The Shopify Growth Show

What if your hardest season became your biggest breakthrough?

Ming Zhao built a $24M skincare brand in just 2 years—while pregnant and going through Y Combinator. This isn’t just a startup story. It’s a story of pressure, clarity, and purpose colliding at once.

In this raw and revealing episode, Ming Zhao, CEO and co-founder of PROVEN Skincare, shares how she transformed corporate burnout into one of the fastest-growing beauty startups—scaling to $24 million in just 24 months. She opens up about building a data-driven business during one of the most demanding periods of her life, and how AI, science, and personal insight helped reshape the future of skincare.

Key Topics Covered:
  • How AI and data are transforming skincare
  • The Skin Genome Project explained
  • Navigating Y Combinator while pregnant
  • Building a business model rooted in science
  • Living the “Love your job, live your life” mindset

Resources:
 
Additional episodes you might enjoy:
Startup Ideas by Paul Graham (#45)
Nathan Barry: How to Bootstrap a Company to $30M in a Crowded Market (#41)
How I Met My Biz Partner and Less Learned Hitting $2M ARR (#44)
Ryan Hamilton on his Netflix special, touring with Jerry Seinfeld, & how to write a joke (#10)
How We're Validating Startup Ideas (#51)
 

What is The Shopify Growth Show?

What would you do if you were starting today? To help, here are half-baked startup ideas, growth marketing tactics, and stories from founders and creators - including my own journey as a bootstrapped business owner. All of the content is centered around helping founders, creators, and investors starting today.