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In this bonus episode of the Startup CPG podcast, Grace Kennedy and Patricia Menegoto are joined by Veena Krishnan and Whitney McElwain, co-founders of Daybird, an innovative "anti-beauty" brand. Daybird's flagship product is a 4-in-1 serum skin tint that blends skincare and makeup into one streamlined solution.
They delve into Daybird's unique approach, which rejects traditional beauty standards in favor of simplicity, efficacy, and personal choice. Veena and Whitney share insights on their marketing strategies, the challenge of standing out in a crowded market, and the importance of authentic partnerships with influencers and responsive customer feedback.
They highlight the difficulties of engaging with creators and retailers. They also discuss their retail strategy, including how they approach stores like Urban Outfitters and prepare for trade shows like Utopia Now.
Tune in now!
Listen in as they share about:
- Daybird’s Mission and Philosophy
- Messaging and Branding
- Consumer Education and Product Evaluation
- Marketing, Retail and Outreach Strategies
- Dealing with Non-Response from Creators
- Preparation for Trade Shows
- Product and Brand Promotion
- Advice for Founders
Episode Links:
Veena Krishnan LinkedIn
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Show Links:
Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)- Join the Startup CPG Slack community (20K+ members and growing!)
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- Visit host Daniel's Linkedin
- Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
Episode music by Super Fantastics
Creators & Guests
What is The Startup CPG Podcast?
A podcast from Startup CPG - highlighting stories from founders working towards a better food system and industry insights from experts to give you a better chance at success.
Whitney McElwain
When we say anti beauty, we're not saying, hey, you should be against it. We're saying, define it on your own terms. What is your relationship that you want to have with beauty, with skincare products, with makeup products? It could be many things. And so that is why we felt it was so important, because no one else was delivering that.
00:30
Veena Krishnan
And so we wanted to make sure, like, the product was really sensitive, skin friendly, in addition to various claims that we felt were table stakes for a great product and high quality product today. So clean, vegan, dermatologist, tested and approved non comedogenic, which is fancy word for meaning non pork clogging, in addition to like mineral, SPF 50, fragrance free, all of that.
00:55
Grace Kennedy
Hi everyone. Grace here, and welcome back to the startup CPG podcast. Today we have another founder feature and I am interviewing Veena and Whitney. They are the co founders of Daybird. Daybird is anti beauty brand, creating clean, functional makeup for a one step routine. Their first product is a makeup, skincare and sun care hybrid. That is true multitasker. I'm also joined on this episode by Patty, our head of community here at startup CBG, and it's always a pleasure to have her voice on the show. I hope you enjoyed this episode and as always, let me know what you think. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the start of CPT podcast. This is Grace. And today I am so excited to be interviewing Veena and Whitney, the co founders of Daybird.
01:41
Grace Kennedy
Day Bird is anti beauty beauty club, which we will get all into what exactly that means. But I'm also really excited to be joined by Patti today, the head of community here at startup CPG, who is also a beauty aficionado and knows about all things beauty. So welcome to the podcast, guys.
02:00
Veena Krishnan
Thank you.
02:01
Whitney McElwain
Thank you.
02:01
Veena Krishnan
So excited to be here.
02:02
Whitney McElwain
Yeah.
02:03
Grace Kennedy
Yes. So just to start us off, Vina, I'd love for you to introduce who day Bird is and why you guys created day Bird.
02:12
Veena Krishnan
Yeah, absolutely. So in short, day Bird is, like you mentioned, anti beauty beauty club, or we call ourselves anti beauty brand, and we create clean, functional makeup for a one step routine. So we're all about, you know, really creating true functional makeup and skincare hybrids. And where this came from is Whitney and I met while were getting our mbas. And when we started learning about each other and getting to know each other, we realized both of us had come from really interesting backgrounds compared to maybe some of our classmates. We were both had worked in historically male dominated fields. So I'm a chemical engineer by trade and training. And Whitney had worked in sports marketing, where both of us had been in this feeling, maybe you all have two, where you've been the only woman in the room.
02:52
Veena Krishnan
And were, felt this expectation by society and maybe an unspoken rule that we had to spend all this extra time, extra money, extra energy to put all of these products on our face in the morning, to look professional and feel confident. And we just gathered around that frustration and this disconnection with beauty standards that we felt. We constantly, as we looked around ourselves, we'd see ads, we'd see billboards, et cetera, where it's like, more products, more steps. You need to put all this on your face to achieve flawless or perfect skin. Like, what even, is that? Just how exhausted we felt by that about this? So this is about late 2020, early 2021. And we kind of took this feeling that both of us had and started to talk to as many people as we could around us.
