Successful e-commerce brands can grow from minimal investment to significant revenue by building trust with customers through education-first marketing, community engagement, and authentic customer relationships rather than aggressive sales tactics. Luna Aziz demonstrates this by starting Legendairy Milk with $750, using personal experience as a lactation supplement user to create products, and growing to $50 million through organic community building, educational content, and customer feedback integration.
Install our extension to search inside any video instantly.
How Legendairy Mom's Personal Pain Built a $50M Massive Business
Added:It was a business created by accident.
This was definitely not an intentional business. I thought I was going to be a stay-at-home mom. I was on maternity leave and we've been profitable [music] every single year, but we didn't get from 0 to 50 million in the first year.
Luna Aziz is the founder and [music] CEO of Legendary Milk. She built a women's wellness supplement brand from a $750 initial investment into a $50 million bootstrapped business. I bought a coffee grinder and a pill encapsulator on eBay for like $100. I started testing formulations on myself [music] and I posted them on Etsy. I received like 50 orders overnight one day and now your company controls like 70% of the lactade supplement market. So you've like completely dominated. What would be the most surprising thing people would find out about the price to [music] develop a supplement? So we will not source any ingredients from China. So, we have to be really mindful of what's the difference between selling something on Amazon versus selling something on retail. Like, [music] is there any cost differences, shipping differences? The margins are virtually the same between DTOC, retail, and Amazon. Now, >> interesting. And I think that's great for us because somebody who wants to be a founder saved up $10,000 to launch [music] your product. What would you tell them to do with that $10,000? I would say um Luna, welcome to How We Profit. Thank you for having me. I'm so pumped for this interview. I feel like you've got so much to share and it's so inspiring to have learned about your story. The fact that your company is doing $50 million in revenue, a company that you started 10 years ago with 750 bucks and a dream and trying to just create a solution for a problem that you had yourself. The company is called Legendary Milk. Tell us about your company. Like for people who don't know about it, what does your company do?
Sure. Yeah, this it does feel very surreal and after you just said 10 years, it doesn't feel like that. It feels like it's just flown by. But um so Legendary Milk offer it's a women's health supplement brand that offers sciencebacked solutions primarily to women, obviously primary primarily to mothers um focused on conception, the pregnancy period, lactation, and the postpartum period. So your company really goes from women from every stage of their life uh from pregnancy and before pregnancy to like all the different stages. Was that something that you decided like from the start or did that evolve over time? It definitely evolved over time. Initially uh it was very primarily focused on lactation and specifically low milk supply because of my own personal struggles with making enough milk for my son. And then I realized that it's such an underserved community. Like we it's still breastfeeding is still so taboo. No one wants to talk about it. Moms are shamed for it. Um but there are also just hallmark periods of a woman's life where she needs more support. She needs more education and she needs you know sciencebacked solutions for whatever she's going through whether it's hormonal fertility um what have you. So um that's where we were able to expand really beyond that to conception all the way through that postpartum period.
>> So cool. I love the fact that you were your own customer. Like you were actually trying to search for solutions.
>> Yes.
>> And the solutions that were out there were not working for you. Tell us about your experience not making enough milk for your child. How you started researching about it and what actually brought you to the point of wanting to create your own product. First of all, I was my own guinea pig to your point, which I do not recommend. Please don't ever do this at home. Um, but I had my first son 10 years ago and I think when we're we're pregnant and we're kind of in that period of her life, we're thinking about nesting and our baby registry and the labor and delivery and what that's going to look like and everything else beyond having the baby is kind of like a tomorrow problem. And um I think in in media, you know, TVs and movies, we've um simplified breastfeeding to make it look like it's just a really easy and beautiful and seamless process. And so that was what I was expecting. Um, and then my son came a little bit premature and um, I was being pushed very heavily to provide breast milk to him to help him to thrive. And I remember I was put on a triple feeding schedule right out of the the gate right after I had him in the hospital. And triple feeding is probably one of the most physically and emotionally demanding things to ask of a new mom. So, what that entails is um, nursing your baby and then pumping directly after for them and then feeding that pumped milk to them. So, it's this vicious cycle where that's kind of all you do all day long. Nursing, pumping, washing bottles, feeding baby, changing diaper, and then the process starts all over again. So, I did that for the first 9 weeks, not really understanding why it felt like that was all I was doing 24/7, feeling like I was trying to move heaven and earth just to make a little bit more milk, and he still was not was not able to thrive on my breast milk. Um, we were having weight gain concerns. He just seemed very collicky and upset all the time, and something didn't seem right.
