The Ultimate Home-Based Business

Thirty years since her breakout on Friends, Courteney Cox is taking on a new role-entrepreneur.

- DIANA RANSOM

Courteney Cox may be an A-list celebrity, but she’s also a proud homebody. “I’m one of those people who love design,” she says, referring to her seaside Malibu house of 17 years. “I redecorate all the time. I love my home so much.”

It’s only logical, then, that the 60-year-old actor’s foray into entrepreneurship would involve a business that provides beauty products for the home. Two years in, the Santa Monica, California-based Homecourt, which makes and sells candles, room sprays, and various home-cleaning products, is on track to triple its revenue for the year, grow its product list to 140 SKUs, and, after redesigning its packaging, launch into 2025 with an ambitious retail strategy.

“I want Homecourt to be a household name,” Cox said during an interview at this year’s Inc. 5000 Conference, held in October in Palm Desert, California. “I think it’s limitless what we could do.”

In some ways, the brand is a homage to the hit 1990s sitcom Friends, in which Cox’s character is a passionate clean freak. Still, Homecourt doesn’t have nearly the same name recognition as its creator, who is preparing to star in the seventh film in the Scream franchise, as well as direct a truecrime thriller for Jason Bateman’s production company, Aggregate Films. But that’s about to change, and it’s not just because Monica Geller from Friends is on board.

In October, the brand, co-founded by Cox and Sarah Jahnke, a 35-year-old former L’Oréal exec, celebrated a key achievement. After a year of selling directly to consumers through Homecourt’s website, and another year of cultivating more than 100 boutiques, Homecourt began its rollout in national retailers Bluemercury and Nordstrom. For the luxury cosmetics retailer and the high-end department store, carrying cleaning products remains somewhat new, but the crossover appeal is undeniable.