03:36
Veena Krishnan
So we talked to so many people who kind of echoed that same sentiment. They had products collecting dust on their shelves. They really were only using a core set of, like, couple to maybe small handful products. And they also felt that same kind of exhaustion or fatigue from beauty industry messaging to keep chasing more products, chasing some huge multi step routine to attain some seemingly unattainable standard of perfection or flawlessness. And so we started to where David came from, was trying to tap into this effort, this feeling of convenience that these folks, these customers were looking for. They're looking for fewer products, and they're looking for them to fit into their daily lives, you know, not the other way around.
04:14
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And I love that. And I know myself. I definitely have the case where I use, I think, four beauty products every day, and I have about 25 sitting on my little shelf, so definitely don't need all of them. But I love that messaging, and I'd love to hear more. And maybe, Whitney, you can speak to this about the specific messaging behind this anti beauty brand and why that messaging is important to who day bird is.
04:40
Whitney McElwain
Yeah, definitely. And I think Veena really shared a lot about the fact that we keep seeing this from this beauty industry. Right. And everyone we've talked to just felt the opposite way. They felt this expectation, this weight, this mental load. And so it was really important to us if seeing an industry that so wholeheartedly shows up in this way and get, delivers this message, there's no space for something that was not that right. That was anti beauty. And when we say anti beauty, we're not saying, hey, you should be against it. We're saying define it on your own terms. Right. What is your relationship that you want to have with beauty, with skincare products, with makeup products? It could be many things, it could be zero things.
05:28
Whitney McElwain
But you should be able to own that relationship and define that for yourself and not have these societal pressures really define that for you. And so that is why we felt it was so important, because no one else was delivering that. Even products that were simple or convenient still were attached to brands that were asking you to use it with nine other products that they sold to you. And we're still telling you this is what you need to use to look professional, to feel confident. Confidence doesn't come in a bottle. It shouldn't come in a bottle, especially for women who have been historically told that it does. Whereas we don't see men having to purchase something in a bottle to feel that same way.
06:13
Whitney McElwain
And so just the fact that there isn't space on the shelf, that there isn't space in social media, that there isn't space in entertainment, that there isn't space in the messaging of the beauty industry, is why we are so bullish on creating that space and having that messaging really differ. And it's really important in everything that we do.
06:33
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And confidence definitely doesn't come in a bottle, because if it did, I think we would all have the most confidence a human being could ever have. But also, on the other side of what actually is in the bottle with your guys's first product, the four in one serum skin tint, could you tell us and our listeners a little bit about what that is and why the formulation is the way it is?
06:55
Veena Krishnan
Yeah, absolutely. So four in one serum skin ten is exactly as you described it, a true foreign one. And that's kind of why we named it that way. So it has all in one bottle, two skincare serums, moisturizer, mineral SPF 50, and then a very sheer, like, stretchy tint, all in one. And our goal with creating this product was to create a true one step morning routine. So, happy to talk more on the product, but just to talk maybe around, speak to maybe the why behind how foreign one serums came to be. As we spoke to all these folks about their morning routines. And even, like you mentioned, Grace, you know, you have four products in your rotation. A lot of folks were saying, I'm reaching for one all over facial product. And so if that a skincare serum or moisturizer, that's it.
07:42
Veena Krishnan
If it a foundation, then I'm not also adding SPF I may not also be wearing that serum, but also grappling with this expectation or this. This feeling of an expectation that they should be. And so when were like, all right, what's our hero product going to be? It was like, how do we create a true one step warning routine? And for us, that meant skincare ingredients present at clinically proven active percentages. So by that we mean percentages where they've been shown, proven in studies, et cetera, to be efficacious. At that percentage, they're present in the product, plus moisturizer for everyone's skin to protect the skin barrier. Plus sunscreen. I mean, sunscreen is really the only thing we should be wearing on our faces every single day. If we're.
08:22
Veena Krishnan
Even if I'm working out here by a window, even if I'm just by the window or if I'm going outside, that's a base level must have. But many products that call themselves multitaskers don't have SPF. They don't have SPF over 30, which is the dermatologist recommended minimum for daily facial wear. We're not also, like Whitney said, you know, beauty is what you make it. And we're not ignorant to the fact that you might want a little bit of that blurring coverage to help you show up for your day. And so that's where we wanted a sheer tint just to give, if you want, a little bit to help you feel like you're ready to go. It's not a ton of coverage. It's really meant to be perfect for your everyday. And so that's kind of why the product is where it's at.
08:59
Veena Krishnan
And in addition to all these other things, we wanted it to be sensitive, skin friendly. Whitney and I both have really battled with dermatitis throughout our lives. We cannot wear fragrance. We're both as well, like, people of color. And as were formulating this, realized we both struggled to find an SPF that truly worked for us on a daily basis. Because chemical spfs, for me, for example, you know, they really upset my skin. I have eczema. I can't wear them. But many mineral spfs that I find on the shelf leave me looking like Casper the ghost, since I'm south asian and have a little bit more of, like, medium skin tone.
