When to say no and when to say yes

Founded in 2019, Rachel Lorenzon’s company, Heist, has a mission to redefine the booming male grooming industry – projected to reach US$115 billion by 2028. 

Bootstrapped so far, Heist has sold more than 16,000 units in 22 countries and caught the attention of British GQ, which ranked its first-generation Heist Hair Dryer as the number one choice for men. 

Lorenzon works closely with barbers and clients to develop her products.

“I’m super aware that I’m a female founder in a very male-skewed category, so partnering up with trade in that respect was super important,” she says. 

She is now leading the business through its first investment round, with a goal of raising $1.2 million to scale production and turn Heist into a global brand. In the short term, the business is working on the third-generation Heist Hair Dryer, slated for an early 2024 release. In the mid-term, Lorenzon plans to crack the US market. 

Startups are a process of constant iteration, she says. 

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What do you wish you knew starting out that you only learned along the way?

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One of the main learnings we had is you need to protect your time and your headspace. 

Quite early on, we saw the value in outsourcing those menial tasks that were low value but important to a business, like third-party fulfilment. By not doing those things, I have the headspace to think about things like the business' vision and the networking we need to do. 

You can only do so much in a day and what you say no to is as important as what you say yes to as a founder.

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What went wrong, and what did you learn? 

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We have ‘micro-failings’ every day; it really is part of the process. But, I think everybody’s got a story of a blinder. Our blinder was on one of our earlier production runs when we tried to rush things through. 

We manufacture our product overseas and source different parts from multiple factories. Once it’s in the UK, we take it over to get it out to our warehouse and fulfilment. 

[This time,] when it landed in the UK, we realised we’d made a bit of a blinder on some of the marketing materials inside the kits. We were early on and thought, ‘right, this is making us look as immature as we actually are’. So we had to divert our truck, find a warehouse space within minutes, and then me, my husband and a couple of our friends got down there and we were literally unpacking our product and repacking it. I was pregnant at the time, so I was on the factory line with my tummy [all the way out]. 

The efficiency of that was horrendous. We made it fun, and it was okay to do when we’re talking about thousands of units, but our business model for scaling will be much bigger than that, and you cannot make those sorts of mistakes when there are hundreds of thousands of units.

It was a good lesson for us to be mindful of the corners we were cutting. There’s a saying, 'slow is smooth, and smooth is fast’ and I think there’s some real value in that. Make sure you give important things the right amount of time. 

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Who did you work with that helped you get to where you are now?

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We realised early on that our experience was very much on the branding/marketing/advertising side. The blind spot we had was the barbering world, so we made allies within that community. 

We develop all of our products with input from barbers, which, one, gets us into their world and their circle of trust and, two, gives us credibility when we talk about our products. 

But, it goes beyond the product. Barbers are sort of an extension of our team in terms of sales, but then also education. Through them, we educate guys on what to do and how to use [the products] and how to get the best results.

The other thing that’s important for startups, and founders in particular, is it is so bloody lonely at times. You need to find your people.

I’ve got two communities that I’m part of. The first, Female Founders Rise, which is primarily UK based, is a group of female founders in the trenches together. 

There are some really weird dynamics that happen with female founders and there are things that work against us. That group of women find ways to overcome those obstacles and provide inspiration, advice and companionship. 

Then I’ve got another community called Foundrs. I feel super lucky that I managed to wing my way in because some of these people have grown and scaled businesses worth hundreds of millions, but they’re also the most generous people in terms of advice. 

While asking for help doesn’t always come naturally, especially for female founders, you have to give people the chance to say no. Most of the time, they are very generous. It’s also really important to give as much as you take. I try, even though we're at an early stage of our business, to give back where I can.  

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What was the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

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‘If you’re not feeling a bit embarrassed by what you’ve put out in the market, then you’ve left it too late.’ 

Startups are a ‘progress over perfection’ process; you are constantly iterating. Getting your product out quickly means you can start talking to your customers straight away and getting feedback. 

We would have had no idea about some of the changes we’ve made to our product if we didn’t talk to our customers. For example, guys tend to hold the hairdryer on the barrel, they don't use the handle. But, you wouldn't know as they're all doing it in their own bathrooms. Through talking to them, we’ve completely changed the ergonomics of [our] design.

It takes a bit of vulnerability as a founder because you’re sometimes putting things out there that aren’t polished, but customers are super forgiving if you take them on the journey with you. 

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What advice would you give to another founder? 

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I would put networking right at the top of the job spec for any founder, especially if you plan to raise investment. You can’t go from zero to raising a $1 million; you need to build a relationship and take people on the journey with you. 

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And what was your first entrepreneurial moment?

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Our family were holidaying at Hot Water Beach, and with the Christmas money we pulled together from our grandparents, my sister and I bought a load of spades. We rented them at the beach because, obviously, you use the spade to dig your ‘hot pool’ in the sand. 

We were so little. It was the first time I realised that money is a tool that can be leveraged to make more money, and for a kid, that’s a really important learning. 

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Founder Feedback is a weekly series asking founders about their startup journeys. If you have a story to share, reach out to mary@caffeinedaily.co