had a good opportunity on my hands.
It's amazing asked to hear you talk about that, because
(05:45):
a lot of people think there's like an idea in
the middle of the night and someone jumps out of
bed and starts their company. But what you just described
was so thoughtful, such a thoughtful process of what you
wanted to do and establish your as you say, your
credentials and your credibility, and then then you saw an
opening in the market. I'm gonna ask a very simple question, though,
how did you come up with the name? Yeah, so
I saw that all the brands in paint were hyper masculine,
(06:06):
So you know, Benjamin Moore, Drwin Williams, Dutch Boy, you know,
they all found like dudes and plaid shirts. And I
know from my experience at home and that the people
who were really making the color decisions and household or
women UM, and I felt like brands were failing to
appeal to women. UM. So I intentionally wanted a name
that was feminine, approachable, easier to remember, friendly sounding, UM,
(06:29):
and a name that could be personified so you could
really build a personality around the brand. And then lastly,
I wanted a name that tied back to some deeper
meaning related to color. And so Claire comes from a
Latin root word laris that means bright and brilliant um.
And so the word play there felt really appropriate because
both brilliant in terms of being innovative and forward thinking,
(06:50):
but also in terms of color, and it was, you know,
it kind of checked all those boxes. And it was
originally just a working title because I wasn't sure what
to call the brand, but after a while it just
felt right and and sort of stuck. So what were
the first steps you took to get this vision off
the ground. Yeah, So first I really thought about it
for you know, about a year. UM. I kept you know,
(07:12):
super busy in my company, and I kept thinking like,
this is such a good idea, you know, how do
I make this happen? What do I do to focus
my attention. So I thought of this as an idea
in the beginning of and then you know, really kind
of thought about it off and on the entire year. Um.
And then in the meeting of January, you know how
you wake up on the first of the year and
it's kind of like new Year. Knew me, what am
(07:33):
I going to do with my life this year? UM?
I came back to the idea for Claire, and I'm like,
if I don't do this now, I probably will never
do it. So what are the steps I need to
take to need to take to make this happen? So
I decided to take a quarter off from my design firm.
I was in a lucky position that I was wrapping
up a couple of projects from UH and so, you know,
(07:55):
I finished up those projects, but I didn't take on
any new clients, and I spent I said, I was
going to give myself one quarter to explore the opportunity.
I'm going to talk to people in the paint industry
figure out, you know, how I might go about doing this,
and also how to get the company funded. So within
a month I sort of had the plan. I you know, um,
UH serendipitously got connected with someone who UM is a
(08:21):
leading architectural coding's chemist in the in the industry. UM,
and she gave me some wonderful advice around paint formulation
and how to think about, you know, kind of the
kind of production side of things. And then UM, I
had a chat with a VC who gave me some
really positive feedback just about the idea and some advice
(08:42):
on raising capital UM. And both of those conversations gave
me a lot of confidence. The person who, UM, you know,
works in R and D and paint, was like, I've
been in the business for twenty years and even I
hate shopping for paint, So I think you're you're onto something,
you know. She's like, I know every ingredient in paint
and still shop. It's still a terrible experience. UM. And
(09:03):
then the VC was just like, this is a massive
market opportunity. I had no idea the pain industry was
this big. I'm really curious to learn more. When you're ready,
I'd love to hear your pitch. And the fact that
even just one BC was interested in hearing my pitch
signaled to me that there would be a lot of
others whose interest I could peak and who might potentially
(09:23):
help help me get the business off the ground. So
did you did you go out early and raise a
brave money or did you wait? Um? I raised So
I ended up spending the whole pretty much majority of
the year building out our supply chain and kind of
laying the whole foundation for the business, every single supplier, um,
every you know, partner to build a website, you know,
(09:45):
just operational processes, just how we were going to actually
do this, How are we going to ship paint, what
does the financial model look like? And then putting together
pitch materials to go out and fund raise. And so
probably by the fall I had all of that, you know,
kind of checked off off and went out to raise
capital in the fall, and by the end of the
year I closed or preceded round, which was two million dollars. Well, congratulations,
(10:08):
it's a huge accomplishment. Thank you. We'll be back with
Senecas made by Women after this short break. After hearing
you speak about this, I mean you just seem so
on it and so organized about your vision. What were
(10:30):
the obstacles you faced early on? If any? Yeah, I
mean I think like our biggest because you know, everything.
I don't want to say it felt easy, but because
I think I was so thoughtful about it. A lot
of things went exactly according to plan in the pre
launched days, you know, like everything went super smoothly. The
brand exactly as I envisioned, came to life, and then
(10:51):
we launched right. And so I think I think the
biggest challenge, like, you know, getting to launch is one thing,
but then once you're a live and out into the world,
you've got to actually sell a product. And so I'd
say like that was a bigger challenge than actually like
developing the brand and kind of getting you know, getting
that off the ground and getting the product manufactured. You know,
to be able to grow in scale business at venture
(11:12):
expectations required a lot of learning something I've never done before. UM,
Building a team. Um. You know, a lot of those
things were really challenging and are still challenging because you know,
we're still a young company. We're not yet three years old, um,
and so we still have a lot of growth to achieve,
and we still need to grow our team, and um,
(11:32):
you know, really trying to figure out the right secret
sauce to building a team and the right secret sauce
for for growth. Um, you know, are probably the two
biggest challenges because without those things that are you know,
there's no business because I can't do this by myself.