09:30
Veena Krishnan
And so we wanted to make sure, like, the product was really sensitive, skin friendly, in addition to various claims that we felt were table stakes for a great product and high quality product today. So clean vegan dermatologist tested and approved non comedogenic which is fancy word for meaning non pork clogging, in addition to, like, mineral SPF 50, fragrance free. All of that.
09:51
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I love that. And I love the combination of so many different benefits and one thing. And, Patti, I know you had some questions or thoughts about this combination of skincare and makeup.
10:02
Speaker 4
Yeah. So I think that I've seen more and more brands launching products with skincare benefits. And I just love this trend, especially working from home, because, you know, like, sometimes I have a call or I just want to, like, go to the gym. I don't want to, like, wear this, like, heavy makeup, and I just want to, like, I still want to, like, look my skin, like, glowing and beautiful. So I'm loving to see this trend, but I know that out there that are a lot of brands, they claim that are skincare benefits. But sometimes when I read the ingredients, I'm like, I'm not really sure if this is true or nothing. So how can consumers tell the difference between, like, a brand that is truly having benefits for your skin versus just some marketing claims?
10:43
Veena Krishnan
Yeah, that's a great question. And that's part of the problem, too. I think it's so confusing for customers out there to understand what is this ingredient? How is it benefiting me? And that's something that we wanted to tap into as well as we heard that from customers that, you know, they didn't really want to watch a bunch of TikTok videos understanding what an ingredient is. They just wanted to know that it was going to benefit their skin. And so I'd say it is really tough these days. Asking the right questions definitely helps. Or looking through different education pieces like the brand, social media. For us, what we do is we're very bullish. Like our packaging on the right, in the front and center, it says niacinamide at 2%.
11:21
Veena Krishnan
And we intentionally list that percentage of those key skincare ingredients so that customers know that it's at an efficacious level. The flip side of that is you see many products that, like you mentioned, Patty, claim to have skincare ingredients in them, but they're at what we could call, like, a marketing claim level. Or maybe you don't know how much the percentage is in, and you don't know if it's at a percentage that's actually going to penetrate your skin barrier and deliver the benefits of whatever ingredient it might be. It's just there. So they can say it's there and attach the benefits of that ingredient to that claim. So it is confusing for customers today.
11:52
Veena Krishnan
I would say if I was independent of David trying to go find something on the shelf that was a true skincare makeup multitasker, I would look for some of those call outs of, are they really calling out the specific ingredient versus just saying it's hydrating? What's driving that? Are they calling out maybe that percentage? And sometimes it might not be on the package, but it might be on the PDP, on their website and then as well, when it comes to sunscreen understanding, you know, what is the sunscreen active in there, what percentages it's at, if that's needed. But more importantly, what is the benefit? Or like, what's the SPF level? Because they might have sunscreen protection, but if it's below that 30, for me personally, I would know, like, okay, I want something a little bit over 30.
12:31
Veena Krishnan
That's actually going to be that dermatologist recommended daily minimum for my face. I want to make sure I'm protected going outside or working in front of a window or whatever it might be.
12:39
Whitney McElwain
Yeah.
12:40
Grace Kennedy
As well.
12:40
Whitney McElwain
Like, clean is such, it's a marketing claim. Anyone can say their product is clean because unfortunately, there just is not regulation there yet. So one of the ways that I tell, you know, friends to try and have some sort of measure or benchmark is to look at what a retailer defines as clean and then seeing if that product is to that standard. Right. Because that's the only standards that we have currently in the market is aside from like a brand defining, you could look potentially to how the brand defines how it is clean. If they don't, then you're kind of sol, and you should probably take that as a measure of, okay, maybe this brand is just using it as a marketing claim. For example, we call out like, hey, we are clean by Sephora standards, right?
13:21
Whitney McElwain
So that way you have that benchmark of what is the clean standard that we're adhering to. So I say retailers, they have their clean standards. They're varying levels, right? They're very different. Sephora clean is different than credo clean and is different than targets clean standards. So you can utilize those standards to kind of get a sense of where it's at and what you're comfortable with from a clean perspective, if that is something that is important to you.
13:45
Speaker 4
Like for the retailer side, because sometimes that are so much information out there that even, like for food, like, we got so lost, like, what is acceptable, what is not. So I love that perspective. I never thought about this way.
13:59
Veena Krishnan
Yeah, it's so confusing for consumers these days. And I even feel that, like learning about new products, food, cosmetics, wherever they are, and, you know, what do I believe? What matters to me, and I really liked how we mentioned that around, like, figuring out what matters to you and what standard you want to adhere to.
14:13
Grace Kennedy
Absolutely. And I feel the same way about food and clean beauty is that like, we almost forget to pay attention to what feels good to us because we're like, what are all these standards that, so we're not supposed to eat that, we're not supposed to put this on our face. We're not supposed to do that, but we are supposed to do this. And instead of being like, I ate that, it gave me a stomach ache, I'm not going to eat that again. Or I put that on my face and I got some little bumps, I'm not going to put that on my face again. And so I do appreciate just more transparency.
