It’s Wednesday and you know what that means… time for Women in tech Wednesday! A couple of years ago, we were introduced to Birchbox, a subscriber based service. Each month, subscribers receive a box filled with sample size beauty products. For ten dollars a month, subscribers have the opportunity to try different products before buying them. I subscribed for a year and enjoyed receiving different products each month. They range from benefit cosmetic company to lesser known make up companies. I heard about Birchbox through my friend Rudy, who was also subscribed and happy with the products he was getting.
The geniuses behind Birchbox are Katie Beauchamp, CEO and Co-Founder of Birchbox, and Hayley Barna. Both of them met at Harvard Business school and have prior business experience. What brought them together was the frustration that came from shopping and choosing the best products. They wanted to know the difference between the products they had available to them and there was no store that could offer them that. That is when Birchbox started.
Katie and Hayley created a service catered to customers who want to test out products before buying the regular size. Birchbox allows you to do just that, you get to try out companies you’ve never heard of before and if you like it enough then you can go out and buy that product. The best thing about this is that you know what you’re buying. A lot of the time we often buy products based on reviews or on a whim and we really don’t know what we’re getting. There have been several occasions where my skin reacts negatively to these products.
Birchbox shipped its first boxes in 2010 and it became incredibly popular. Shortly after their launch many other competitors offering the same service popped up and Birchbox has been fighting to stay a leader in this unique service provider. Like any other business, they have faced some hardships but they’re staying afloat and always looking to standout in the market and keep the company profitable.
The most important thing is to not be afraid of failure. Failure is our biggest opportunity. You have an idea? Talk about it with friends, who knows maybe they have the same vision as you!