Um, so I worked with the lactation consultant at nine weeks because I just felt I hit my break breaking point and I realized something's not right. I'm doing all the right things and it's still not working for me. And there was a kind of a a spiral of shame and guilt that comes with that. Like why is my body not doing what it was supposed to be doing?
>> So, um, I worked with the lactation consultant and at the end of that she said, "I'm not really sure why you can't make enough milk. I really can't help you with that. Some women just don't make enough milk. um but there's a supplement called fenugreek that you can try and you know maybe that will help and that felt very discouraging to think that there wasn't a solution and I wasn't happy with that. Um I always joke that I'm kind of like the Hermione Granger of lactation because um for me it's always I need to know the why. I'm just constantly curious about the inner workings of everything. And so that that option wasn't satisfactory to me. I needed to understand the underlying reason why I couldn't make enough milk.
And I eventually did find out. Yeah, >> but I did end up trying the fenugreek that she recommended and it I never try to demonize anything that is out there because I think there are options that will work for some moms and not for others. But >> uh for whatever reason I had a really negative experience with fenugreek where it dropped my blood sugar so low that the room was spinning and I was terrified. I was about to call my husband because I thought I'm not going to be able to take care of the baby.
We're by ourselves at home and I had to lay down. Um, so just kind of a scary moment and I realized that herbs are still medicine and that we need to be mindful of of how we recommend these things because we all have very unique body chemistries >> and I had a history of insulin resistance and gestational diabetes. And so that lactation probably should have been thinking about a more targeted solution for me knowing my my previous history.
>> Yeah.
>> Um, and so then from there it it felt like I there weren't any other options.
You know, this was a decade ago. So, you know, you were either just shoveling bowls of, you know, oatmeal into your mouth or you were eating um I think there was Ovaltine at some point. That was kind of a trending thing to drink Ovaltine. And then there were lactation cookies and that was kind of it.
>> Um so I started doing research on what women have been using for generations, centuries, >> to help with milk supply. So, I looked in the Middle East and India and South America and Asia and found all of these herbs that I had never heard about um that had been passed down from generation to generation of women. And so, I ordered them online. Um I bought a coffee grinder and and a pill encapsulator on eBay for like $100. Um and I started, this is the kind of where the guinea pig part came in. I started testing formulations on myself and I was able to come out with five different formulations um that ultimately worked for me. I found, you know, I would test, okay, I'm going to try this formulation for a week and see if it increased my milk supply and if it did, I would continue with the next formulation.
>> And um at that point, I was 4 months postpartum. For me, I just felt like I had accumulated so much knowledge over this period of time that I just wanted to share it with other moms because it felt like I was very isolated and alone and that I was the only one going through low milk supply. So, um, I posted the products, the formulations. I ordered bottles and, you know, more pills and all of that. Uh, more ingredients and I posted, um, them on Etsy. I had a little printer. I made my own little clip art labels. I mean, it was really scrappy. Very scrappy. Um, just working in my little studio in my house.
>> And, um, I thought, you know, maybe if there's just, you know, another mom out there who's experiencing the same thing, at least she has other options now. and maybe I'll get one order a month just as a fun hobby.