14:38
Grace Kennedy
And also that, again, what you said, whitney, of like, what matters to you, what's important to you, what are you looking for in a product and really honing in on that versus trying to understand every single new product that's going to hit markets. But also speaking to the many products that are on the market, obviously, you guys have entered a challenging space for a variety of reasons, one of which just being the sheer amount of beauty products, skincare, makeup products that are flowing onto shelves every day. So since you guys launched, how have you been making sure that a consumer, a potential day bird customer, can find you and get your messaging across to them?
15:21
Whitney McElwain
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I can chat about this a little bit more. So I think first and foremost, we really, this started with, like, people talking to us and talking to each other. Right. And so a lot of what we're doing, is that still, like organic or, like organic type channel messaging and channel approach. So a lot of what we do is working with community members or partners, like doing collabs with them, whether that's like communities in Chicago or Austin, where we sit, or even we've done stuff in San Diego, for example, and finding those advocates of those communities that really love what we speak to and what we represent at day bird as well. Affiliate PR works really well for us. And I think that's just because it's great. It's full funnel and it is that trusted.
16:09
Whitney McElwain
I mean, every single person who's written about us has tried our product, has fallen in love with it, and that's why they're writing about us. It's not just lip service. So it kind of acts similarly to that, like expert review, organic, like organic like type channel. And then additionally we've also, you know, we've gifted creators, we've gifted influencers. Whenever we do, it's always, hey, try this, let us know what you think. First and foremost, you know, if you want to share it, if you've had a good experience, that's great. But first and foremost, like give us the feedback, let us know. And so that way they feel like when they can share it, they can do it in their own authentic voice because authenticity from a brand voice is important to us.
16:45
Whitney McElwain
And so we expect the same for them versus us telling them what to say about our product. And then of course, you know, like word of mouth, we still see that, right? Whenever we see us getting shared, it's a lot of still word of mouth. We've layered on paid recently, like honestly, as of this month. That's really just to create that halo effect around what we're already doing on the organic side and just like supporting that as we think about scaling, I guess the only other thing to talk about aside from the creators and influencers just having other feedback loops, right, like this helps us iterate on the customer experience. This helps us to understand what messaging resonates.
17:16
Whitney McElwain
Like we've changed our product name, for example, as we think about it going on to retail shelf, as we think about how we named it now out of what our customers have told us they call it, right? Like we've taken that feedback, what's resonating with them and then able to use that for marketing as we think about future retail because we're going to be, you know, where they're telling us that they want to shop for us instead of, you know, making that assumption, what their day looks like, how we fit into that. And so that all kind of, that's really important to us as we think about the feedback loops that we've created off of how our messaging has continued to get spread and how we continue to iterate on it.
17:53
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And I do think there's so much to be said to that. Patty, were you going to ask something?
17:59
Speaker 4
Yeah, I actually, I want touch base just on the creators and influencer side because I see that so many brands struggle on finding creators, finding influencers or UGC. So like, how did you, when you first launched the product, how did you go about that? How did you find your first creators? Or, you know, you use any platform out like cold outreach, how was that?
18:23
Veena Krishnan
Yeah, I, absolutely. And then Whitney, of course, like chime in if I forgot anything. So we're not immune to the challenges that every other brand, you know, that we hear about other brands going through. And honestly, like, I share that because it can be confined comfort and strength and numbers, right. And so I'd say we've tried many approaches and I don't think there's one formula for success. So we've tried the platform route where we've worked with platform who holds relationships with various micro influencers and can kind of do the outreach on our behalf. And that's certainly very helpful if you can afford it budget wise, to be able to get the product at the hands of numerous people. And then also, you know, being mindful of your own time, right.
19:03
Veena Krishnan
And how much you can, you have the hours in the day because outreach takes, you can streamline it, but it does take time, right. I think we, you know, many people would agree with that. And then we've also tried, you know, more of the organic, you know, ourselves doing that outreach and carving out the time for it. And I'd say that's where we are right now today. But I want to make two clarifications. One, when were using the platform approach, we've always focused on micro influencers.
19:26
Veena Krishnan
I think even, you know, then and now just because, you know, we really feel like they have a very loyal and authentic connection to their audience, not to say larger influencers don't, but especially around our brand and the authenticity that we want to continue to maintain that genuine connection of a product recommendation, you knowing customers, trusting that recommendation rather than thinking to themselves, oh, is this just paid? Is this just an ad? Are they actually using it? And so we know that having talked to our customers and survey whatever those conversations are that they really resonate with like a micro influencer whom they trust. So that's where we've kind of focused our strategy, the platform, right. Has been great to, again, we've gotten many amazing people's hands and then as well have been able to kind of form relationships with many micro influencers.
