Sarah Hamilton joins The Founder Tapes to discuss how she founded, built, and advised multiple successful beauty brands in Australia - namely Bellabox, Sand & Sky, Mermade Hair and now the scalp care brand STRAAND.

Bellabox, a beauty subscription box inspired by Birchbox in the U.S., was Sarah’s first venture - and one she co-founded with her twin sister Emily. Following Bellabox’s success, the two of them really embraced the eCommerce opportunities that were becoming apparent in the 2010s, founding their other brands like the popular Sand & Sky - which took social media by storm. This is a time when Facebook and Instagram were in this sweet spot of engagement, YouTubers were becoming celebrities, influencers would feature products for free and organic reach was at its prime.

In this episode, Sarah will talk about whether there is a certain formula she adopted to grow each of her successful beauty brands; what it really takes to get your product in customers’ hands; and whether or not she personally believes it’s worth starting an online business in 2024.

We’ll also chat about her strategy when pitching and asking investors for money; what she learnt from doing it 10s of times; and the exact things she would focus on when pitching today.

It’s a jam-packed one, so let’s get into the show!

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Find Sarah Hamilton on LinkedIn

Find STRAAND on Instagram & LinkedIn

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Find video snippets from this episode on Instagram and TikTok

Thank you for listening <3

Music License Number - QK7rZS

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Welcome to episode one of The Founder Tapes! In this episode, I sit with Lauren Kennedy and Brooke Marks - co-founders and co-CEOs of High End - “the future of luxury resale.”

In a nutshell, High End is an app for buying and selling second-hand luxury items like your Gucci wallet, Zimmermann Dress or Camilla And Marc blazer. It started off as a Facebook page which saw over 100,000 members join, 10 years later becoming an AI-driven app that heavily focuses on customer trust through technology, authentication and curation. For those wanting to buy second-hand instead of brand new luxury items, this is a trustworthy solution, and one that lets customers get a curated, unique wardrobe with their favourite pieces.

Their aim is to make luxury fashion accessible to everyone, and the app is fast becoming Australia’s premier destination for luxury resale. Lauren and Brooke mention that if you look at the data, it’s clear young people are really starting to adopt the mentality of second-hand over brand new when it comes to their shopping habits. One day, they say, it will be resale over retail.

Other than chatting about the process of authenticating luxury clothing so that you and I can get a real Chanel handbag and not a fake (it’s harder to spot than you think!), we chat about what it's like starting a company; what it’s like asking investors for money when you’ve never done that before; what it’s like working together as co-founders with different sets of skills, and so much more.

Find High End on Instagram and TikTok

Download the High End app on on iOS and Google Play

Find High End on their online marketplace

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Find video snippets from this episode on Instagram and TikTok

Thank you for listening <3

Music License Number - QK7rZS

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.