THE EXPERIENCE was surreal. Jeff Raider and Andy Katz- Mayfield, the co-founders and co-CEOs of the trendy grooming-products startup Harry’s, were wearing suits and ties. They were surrounded by lawyers. And they had just experienced an hourslong grilling by antitrust regulators in a room at the Federal Trade Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C., a hulking limestone edifice on Pennsylvania Avenue. Their apparent sin: competing too well against razor giant Gillette.
Isn’t antitrust law supposed to work the other way?
Raider and Katz-Mayfield launched the New York City-based Harry’s in 2013 with the seemingly improbable idea of taking on not only Gillette but also Schick, two enormous brands owned by consumer packaged goods conglomerates that together controlled some 90 percent of the men’s shaving market at the time. Using a direct-to-consumer model initially, Harry’s became a player in shaving, with nearly 7 percent of U.S. nondisposable-razor sales in 2019.
Emboldened, Harry’s launched other personal-care brands and attacked its bigger rivals on their own turf, at retail stores such as Target and Walmart. This kind of accomplishment would have looked unthinkable to anyone familiar with the personal-care aisles a decade earlier. In just a few years, Harry’s, along with another DTC disrupter, Dollar Shave Club (acquired by Unilever for $1 billion in 2016), had helped slice Gillette’s share to around 50 percent, from north of 70.
This story is from the Winter 2020 - 2021 edition of Inc..
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Winter 2020 - 2021 edition of Inc..
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Screen Play
Joe Thomas and his co-founders were two weeks away from running out of money for their software startup when, in 2016, they launched a new product and went all in on prerecorded videos as a workplace communication tool.
THE GUY WHO PUTS COPS IN THE SKY
BLAKE RESNICK, A 24-YEAR-OLD WITH FUNDING FROM SAM ALTMAN AND SAM BANKMAN-FRIED, IS ON A WILD RIDE TO REINVENT THE FUTURE OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE.
AI Gets to Work
It's leading-edge, it's downright scary and it's here. Following AI's breakout year, we take a look under the hood at how entrepreneurs are applying the tech and what you need to know to stay competitive.
THE CRUSADING KOMBUCHA CEO AND 200 YEARS OF STARTUP-DESTROYING LEGAL DOCTRINE
Michael Peter wants to dismantle a longstanding legal precedent that can prevent entrepreneurs from getting their day in court. His not-so-secret weapon: A small-business superhero named Reverend Justice.
ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE FEMALE FOUNERS 250
SUCCESS often breeds success-but triumphs also arise out of necessity. Consider that Airbnb, Uber, and Rent the Runway started during the Great Recession. In many ways, the past year was defined by similar tumult. While the U.S. never technically entered a recession, the retrenchment in investment and ad spending paired with the psychological-if not direct-toll of tech layoffs yielded tough times indeed. But female founders are nothing if not resilient, and their achievements defied the conditions they faced, giving us cause to expand our list to 250 of them. They're not ranked, but they are organized around themes. In the pages that follow, you'll find snapshots of courage from women who've overcome trials-such as keeping the internet running in war zones, coping with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, or facing personal crises. You'll also learn how this year's top female founders grew their collective 2023 revenue to more than $8.86 billion, raised $6.2 billion in funding to date, and kept it together not just to survive, but to thrive.
Shelley Zalis
On that elusive work-life balance, her own version of perfection, and pivoting with positivity.
Steve Young Shares Lessons From the Private Equity Playbook With a First-Time Founder
The athlete-turned-investor helps Tessa Barton prepare to scale her bootstrapped photo-editing startup, Tezza.
AI in HR Tech: A New Era in Human Resources Technology
The next generation of HR software is here, powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Now, your business can harness the transformative power of AI in HR tech.
Think Liberally and Deliberately
Why do I devote four weeks a year to reading and thinking? So I can supercharge all the other days.
At Board Meetings, the CEO Should Get Lost
Directors need to candidly discuss company leadership. They can't do that if the top manager is also the board chair.