>> And someone in a a Facebook breastfeeding group of 20,000 moms, someone had purchased the product and was raving about it in the group. And I remember I I received like 50 orders overnight one day. And I was doing everything myself. So I was still making all of the pills. I was still bottling everything, packaging, labeling, um putting them sealing them into boxes, putting the shipping label on there. I was also communicating with all of the moms through Etsy. So what I would typically do was go through kind of a whole litany of things that they could be doing to help them to increase their milk supply before we would even talk about the product. So I was almost like >> troubleshooting, customer service, >> educating, >> lactation education, and then also helping with the product.
[clears throat] So uh I didn't sleep for the first year. I worked probably until about 2 or 3 in the morning every night helping moms, connecting with moms, and then I would wake up at 7:00 with the baby and do it all over again. Um so I do not recommend that. you will get stretched very thin very quickly. Um that's where burnout will happen.
Absolutely. But I felt like I was just called to do this and it was something I was so passionate about. And in that process I connected with so other so many other moms who are going through it as well. And I realized oh this isn't isolated just me. This is something that is much more chronic and serious than we probably talk about because a decade ago social media was wasn't what it is now.
>> People weren't connecting on the same level that they can now. So, it was it was pretty amazing to to create that community early on. Young and profits, I love scrappy founders, but one thing I don't love is sloppy business setup.
When I first started YAP, I cared about all the fun stuff, content, clients, growth, building the team. I was not thinking, is my home address private?
Who receives my legal notices? Do I actually understand my registered agent?
Honestly, I had one on auto renewal and I didn't realize how important that decision was. I learned the hard way and that's why I started using Northwest registered agent. Northwest helps you form your business, serves as your registered agent, which is the company that receives your official mail and legal notices. It is super important for you to have a reliable registered agent as your company grows. Again, I learned that the hard way. And registered agent gives you the identity pieces that make you look legit. a business address, website, domain, email, phone number, and free legal docs. What I love is that it turns the boring founder stuff into one clear setup. Not 10 vendors, no putting your personal phone number everywhere. No guessing through operating agreements. Build the dream, Yap Bam, but set it up like a real business from day one. And pick a good registered agent. Don't pay hundreds or thousands of dollars from lawyers and legal fees when you can get that from Northwest for free. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/yapfree.
That's northwestregistered aagent.com/yapfree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with northwestregistered agent at northwestregisteredagent.com/yapfree.
Something that I love about your story is that it doesn't feel like you were actually doing it for the money. Like that you didn't have this big goal like I'm launching a supplement company. I'm going to raise money. I want x uh client profile. You didn't do market research.
You just started small, built it brick by brick, used community. And something else that I s find fascinating is that you don't really put yourself out there too much. You're more of an introvert and you were kind of this, you know, that faceless brand trend. I feel like you were doing it before maybe that was even a thing. And I'm just curious like how did you get the demand when you weren't necessarily putting your face out there or or feeling comfortable?
Like how did you get over that if you did have to put your face out there from time to time? And walk us through like how your marketing strategy developed over time. Uh I'd love to hear that.
>> For sure. Yeah. And to your point, it was a business created by accident. This was definitely not an intentional business. I thought I was going to be a stay-at-home mom. I was on maternity leave.
>> Crazy. 50 million. Yeah, fam. 50 million.
>> Yeah. To your point, I never really wanted it to be about me, even though the the mission was my underlying issues with my own milk supply. Um connecting with so many moms and realizing that we were all experiencing very similar experiences, whether it was breastfeeding struggles or low milk supply, we all just needed support. Um, so what you'll find on our social media especially is we uh work with a lot of moms where we are um filming with them um while they're actively breastfeeding or we're talking kind of educational um tips and tricks to help with nursing or pumping. And what I wanted moms to see was themselves in those videos. So it really wasn't important for me to be there um to be featured in it because I wanted, you know, all walks of life, women who are experiencing various issues and complexities related to breastfeeding. I wanted mom to connect with that person and not with me.
>> Um, and I think that really resonated and it created a community that is so diverse, but also I think we've we've garnered a lot of trust because it's very much education first and the products second. So, I was thinking about that that Janet Jackson song um, what have you done for me lately?
