Kodai Takahashi is the co-founder and U.S. CEO of SILK THE RICH, a Japanese premium haircare brand built on nano-processed silk fibroin.

Launched in Japan in 2023 by THE RICH Inc., the brand is backed by the Katakura family — historic owners of the Tomioka Silk Mill — and a group of Japanese entrepreneurs and athletes.

Kodai moved to Los Angeles in 2024 to lead the brand's U.S. expansion across salons, Japanese and Asian specialty grocers, Amazon, and D2C, and runs the U.S. business with a lean team supported by an in-house system of AI agents.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:00] Intro
• [01:34] Liquid silk haircare from Japan
• [02:00] Scaling to $25M across 20+ countries
• [02:20] Biggest challenges entering the US
• [03:10] Throwing out the Japan playbook
• [03:35] Starting from zero in the US
• [04:00] Why expanding within Asia was easier
• [04:45] Amazon and an unexpected Vogue feature
• [05:05] Landing an organic Vogue editorial
• [05:30] The Amazon sales spike after Vogue
• [05:55] Repurposing press creative for D2C
• [06:11] Klaviyo
• [08:18] Waking up to the Vogue feature
• [08:40] Sustaining momentum after press coverage
• [09:06] Why earned media keeps compounding
• [09:59] Streamlining the Shopify funnel
• [10:30] When high CAC made D2C ads stop
• [10:55] Tripling conversion rate after Vogue
• [11:20] Building community with D2C data
• [12:03] Intelligems
• [13:10] Owned data vs. marketplace data
• [14:22] Running the US business with four people
• [14:50] Using AI agents to run lean
• [15:40] eFulfillment Service
• [16:50] Should agencies charge less with AI?
• [17:47] Brands bringing work in-house with AI
• [18:35] Why AI expertise is worth more
• [20:45] Building awareness before retail
• [21:33] Building a US network from scratch
• [22:10] Omnichannel and POS data insights
• [23:21] Why silk works for frizzy hair
• [23:55] Final thoughts

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Everything your hair needs — it’s already inside silk silktherich-global.com/
• Follow Kodai Takahashi linkedin.com/in/kodai-takahashi-63588a1a0
• Book a demo today at intelligems.io/audit
• Get your free demo klaviyo.com/honest
• Lower scale costs today eFulfillmentService.com/honest

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