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BUSINESS PROFILE
RIGHT ON THE NOSE
HOW A FRAGRANCE COMPANY TAPPED INTO ITS FAN BASE AND SECURED $8 MILLION IN FUNDING
GREAT MARKETING ALONE DOESN’T CUT IT Before her MBA and tenure at The Honest Company, Chen was an MIT undergrad. A self-described nerd who enjoys data and analytics, she’s parlayed her data-driven skills to further tap into who Skylar’s customers are and how they like to communicate. Still, Chen knows even the best data isn’t enough to sustain a business. Chen’s understanding of the people side of Skylar is one of the major factors that allowed it to grow at the speed it has. “As amazing as a great marketing campaign can be, delivering to our customers every day, with the right shipping speed, product quality, shopping experience, and customer support is what actually creates customer loyalty and a sustainable business, from my perspective,” Chen says. EMPOWERING WOMEN AND INSPIRING GIRLS In addition to opting for ingredients that are better for humans and the environment, Skylar donates a portion of its proceeds and time to Step Up, a national nonprofit organization that provides mentorship to girls in underserved communities. Skylar’s contributions go beyond a big check. This year, Chen and the Skylar team attended Step Up’s Career Connections Conference, where they personally mentored high school girls and provided guidance on topics like interest discovery, interview preparation, and confidence-building. Chen knows firsthand what it takes to stick with something you believe in, and she’s sharing that knowledge to empower and inspire other women and girls. In an interview with Forbes, she summed up her thoughts on the tenacity entrepreneurs need to take their idea to the next level: “If you’re passionate about it, if you’re willing to work hard for it, and if you’re not willing to take no for an answer, go for it. Change can be the impetus for great things.”
concoct complementary pairings. Early on, she fulfilled orders out of her garage and made daily trips to the post office. In a time when the words “clean” and “natural” are tossed around like candy on Halloween, Skylar’s products, from perfumes to lotions, fit the bill authentically. As outlined on their comprehensive, user-friendly website, everything is hypoallergenic and free of the “big 6 no-no” ingredients. Even the packing peanuts are made of biodegradable recycled corn starch. From the beginning, Chen saw the need for a better fragrance that adhered to its nontoxic roots. Her personal experience is integral to how Skylar has developed and continues to attract a loyal fan base. Company have helped her key in on how to scale a business, she says, “from learning how to fail fast — working quickly toward execution, learning from our mistakes and pivoting to successful strategies.” Chen frequently turns to the Skylar community to guide product development, sending out samples of new scents to loyal customers for feedback. It’s a lesson she learned in the early stages of Skylar. Starting out, Chen had used her own preferences to guide product development. She had an eye- opening experience during a friend’s visit when she sampled some of the prototypes: Her friend disliked all the fragrances Chen loved and preferred the ones Chen didn’t like. From there, Chen began sampling and gathering consumer input to influence what scents made the cut. Skylar’s attentiveness to its customers has been integral to growing and sustaining business. “By keeping our eyes on what matters most — our customers and our community — we’ve been able to skyrocket,” Chen told Forbes. BUSINESS SCENTS Chen’s previous experiences at The Honest
For experienced businessperson Cat Chen, being part of a successful startup and building a brand wasn’t anything new. Chen holds an MBA from Wharton and had worked at Apple and Activision before joining Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company as the vice president of operations while the company was still in its startup phase. What was new to Chen, though, was going out on her own as an entrepreneur. And what was totally outside Chen’s wheelhouse was the perfume industry, which has been dominated by traditional big-name products found in department stores and malls. It wasn’t until she discovered that her newborn was allergic to the perfumes she wore every day that Chen sensed there was room for disruption in the industry. Prompted by her personal experience, she found an untapped niche and an opportunity to build her own business from the ground up. That journey has blossomed into Skylar, a natural fragrance company that seeks to encourage and empower women through better products and an uplifting community. Last February, the company secured $8 million in funding and has seen 2,000% growth year over year, according to Forbes. Skylar recently began offering a subscription-based model where members have access to new fragrances every month. Amid that success, the company has remained true to its mission to empower women with better products. GOING AU NATUREL When Chen began searching for fragrances that didn’t contain irritating ingredients, she couldn’t find any that were hypoallergenic. Even essential oil-based products caused her daughter’s allergies to flare up. So, Chen set out to make her own, learning about the harmful chemicals found in most perfumes and developing a better alternative.
She began by experimenting with scents, eventually working with a renowned perfumer to
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