>> I think a lot of brands um, are doing this now, which is great, but you have to put yourself in the place of your customer and what you can do for them.
They don't care about your product necessarily. You have to understand what journey they're going through and the pain points and inflection points of of where your product could be helpful and be supported in whatever they're going through. And I think that's we've done a fantastic job of that of making sure moms feel like this is a judgmentfree zone and community for them. Um because that's honestly it's something that I didn't have with my first baby and I wanted to create that community with Legendary Milk.
>> Yeah. And now you've got over a million followers across all your different platforms. your company really hasn't spent a ton of money in paid advertising. Everything has been truly organic, word of mouth driven uh using Facebook and Instagram primarily. One thing that I love about your brand is that it has like such a fun personality and uh you've got product names like Smitten Kitten, Pump Princess, Girls Got to Go, and it's like really silly. And something that I teach my students, I teach a LinkedIn master class about personal branding is that you need to have a relationship with your audience and you need to really define what that relationship is and you also need to have a personality like how do you show up for sure >> and you've really infused personality in the brand even though it's more of a like faceless brand. Talk to us about that. So, I think humor in marketing is so underrated and some brands are doing it really well and I wanted to bring that cheekiness to to your point because, you know, I think in the postpartum period, especially with a newborn, if I always joke, if you're not laughing, you're crying. Um, it's just the hormonal roller coaster that you're going on. And so, you know, initially with the lactation supplements, we have these um kind of uh 50s housewife kind of vibe with the the women on there and they all have this little speech bubble where there's kind of an inside joke where if you were a breastfeeding mom, you would kind of understand. It's like that right of passage where you're like, "Oh, I get it now." It's kind of an inside joke. Um and I wanted moms to just feel like they weren't alone. um that we're all going through it and they're doing a fantastic job and and um you have the support of this community to, you know, to hold you up when you're having a tough day. So, I hope that they open up, you know, their cupboard and they look at that and they're like, "It's not so bad because I know there are other moms going through this, too."
Um and then we we we kind of um you know, channeled that into our women's health supplements as well with Smitt and Kitten and all of that. And you think about again taboo topics, taboo products. I mean, so much is swept under the rug when it comes to women's health and vaginal health and >> um just even research on women and and how our bodies are so vastly different than men's when it come when it comes to any of the research, you know, around pain and just medicine and all. It's just it's kind of crazy to think about.
Um so we wanted to make sure that it was in your face. We're not hiding it. Um it's something to be proud of to be a woman to experience these things to be validated in them. I think a lot of women have had to be their own personal advocate when they go to the doctors because things are swept under the rug.
Yeah. And certain symptoms that you you've experienced where you're like, I don't feel right. My body doesn't feel right. And the doctor's like, oh, that's just part of being a woman or [clears throat] that's part of the hormones going, you know, during pmenopause or menopause or whatever. And I love that women are finally saying, no, it's not. It's not normal. And if you can't advocate for me, then I will do it for myself. and we're looking for solutions outside of, you know, just the preliminary help that you're going to get from a doctor.
>> And you're making it um accessible, right? You're making it really accessible. You're making it less taboo.
>> I love your mascot uh cuterus.
[laughter] >> Yes.
>> Tell us about that and and like did you think of that?
>> We definitely wanted something to go in line with this kind of cheekiness, but also just opening the door and the window to women's health and reproductive health. and it never imagined that we would have a human-sized uh uterus um on the team, but it is really eye opening when we go to public um events or we've walked through Walmart because our our products are sold in Walmart and Target stores and so we've walked into these stores and um primarily men. Um they'll look at it and not know what it is for one. Um they have no idea that it's a part of the female anatomy. So it's kind of a great educational tool as well. Um, but it's opened a lot of conversations about it too and that this is just a normal part of a woman's body and it's not anything to be ashamed of.
>> Yeah. When I think of the relationship that you have with your audience, I think of like you're like a mom, right?
You're telling people maybe like what they wish their mom had told them or felt comfortable to talk to their mom about or even like their sister or best friend.