So um, those are really you know, have have been
the biggest challenges. And paints are really tough category. It's
(11:54):
high consideration purchase. It's not the kind of thing you know,
like I always say that beauty is like the best business.
It is a little over saturated, but you know, super
high margins, small and light to ship, you know, really easy,
you know, kind of straightforward just from a from a
fulfillment process. You know, paint is super complicated, heavy to ship,
high consideration, their samples involved before people actually buy the product, um,
(12:19):
you know, and just really trying to unlock all of
that and understand the data around that. You know, it
takes a lot of time in learning because you know,
people don't just buy paint sight unseen off a click
on the on the internet, you know, and once they
buy samples, they have to then convert into a paint buyer,
and so it takes a while to kind of learn
and gather the data so that you can kind of
(12:40):
take those data driven insights and then optimize your business.
So UM you know a lot of things with our category,
we're just let me probably a lot slower than maybe
it's kind of higher higher impulse, lower consideration type of
product UM And that adds a layer kind of challenges
in complexity to everything we do. One thing that makes
(13:02):
your products so unique beyond its convenience is how sustainable
your products are. Can you tell us a little bit
about this and why sustainability is so important to your business? Yeah,
I think UM two core reasons. Number one is because
it's it's personally important to me. You know, I really
care about the environment. I really care about UM you know,
at least how I lived my day to day life
(13:22):
making the best possible choices for both my own personal
health as well as the environment. And I wanted, you know,
my business to reflect those personal values as well. But
then secondarily, like the industry has been UM notorious for
misleading consumers about what's in their product. Um and has
been one of the least transparent industries. And it's actually
(13:44):
quite a regulated industry, believe it or not, because it
is a chemical product and because UM a lot of
other paint contributes v O C s into the environment,
which you know contributes to global warming and you know
all of that, and so um you know, it's actually
a pretty highly regulated industry. And so from that perspective,
(14:06):
we just I wanted to do everything I could to
make sure customers felt safe using our products, especially since
we were a new to market brand. Right Like, you know,
there's this idea of, oh, maybe we trust a brand
that's been around for a hundred years, but rien in reality,
those are the brands that have actually been the most misleading,
you know, stemming back to the days of um you know,
(14:28):
lead paint. Lead was banned in paint in the in
the seventies, but before that, similar to like the water
crisis in Flint, Michigan, everyone knew at a certain point,
probably twenty years before it was banned, or probably more
than that, that paint was harmed or sorry, that lead
in paint was harmful to human health, but many paint
companies continued selling it for decades because they just didn't
(14:52):
want to change what was driving business for them, right Like,
we're driving revenue, We're selling lots of this paint, So
if it ain't bro we're not going to fix it
unless we're forced to. And so you know, some of
the biggest paint prints in the world, UM knowingly sold
lead paint two consumers for decades, you know, things like that. Yeah,
(15:12):
and even when when the EPA started regulating d o
C contents and paint brands were super shady and misleading
about UM the v o C contents in their in
their product. A lot of people don't realize this, but
when you buy paint at a traditional retail outlet, they're
really just stocking a white bass and the paint is
tinted at the store, right you all see in the
paint counter at a home depot or lows um Well
(15:34):
brands would produce the base formula according to the e
p A regulations, but the colorance were not. So you
think you're buying a zero BC paint. But when they
actually tint the paint in the store, because no one's
buying untinted paint, right, they would tint the paint and
it would put all the VOCs back in the in
the container and you you're really not getting what you thought. UM.
(15:56):
And so those are just examples of how the pain
industry has been really really misleading. And we wanted to
do the polar opposite of that, we're like, how can
we be as transparent as possible? What can we do
to give customers the utmost competence that our products is,
you know, kind of better for for your home, your health,
and the environment. And we've kind of made that a priority.
And I think, you know, at the end of the day,
we're not reinventing paint. I think we're reinventing the experience,
(16:19):
and we're taking a different approach around transparency and the
kind of relationship that we build with our customers, and
I think that's really what differentiates us. Well, well, thank
you for doing that, because that that seems like a major,
a major disruption and an important one for all of us. Yeah.
I mean we've been in this obviously crazy time of
the pandemic, which has been so difficult on so many levels,
(16:41):
but it has been a time when people have reconnected
with their homes. What's been the impact of the pandemic, Unclaire,
It's it's you know, it's bitter sweet to say this,
because I wish there were never a pandemic, but it
did drive a lot of growth for us, you know,
with like you said, with people reconnecting with their homes
and being forced to stay indoors. I think a lot
of folks were staring around at their walls, looking at
(17:01):
all the things they don't like and wanting to improve
their space and how they feel when they're in their home.
And so that resulted in lots of people buying paint.