20:13
Veena Krishnan
And so therefore, now as we do more intentional outreach, like for example, when we restocked with our brand new packaging, we reached out to a lot of those existing relationships to say, hey, you've enjoyed the product before, you shared it with your audience. Would you be down to try again? And so that's been a great way to kind of have a longer tail to some of those dollars we put behind a platform a couple years back. And then as well, we do get a good amount of inbound outreach. And so for that, we don't just respond and always say yes. We do try to, you know, that creator, you know, make sure that they're a good fit for our brand and for that, for our customer base that we're trying to reach.
20:46
Veena Krishnan
But more often than not, if the answer can be yes, and we'd love to get the product in as many people's hands as we can to understand, for them to share, but also to get that feedback piece of.
20:56
Whitney McElwain
Oh, yeah, I was just going to say at the beginning it was really important for us to also just not follow, I mean, as our brand is not follow this traditional beauty playbook. And so it was really important that weren't just looking at beauty influencers because that's not really who our customer follows or looks to for inspiration or product recommendations. You know, they may lead healthy or active lifestyles. So that might, most likely is not going to be someone who is skincare obsessed. So knowing that weren't going to work with influencers or creators that were in the traditional skincare space meant that we often, you know, needed to kind of redefine or reconfigure how we did that outreach or receive those inbounds or work with a platform if we needed to in order to do that.
21:41
Whitney McElwain
But I will say it is, UGC is really important for us, again, for that authenticity behind a brand. We want to show our product on real skin, not models. And so UGC is important for that. So that was really important from day one. We worked with many social at the beginning. So again, to Venus point, if you can afford it, and it helps to just kind of quickly streamline your process, that was helpful to like just have a good batch of UGC real faces. Also initial creator relationships from the beginning because that continues to be one of the most important things for us.
22:13
Speaker 4
Just one quick follow up question. Were there many times that you send products that you never heard back from the creator, kind of like ghosted you and didn't post? I just want touch base on that because I know that is a struggle for so many founders. So if you guys can share a little about that would be great.
22:29
Veena Krishnan
I think the answer is yes. You know, we're not immune to the natural attrition that happens. So the answer is yes. I mean, even folks that we might have worked with in the past, you never know where their inboxes are at today. And so we're very sympathetic of that. I mean, I'm sure I've other many emails that I've received that have gone not responded to and that there's no mal intent there. Just, you know, there's a million things going on in everyone's lives every single day. So certainly, yes, we've definitely had outreach that's not been responded to. What we try to do there, just to give a tactical example, is we do try to intentionally follow up at least one or two times often.
23:02
Veena Krishnan
You know, it is that where it just got buried in emails and if you put it back the top of someone's inbox, you may very well get a response. And then I think as well, that's where not like maintaining these relationships long term. We're not, you know, going back and forth every single week, but having worked with folks in the past and then reaching out with them again, there's maybe a additional layer of credibility there. They know that just like we might receive, you know, outreach or inbound outreach, that's maybe not as valid as we'd hope it would be. I'm sure many creators receive that too. So having the relationship to tap back into already shows like, hey, this is a real product, this is a real brand.
23:35
Veena Krishnan
I might not see it all over my for you page yet, but there it is valid. I have tried it before and that's been really, you know, so that can also increase your chances of getting outreach back. But I mean, a response back to your outreach. Outreach. But yeah, I mean, you're always going to, I think at the end of the day you're always going to have attrition. No matter who you're emailing, there's a chance that it might not get responded to. So if we share any piece of advice and curious, Whitney, for your thoughts on this too, but my first piece is like increase that initial outreach, as many as you can possibly reach out to. There's no harm in that. It is a quantity game at the end of the day, so more people you reach out to.
24:09
Veena Krishnan
If at the end of the day you want to get x amount of posts or x amount of products gifted, there's going to be attrition at each step. That's just natural with what it is. And so just kind of bake that into your overall process.
24:21
Whitney McElwain
Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. We bake that into the plan. We bake that into the pipeline that we know kind of where we've sat percentage wise on attrition and just bake that in. And then also on the flip side of that, if they aren't posting, understanding why not, right? Like that's a great opportunity for us. To get feed, like, more in depth, qualitative feedback on our product. So in the least, if we can understand and get that feedback, that's a helpful point for us. And that's value right at the end of the day for us.
24:52
Veena Krishnan
Yeah, that's something that I always try to keep in the back of your head. And I don't know if it's helpful for other founders, but this product is our baby in so many ways. Like, we've put so many hours, unquantifiable hours, thought, et cetera, into trying to make it as great as possible. But one, it's never going to be perfect to every single person. And then two, it may not be a fit for every single person. I think no matter what. Like a food product, for example, not everyone has the same taste buds. Even if it tastes amazing to you, it may not to the next person. And that's just natural. And so I think keeping that in the back of my head always is, like, all right, like, wasn't great for them.
25:24
Veena Krishnan
Let's learn why and let's collect that data and write it down so we can kind of keep it in mind as we hear from more folks.
