My skincare company's launch was derailed by the pandemic. Here's how we pivoted, and 3 tips for keeping business on track when conflicts arise.
- Thai-Anh Hoang is the founder and CEO of EmBeba, an independent clean skincare company based in Boston.
- After working on her company for two years, the brand's original launch date was derailed by the pandemic.
- Hoang says she used 3 tips to stay motivated and overcome hurdles to successfully launch.
I spent two years developing a skincare brand from scratch. We were poised to launch our first product in May 2020, and then, in January 2020, just weeks before our product was scheduled to ship, news of COVID began to spread and effectively ground business to a halt.
At first, the delay felt temporary. I reached out to our marketing team to let them know that we'd soon have a new ETA. But as I watched, our whole lives changed, and the realization that we weren't living in a temporary state but rather a "new normal" sunk in. After nearly two years of development, my products were halted on the production line, almost done but held captive overseas.
Our launch was postponed indefinitely. To make matters worse, at the end of March my husband contracted the coronavirus and after he recovered, I fell victim to it. We caught it one at a time, with the sick one isolating while the other cared for our toddler. Like any entrepreneur and mom who knows the value of alone time, I used the time that I felt well enough to keep forging ahead with plans to launch my skincare brand. As far as challenges that make you want to give up go, those weeks topped the list.
Like any founder, I took the realization that my product wouldn't get to market as planned pretty hard
I'd developed the idea for the skincare brand during one of the most challenging periods of my life. I'm prone to depression, and after having my daughter in April 2017, I experienced severe postpartum depression. I've been fortunate to be treated for these issues and to have developed my own coping strategies.
The time was so difficult that the pandemic itself, as huge as it is, began to feel like just another obstacle to overcome, like so many before.
Towards the end of 2019, my beloved dog, a family member for nearly a decade, was killed in a hit-and-run accident, and shortly after, I miscarried. Through those difficult times, working on my startup allowed me to channel my energy, focus, and grief outwards. I believe that strategy also saved me when it came to handling the disappointment of a delayed launch due to COVID.
For any entrepreneur, being derailed just weeks from launch by an interminable situation that's outside your control is devastating and extraordinarily frustrating. As a mom, the best way I can describe it is comparing it to the doctor telling you to wait another nine months when you're already in labor.
A pandemic is an extreme example of what can happen to derail a startup's vision
Still, the experience I've had isn't uncommon among founders. If you're starting a company, you need resilience in spades, and you need a strategy to pick back up and keep going, even under extraordinary circumstances. Here are a few key strategies I used to keep moving forward in a crisis.
1. Solve one problem at a time
The road to building a company is long and full of potholes, and there's no perfect moment to start a business.
A lot of advice for founders focuses on maintaining your vision, but I'd suggest a different strategy in a crisis: Solve the problem that is directly in front of you. Sometimes, a long-term view can be overwhelming and intimidating, but taking each issue as it comes will keep you on track to make progress towards your vision and goals.
For example, when manufacturing our first batch of product, we ran into a huge issue that would impact our completion schedule and delivery. As part of our production, we test for 481 pesticides, and one came back above our strict minimum residual threshold. This impacted our completion schedule and delivery. If I'd thought about it long-term, panic would have set in related to the potential domino effect it could have.
Instead of spiraling, we methodically tackled the issue by isolating the most likely culprit, sourcing new ingredients, and retesting. We commenced production and dealt with the issue of lost time by spending more to expedite new testing, production, and shipping. In this way, the issue turned out to be a roadblock and not a dead end.
2. Be flexible
The skills of resilience and flexibility are essential traits for any founder. A global health emergency like the pandemic is a powerful reminder that just because we have an idea or plan of how things should work, doesn't mean that's how they'll always pan out.
I started EmBeba with absolutely no experience in cosmetics or skincare, so I built a network of mentors and experts to learn the industry from the ground up. Listening to the advice and being open to changing your mind is a key element of success when you're building a new company.
Being too stuck on an idea or a set vision is a recipe for failure. Instead of wallowing in disappointment, I listened to the advice of mentors, and experts who gave me feedback on what I could do during the downtime to make the eventual brand launch even stronger.
I scrapped the old playbook and created a new plan. Having this flexibility kept me busy and focused maximizing my time to increase our chance of success.
3. Be persistent
I've yet to meet a successful founder who doesn't have a dogged belief in themselves and what they're doing. You've got to get past all the doubt, both from yourself and from the people around you. Believing in yourself and being persistent is the best defense against being demoralized when something goes wrong.
Our timeline shifted from a launch in spring 2020 to one in January 2021. I believe this experience has made us even better and stronger. As a founder, I've become more flexible, resilient, and a better leader under pressure.
Of course, this won't be the only challenge or surprise I face in my journey building a new company. In fact, just a month after we launched, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy. What might have been a daunting thought just a year ago - a baby and a business, at the same time - is now something I have the skills to manage head on.
Thai-Anh Hoang is the founder and CEO of EmBeba, an independent clean family skincare company for skin sensitivity.