We saw a tremendous amount of growth about five from
the year prior. Um and uh, you know, it really
put our business on a different trajectory and also helped
to increase our brand awareness a ton. So you know,
(17:22):
for us, um, you know, we were very um lucky
beneficiaries of the kind of pandemic home boom, so to speak.
Um and uh you know, we're I'm really grateful for that. Well,
hopefully people will you know, this will be kind of
a permanent shift and what people think about home. I
feel like people are rediscovering that it's it's great to
(17:44):
be home. You don't always have to be out. So
that's a good outcome of the pandemic. Let me ask
you for the women out there who are thinking about
starting a business, maybe on the fence, what have you
learned that you wish someone would have told you early
on about starting your own company. I think there's two things.
I think the biggest thing it prevents people from starting
businesses your failure, and statistics show that most startups will fail.
(18:08):
But I've in this journey have met a lot of
people who startups didn't work out. But I never once
heard someone say I wish I hadn't have done it. Um.
What everyone who I've talked to has had a failed
startup UM says is that I learned so much and
I would not trade that experience through the world. So
it really will challenge you. Um, it is the hardest
(18:31):
thing I've ever done. And everyone I talked to is
running a startup says it's the hardest thing they've ever done. UM.
And it's I think it's a little bit different for
companies that launch and our small businesses and want to
stay pretty small and kind of cell phwned, But for
companies who have raised venture capital, but just the expectations
for growth that comes with that and the pressure that
(18:53):
comes with that adds on a whole other layer of
like kind of challenge and stress, innings and all of
that to do to do the job. So I'd say
one thing is like just like, do not be afraid
because regardless of the outcome, this is an experience that
will forever change you for the better. Um. And then
I'd say the second piece of advice is just be
(19:14):
sure this is something that you really love, because it
is going to be a very challenging journey and you
you have to be dedicated and in it. I see
so many people who think, like, oh, I'm gonna be
the Warby Parker for fill in the blank, and this
is gonna be the We're going to crush it and
this is a great market opportunity and there and they're
they're really focused on a market opportunity versus something that
(19:37):
they're truly passionate about. And what ends up happening because
the journey is so challenging, as they end up giving
up really soon. Um And maybe they you know get
acquired or you know shut down or whatever, just because
they're they just aren't deeply invested enough to um, you know,
(19:59):
kind of deal with the all of the ups and
downs and challenges that comes along with growing that business.
If it wasn't an instant success. In most businesses, even
the ones that look from the outside looking in like
they were runaway smash successes behind the scenes. It's still
is a giant uphill battle and um, so you have
to make sure that you are truly committed and you're
not just like, you know, using this as like a
(20:22):
business school case study because you think it's a great
market opportunity that can turn into a business. I think
it's harder and harder to grow a worthy Parker esque
business these days, and that you've got to really love
what you're doing and be super passionate. Awesome advice. They
totally agree with everything you just said. So I cannot
let you go before asking you for your advice on
(20:43):
your favorite paint colors. Ah, that's like asking a parent
their favorite child. I love the ball now, I mean
I do have some personal favorites. I am. I happen
to be sitting in my living room, which is where
I'm working from home, um in this pandemic, and my
living room is our best selling nut color called Penthouse.
It's a really soft shade of grage, and grage is
(21:04):
like the category of colors that we define is the
perfect mix between gray and beige, and so it's just
an airy light color. So if you want to settle
hint to color on your walls, that's not white, that
adds a little bit of warmth and a little bit
of dimension. Penthouse is such a beautiful color, so that's one.
I also love a lot of our more vibrant colors.
Headspace is a really soft, airy blue that's calming and serene,
(21:26):
hence the name Headspace. UM. And another favorite is Current Mood.
It's a super deep, super deep, rich moody green that
everyone loves. It's super popular in Instagram, and it's our
best selling non neutral color. So fun, so fun. I'm
so I'm gonna look into that immediately because I am
looking for some new colors. So thank you for that.
It was a personal, personal request. Yeah. Well, thank you
(21:49):
so much for everything you're doing, UM to really make
it healthier for all of us in our homes and
to make it more beautiful, and also for just sharing
your journey. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Thanks so much.
There were so many valuable lessons in that conversation with
Claire founder Nicole Gibbons. Here are three things I took
from the conversation. First, Nicole was extremely methodical in building
(22:13):
her skill set prior to launching her company. She enhanced
her credibility in the space by taking on all the
side projects she could before focusing on her business idea
full time. She found success by first learning all she
could about what she was getting into before jumping in
with both feet. Second, Nicole shows just how important it
(22:34):
is to make a detailed plan, and when she made
her plan, she followed it to a t. First, she
networked with as many people in the paint industry as
she could to learn the lay of the land. Then
she spent a significant amount of time developing her supply chain.
Once she had all the pieces in place, she was
able to get her online business going. Finally, it was
(22:55):
important to Nicole to focus on sustainability. She wanted to
sell pay ain't that buyers could trust. Her unwavering desire
to be transparent with customers about ingredients has resulted in
a loyal customer base who shares her values. Made by
Women is brought to you by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio, with support from founding partner
(23:17):
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