Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
Harry's Labs CEO Jeff Raider.
- Shaving brand Harry's has posted three job postings in the past week for a new direct-to-consumer brand it's incubating, called "NewCo" for now.
- The startup is part of Harry's Labs, an accelerator of Harry's that's focused on finding other categories to disrupt.
- It's unclear what type of product the startup will make, but one DTC consultant speculated that it could be grooming or personal care products that could be marketed to Harry's existing customers.
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Harry's set off the wave of direct-to-consumer brands competing against consumer-packaged-goods giants like Unilever and Procter & Gamble. Now it's staffing up to shake up another industry.
The shaving brand recently posted a handful of jobs for a new DTC brand that it is incubating as part of Harry's Labs, the innovation group in Harry's tasked with identifying other categories to disrupt.
According to three job postings on Harry's website, the company is hiring for a new start-up called "NewCo."
"Over the past year, Harry's has identified and vetted an exciting opportunity to create a new brand and business in an underserved CPG (consumer packaged goods) category," read the job postings. "They are now gearing up to launch and looking to hire a team to build and run the business, revolutionize another category and improve the experience of millions of people."
Harry's is
- A director of growth marketing
- Creative director
- Business operations and strategy manager
The job postings suggest that Harry's is looking for experienced applicants. The director of growth marketing and creative director positions will report directly to the CEO, for example. The director of growth marketing position requires seven or more years of e-commerce experience, and the creative director role needs at least 10 years of experience at agencies or in-house teams, according to the postings.
The business operations and strategy manager should ideally have four to six years of experience and work on the startup's product launches, commercial strategy and with external partners like vendors and suppliers, according to the postings.
Harry's wouldn't comment on the new team or what kind of product is being planned beyond confirming that the roles would be part of Harry's Labs.
In an interview with Business Insider earlier this year, founder and Harry's Labs CEO Jeff Raider said that Harry's was looking to launch one or two new DTC brands this year. Raider said that he looks for categories with high customer dissatisfaction and organizes focus groups to talk with consumers about brands.
For example, Harry's Labs' first brand, Flamingo, a shaving line for women, was based on the idea that women didn't see themselves portrayed in existing brands.
Read more: The cofounder of Warby Parker and Harry's reveals how he decides which industry to disrupt next
"They were portraying women like goddesses," he said. "The products themselves were more expensive than men's products. A quote that really stuck with me was, 'Women would abstain from sex for three months if they could remove all their body hair.'"
Harry's success gives it a leg up with a new startup
Nik Sharma, a DTC consultant that has worked with brands including Hint and Cha Cha Matcha, said that he's heard about recruiters from Harry's VC arm Harry's Ventures reaching out to people for roles at a new DTC company.
Based on how Harry's has already created personal care items for men and women, he said he suspected that the new startup would focus on similar products such as a skin care product or perfume.
He said Harry's also already has many of the resources needed to launch a DTC brand, including negotiated manufacturing and shipping rates and first-party data on its customers. For example, Harry's could slip samples of the new startup into subscribers' boxes or poll them about what other related products they're interested in.
DTC brands like Iris Nova are experimenting with a similar model to Harry's. The beverage brand is known for its Dirty Lemon drinks but is spending $100 million over the next three to five years to build out a portfolio by creating and investing in other beverages.
"It would make perfect sense to build a brand around a consumer persona and almost double-down on the lifetime value of the consumer that they currently have," Sharma said. "They have the proof in the pudding."