25:29
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I think that's great advice for so many people and to not take it personally, to kind of make sure it's so hard to do that when, as you said, it's something that is your baby, but that's what is ultimately the most helpful. So sort of pivoting from the more online world to the more in person world, I'd love to hear a little bit more about how you guys are approaching retail. As you said, you know, you're, you go by Sephora clean beauty standards, which is obviously a retailer. So I'd love to hear how you're approaching. Yeah, getting into retail. I know you launched into urban Outfitters, you know, only like a year after you launched the product. So, yeah, just tell me more about what your approach to retail is.
26:09
Veena Krishnan
Yeah, absolutely. So as we mentioned, we launched about two years ago, direct to consumer. We launched online urban outfitters about a year ago, and for us it's been twofold. So, one, our strategy has been always first and foremost, we want to be where our customers are shopping and noting that our customers are maybe not necessarily the traditional beauty enthusiasts. They're not spending their Saturday afternoons browsing the sephora aisles and ulta aisles and trying to discover products that way. You know, they've told us they find that overwhelming. They prefer that convenience level of being able to pick up products where they're already shopping for maybe some other goods, lifestyle essentials.
26:45
Veena Krishnan
So for us, we're always trying to keep that kind of North Star in our head of like how can we best be where our customers already are so we can make it as seamless as possible for them. And then with that, we really value each of our retail partnerships to the utmost degree. You know, they're taking a chance on a new brand, that's one thing. And we want to make that successful for them and also for us so that we can leverage those learnings and those, you know, success story as we go and you know, step up. And so we think of it as like a walk jog run approach to retailers. D to C was our first urban outfitter and first, you know, whatever channel.
27:21
Veena Krishnan
And then we've kind of, our walk phase is where we're at right now with Urban outfitters and capturing those initial learnings to say how can we best reach our customers, drive them into store and also tap into urban's existing customer base and, you know, kind of continue to channel that up. So that's really how we think about it. Because at the end of the day, it's theory. It's easy to get on the shelf, it's hard to stay on the shelf. I mean, we don't want to go from zero to 100 overnight and then feel like we've squandered a relationship or we could have done better if we had just kind of been a little bit patient. Even though that's very hard.
27:50
Veena Krishnan
I will say it would be great to launch a 2000 target doors tomorrow, but that requires so much extra work and so much we wanted to make it a success and have some confidence in there.
28:00
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. Another thing I wanted to ask about in relation to this walk jog run idea, which is it seems like you guys might be starting to jog kind of soon as you prepare to go to Newtopia now. So I know you've recently won a booth at Utopia now through the naturally austen pitch slam. So I'd love to hear about how you guys are gearing up for that given that this episode is going to come out a little bit before you're actually there. So how are you preparing to talk to buyers, set up your booth? How are you preparing for the, this big trade show?
28:33
Veena Krishnan
Yeah, it's going to be a big one. It's so exciting and you know, we really want to make it a success. And I mentioned a couple minutes ago that our customers really value the convenience and so we feel like David would be a great fit for our friends in the natural grocer, natural products industry, because our customers, I think a couple of reasons. One, the convenience aspect, they're already running into their natural grocer, whether it be sprouts, fresh thyme, whole foods, etcetera. They're already running in there to grab their daily healthy living essentials. Why not just grab David as well? And then as well with that, there's a layer of this product has already been bedded.
29:07
Veena Krishnan
When we go into these stores, and I think is really great for consumers, they know when they go into these stores that even without looking like maybe they know that there's a clean standard, a framework for clean products that already meets their personal definition, and they have that assurance that kind of maybe the research and the legwork there has been done for them. And so again, tapping into that convenience of, okay, I know all these products on the shelves meet my personal needs from like a, like cleans or like safe, whatever efficacious standpoint. Now let me find that product. That is whatever meets the needs that I'm looking for in this specific moment. So I think as far as new Topia now preparation goes, it's making a really great list of speak to, like, the tactical buyer side of it.
29:46
Veena Krishnan
And then Whitney, she's managing our booth and the design there. So I love to default to her for that. But in terms of connecting with buyers, we have been doing cold outreach. We have been, you know, sending out samples as we can over the, even the several trailing months. I think the big benefit of the trade show, and y'all might know this best, is connecting IRL, putting a face behind the name, behind the email. Even if we've had a call, shaking hands in person, giving them the product, showing it to them in person, showing them how it feels, and especially with the skincare product like ours, that tangible feeling we see people really resonate with as soon as they try the product and adding any other personal context that we can behind it.
30:22
Veena Krishnan
So I think really looking to tap into those existing connections and try to push them along in the long lead conversation path and then connect with new folks too. Too. You know, we're paying attention to things like LinkedIn. Y'all's newsletter is on startup CPG, you know, chatter on the Slack channel. Those are huge resources for us.
