She's Breathing New Life Into a Staid Industry. That's His Specialty

Method co-founder Eric Ryan has built a billion dollars’ worth of companies. Cast co-founder Rachel Skelly is facing impostor syndrome head-on. Together, they’re launching a business in an unfamiliar industry—one roller coaster at a time.

- KEVIN J .RYAN

ERIC RYAN HAS a soft spot for startups. After selling Method, his ecofriendly cleaning-products company, to E cover in 2012, Ryan just had to do it all again, twice, launching the supplements startup Olly in 2015 and the first-aid company Welly in 2019. The three businesses have a combined valuation of more than 1 billion.

Ryan’s latest venture is the direct-to-consumer jewelry brand Cast, which he helped launch in 2021 as a founding investor, and which represents his first company outside of the consumer packaged goods category.

I always want to go out and do something I’ve never done before,” says Ryan, 49. That’s the only way to find out what you’re capable of.”

Cast co-founder and chief creative officer Rachel Skelly shares Ryan’s penchant for branching out into new industries. Prior to serving as VP of creative at Olly from 2014 to 2019, Skelly, 45, held creative roles at the baby food company Plum Organics and at Old Navy. Her goal for San Francisco-based Cast is to shake up an industry that’s been dominated by a handful of large brands for decades.

“Shopping for fine jewelry should be fun, but it’s really intimidating,” says Skelly, adding that Cast’s DTC shopping experience is designed to be warm, welcoming, and exciting.”

Armed with 18 million in funding from VC firms including Silicon Valley-based True Ventures, which invested in fast-casual restaurant chain Sweet green and wearable hardware company Fitbit, Cast in October launched its first retail location, a storefront in an outdoor mall near San Francisco. The store trades the glass showcases and white-and-gold interiors of traditional jewelry retailers for a colorful, friendly design intended to create a Willy Wonka, kid-in-a-candy-store experience,” according to Skelly, who recently welcomed her second child.