It’s always been a dream of mine to start a business so it was a case of waiting for the right idea at the right time. I felt I’d learned as much as I could in my previous job and it had given me plenty of skills that I could take away and use for myself!
Alongside, Co-Founder, Flinty Bane, Ben, launched SKIN with the hope of breaking down one of the biggest barriers in the beauty industry; price. SKIN is the newly launched app built for savvy beauty shoppers. It is the only dedicated platform with a dynamic price comparison tool for all beauty products. SKIN will help consumers decide what to buy, at the best price, from trusted sources such as Boots, ASOS, and more. Ben brings the financial and operational expertise to the app, from leading the fundraising portfolio to driving partnerships to take the brand to the next level. Ben believes that ‘social e-commerce has the potential to revolutionise the way we shop online, and this begins with SKIN.
This really could be an endless list but there are two that stand out to me. The first is not to be afraid of failure. When starting a business you’re going to make loads of mistakes, everyone does. You’re also going to have to take risks, such as deciding to start a business in the first place! I think it’s really important for people to accept that sometimes their decisions will be the wrong ones and that’s fine, just learn from it. We’ve made countless mistakes already but we’ve learned from each one and the business has become stronger because of this. The second is perseverance. You have to deal with a lot of rejection when starting a business. This begins at the idea stage (if you’re getting advice from a good mix of people, not just your family and friends!) Then fundraising, trying to get your first sale, there will always be knockbacks. This doesn’t mean the business is going to fail, it could be that you’re speaking to the wrong person, your pitch isn’t quite right, the product needs tweaking, etc. Whatever it is, try to find out and come back stronger.
We’ve done two rounds of fundraising, both funded by angel investors. We used SEIS which is a great scheme that offers investors a tax break for investing in early-stage startups. If you’re raising in the UK I would highly recommend having a look at this and getting advance assurance before you go out to investors.
We’ve been one of the lucky few that haven’t been affected by Covid, if anything it’s had a positive effect on the business. It gave us the opportunity to start up in the first place as we suddenly had lots of time available and we were able to do everything remotely. Online shopping has also skyrocketed which is great for us.
When starting a business you’re going to make loads of mistakes, everyone does. You’re also going to have to take risks, such as deciding to start a business in the first place!
Crazy! Most of the time it’s great – doing something you love, building something you believe in, that you have control over. But with that comes a huge amount of stress and responsibility. I wouldn’t swap it for anything though, starting a business is the best decision I’ve ever made.
Now it’s time to spread the word! We’ve spent months developing the app and we’re really happy with it. Now we want to help as many people as possible save money on their beauty products and be regarded as the go-to platform to shop for beauty. We’ve only just launched in the UK but we’re already planning our expansion into other countries too – so watch this space.
Fred Maude and Jack Carr , co-founders of Addesu, a UK SME. Read on for more insights into this entrepreneur’s business savvy.
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