30:39
Veena Krishnan
Looking at past trade shows like since Newtopia, now is the new expo east, looking at who was there last year, seeing the chatter on LinkedIn or whatever, as to who's going to be there this year, and saying, all right, like how can we find that right person that we can connect with, invite them to our booth or even send them a note, send them samples in advance, set up meetings in advance, trying to do a multifaceted approach to make that IRL connection and then use that as like a starting point or like whatever, a pad to jump off from.
31:05
Whitney McElwain
Yeah, anytime we have an opportunity, it's really important for us to do it well. So we are not the type to spread ourselves thin and just try to make each thing work as best as it can. We really like to be discerning of is this the right opportunity for where we're at in our strategy right now? And do we have the bandwidth to actually do it well? And so that's hard, right? As founders, like, there's only two of us, we can't do it all. And so our entire job is largely, and I'm sure other founders feel this prioritization and trade offs. Veena and I talk about that all the time, aside from our third founder, a co founder, Google. And so we have to be really discerning.
31:43
Whitney McElwain
And so new top now we're really excited about because it surely fits into our strategy and we are able to dedicate resources to do it well. So on the design side, it's definitely fun. We were being scrappy with the resources. We have to pull something together that really represents our brand. Being in the glow neighborhood as anti beauty brand, how can we really showcase that only in a five by ten space, which isn't a lot. Little teaser, we're bringing Camp David to new Topia now, which we're excited about since it as well is in Denver. And so how we do that is really just thinking about all of the details, just the little details from what we give. We don't want to be giving something that's wasted on site. Right?
32:26
Whitney McElwain
I mean, at the other day, especially given the fact that this is Newtopia now and sustainability is top of mind for all of us. We want to think about, just trying to think about all those little details from every single thing that we're messaging on site. The ability, like Venus said, for people to try the product, to receive our product in our brand as the experience when they stop by our booth and then of course to, yeah, ways that we can connect with startup, CPG community, the naturally network community when we're there and then additionally with all the people that will just be naturally at the Utopia now conference. So the design stuff is a lot of fun and we're just checking everything off the list as we get closer to it, but having a lot of fun with it.
33:07
Speaker 4
Yeah.
33:07
Veena Krishnan
And if I can add just one more thing, too, it's. At the end of the day, we heard this advice. It might have been on a through startup, CPG, on a podcast or elsewhere, is we really want the. Our booth to bring our brand to life and show a buyer that, hey, this is the vibe that we would be channeling on your shelves. And even at the packaging level or as we, you know, event may potentially one day come more of a built out Deborah product block or what have you displays or demos, any vibe that we would be bringing to their store, this is what you'd be getting. And so I think that's the question that we continue to ask ourselves every step of the way through the design process, is, are they going to really get it?
33:40
Veena Krishnan
And I think especially as a skincare makeup, functional makeup, focused brand in a natural grocer, it's not the biggest category there is, I guess, the best way to phrase it. And so saying like, yeah, this is why we need to be on the shelf, and this is the vibe we create. And we know it's going to connect with your customers. That's like, I think, like, the feeling we want them to take away.
34:00
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I love that. And I also loved what you said, whitney, about making sure that even though you guys got a free booth, is it the right opportunity in the right time and the right use of your resources? Because on top of the booth, there's everything else. Setting up the booth, flying to Denver, bringing free samples. So I think it's important to remember when considering these huge trade shows that it's not just the booth itself that you pay for, it's everything else. And making sure that your brand is really ready and prepared to spend those resources and the time and the effort that goes into a trade show, I think is really important advice to give. But as we wrap up, and speaking of advice, I will kick the last question to Patty.
34:37
Grace Kennedy
Maybe it's a big one, but you guys can think about it if you need to.
34:40
Speaker 4
Just before my question, I actually didn't share that I love your guys product. When you submit for the selfies last year, you guys were a finalist. And I remember, like, Jenna and I, we talk so much about, like, all the beautiful products we got, and, you know, we got in February, so we have enough time to really try them and make sure that they last and all the skincare benefits. So I just want to add that, and I use, like, every single trough.
35:06
Veena Krishnan
Like, oh, yay.
35:08
Speaker 4
Just felt so good on my skin.
35:09
Whitney McElwain
We need to get you more.
35:11
Veena Krishnan
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
35:12
Speaker 4
Whenever you guys, like, reach out to me, I was like, oh, hi.
35:15
Veena Krishnan
Like, I love your product, so thank you, Patty. That means so much to us.
35:19
Speaker 4
Yeah. I'm excited to meet you guys in person and utopia now. And I highly recommend everyone to stop at your boof and really, like, feel. The product on the skin is just so light and so good. Like, I didn't feel that I have anything on my face and I think that's, like, very comfortable, especially for a woman, like, if you use during the whole day.
35:36
Veena Krishnan
So, yeah, great way to describe it, comfortable. I love that.
35:41
Speaker 4
Oh, so for the final question is, if you guys were starting over day bird, what would be, I know there has probably many, but what would be one advice that you give yourself if you are starting in this king care space again?
35:55
Veena Krishnan
I can start us off. I'd say we're so lucky to have each other. Like, I'm so grateful to have like a co founder toss ideas off of and support and whatnot, but you also need more people. So for me personally, we've been kind of at this for about three years and two years with the product launched, the community has been the best part. And I've been able to connect with folks through startup CPG, naturally network. We're also certified women owned business, so Webank is also an incredible resource for other founders. I highly recommend it to other women owned businesses out there.
36:26
Veena Krishnan
But connecting with community and kind of creating, I don't know if it's like a committee, but like a circle of friends that you can text quick questions, especially when things don't go right, which is often, but when you're like, at a weird decision point, you have to pivot. It's like, I might have a question about a UPC barcode. And I need someone thinking to myself like, oh, my gosh, like, who are the products? Who are the other founders? I know who, like, have done it in this way that I'm thinking of doing. And having a person, a quick text on, like a Tuesday evening can really give you a lot of mental peace and also, like, help you kind of figure out like a think of creative solutions. So for me, the community has been awesome.
36:59
Veena Krishnan
Being a founder is an awesome journey, but also isolating in some ways and hard for others to relate to. So just surrounding, for me, like, surrounding myself, it doesn't have to be a million folks, but three to five and people that you could really text on a whim and be authentic and vulnerable with, and set up calls with randomly or whatever, you never know what you might be doing and how you might be helping each other. But that has been something that I wish I had done a few years back, have even stronger of a community around us today. But things like startup CPG is perfect way to start just searching questions on there. Connecting with folks. Yeah. Highly recommend to anyone who hasn't just engaged with it to get started there.
37:35
Whitney McElwain
I definitely echo Vina on that sentiment. I mean, you know, day bird would not still exist if weren't co founders, right? It being such a lonely road, it's hard to keep going without a co founder, without community, without support. And so it's so important. If I had to give myself other advice starting out, one of the things that I now have realized that and maybe didn't realize in the beginning is just you're constantly going after that next thing. The goal stick is constantly moving. Veena does really helps me do this. Right. But celebrating small wins is so important because it is always going to consistently get out of reach. You're always going to be going for that next thing, and that can feel like just a constant grind.
38:21
Whitney McElwain
So celebrating those small wins from day one and also realizing that since you are going to be constantly going after that next thing, prioritizing what you need from day one too, because you're never going to get to that space as a founder, where, okay, now I have more resources, I think I'm going to have more time to prioritize myself. That's never gonna with more resources, you're just gonna have more work. Right. So realizing that you do need to prioritize yourself from day one and celebrate those small wins whenever you have them. And we're obviously celebrating the fact that we're getting to go to Newtopia now and getting to make these relationships and meeting y'all in person and meeting more of the startup CBD community in person.
39:03
Whitney McElwain
And so that's definitely something that I would go back and remind myself of from day one, for sure.
39:08
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's such good advice to hear on both ends. Just, you need things that keep you going and community and celebrating the small wins is definitely huge in the sense of keeping you going through those challenging times that are inevitable no matter what industry or product you have. So my final question is just where can people find day bird? Where can people learn more and keep up with all the exciting things that are happening with day bird?
39:33
Veena Krishnan
Yeah, absolutely. So for anyone who's interested in following our journey, you can follow us on our socials. We're a bird co. On Instagram and on TikTok and we're always posting info about our products as well as, you know, our brand vibe there too, if you're looking for that content. And then of course, where you can find us. So we're online right now at Urban outfitters. You can find us through our website, which is also day Bird Co. And as well, hopefully more in the future as we get to new Topia now and hopefully get on more shelves. Did I forget anything there, Whitney?
40:02
Whitney McElwain
No, I don't think so. Yeah. Follow along on our journey. If our four in one serum skin tent speaks to you, we definitely would love to have you as a customer and please dm us with feedback. We absolutely love to absorb that. So and hopefully, if you are in Utopia now, also send us the slack within the community because we'd love to meet up with you.
40:24
Veena Krishnan
Absolutely.
40:25
Grace Kennedy
Yes. I love that. Everybody have a big meet up at the day bird booth.
40:29
Veena Krishnan
We're here for that for sure.
40:30
Grace Kennedy
Oh yeah. Well, this was so much fun, you guys. It was so great to learn more about day bird. Patty, any last words?
40:37
Speaker 4
No, I think I should all my feedback about the product. I just very happy that I got to hang out virtual a little with you guys. Cannot wait to meet you in person. And thank you so much, grace, for having me.
40:49
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, thank you all for being here and we'll see more soon.
40:53
Veena Krishnan
Thank you.
40:55
Grace Kennedy
All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, it would help us out so much if you left a five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I am Grace Kennedy, the editor for startup CPG, so feel free to add me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Slack. I'm always on the hunt for new and exciting brands to feature. And if you're a potential sponsor that would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipsartupcpg.com. And finally, as a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our community on Slack and you can sign up via our website, startupcpg.com.