>> That's what we get a lot is kind of that big sister energy passing down. You've been through it. You've gone through the trenches. like what would you want to share with that next generation of of women who are going through this?
>> Yeah. So for the listeners out there, something to think about is like what is your relationship to your audience? Are you a mom? Are you a cheerleader? Are you a mentor? A big sister? Right. So I love that. So let's talk about your actual like business and the cost of creating a supplement. So you started with $750, which is crazy. I actually just interviewed John Paul Deoria who's the uh founder of Paul Mitchell and Patron and he started Paul Mitchell was 750. So [laughter] you both start he's got a billion dollar company. You've got a $50 million company. Uh but man like you've had exceptional growth.
>> Thank you.
>> You started manufacturing all the bottles by yourself. Now you have like a huge facility in Austin where you're manufacturing everything in the US.
uh talk to us about some of the early like big learning lessons about being in the supplement industry like in terms of like manufacturing and what you had to figure out and what is the most expensive part of the process, what is the most lucrative part of selling a supplement. I talked about the first year I was making everything in house and then um my husband, you know, part of my French said you either have to or get off the pot. Like this is either a company or it's not. it's either a really valid business idea or it's not and you can't kind of have one foot, you know, there and one foot with us and so you're stretched too thin.
>> Um, so we ended up finding a manufacturer in Dallas who made supplements, uh, very trusted manufacturer and our initial PO was the smallest that they had ever received.
They were taking >> How much?
>> It was only 500 bottles over the span of I think five products. So, >> and how much do you think that cost back then? Oh gosh, I can't. It was a tiny tiny a few thousand dollar maybe. It was a tiny like a run 500 bottles $3,000 or something like that.
>> Yes. They were not expecting I mean we had you know been vetted by other manufacturers and tried to talk to them.
They were like they just closed the door on us. They're like this is too small.
We're not taking the the hit on this because there are expenses involved with even um running a small PO like that on their line, right? especially when they had bigger um clients than us.
>> Mhm. And you did all the bottle design, marketing, you did it all yourself.
>> Absolutely. We had a fantastic designer who, you know, initially it was my clip art and then I I found a designer who basically took the ideas straight out of my head and put them on paper. She was so talented and um she helped create our website and the women that are featured on there as well. Um and really just I think cemented the you kind of that housewife theme, that very cheeky, you know, uh look that we have. Um, so we we worked with this manufacturer. They really took a chance on us >> and now we are their biggest client. Um, we still are with them 10 years later.
Um, I'm very much of the, you know, if you take a chance on me, then you have my loyalty kind of for life. And so I appreciated that they're one of the few that didn't slam the door on us. Um and so that was initial like first year just creating growth because at that point you know it had started to expand beyond the Facebook groups and moms were talking about it in their their mom communities and kind of I mean word of mouth is so powerful especially when it comes to moms. They have so much purchasing power. Um so you know was still very organic very bootstrap but it was definitely growing and our our social media um exposure had also grown quite a bit because I was really focused on the education. So moms were starting to follow us. They were starting to share with their new mom friends. And the interesting thing is I I started to notice that um when I was out and about or even now 10 years later, I might be at a conference where a mom will come up and say, "You saved me during my breastfeeding troubles, my anything that I was going through, I would go to your page and find some sort of tip or trick that would help me. And I never used your products, but I had a girlfriend who was going through clogged ducks or mastitis, and I immediately recommended your products." And that is so hard to replicate like just the the trust that they had in us. I don't take that for granted and I truly appreciate every interaction I have with these moms because it's just so rewarding. It's you know I tell my team we're not selling a bag of chips here. Like there's a very much a tangible connection, emotional connection that we're making with these moms. Sometimes they reach out to us at the lowest point in their postpartum period. they are ready to quit that moment, that day and our customer service team has to rally around them and be their cheerleader sometimes because they may not have that support at home and I take that very seriously and now your company controls like 70% of the lactade supplement market. So you've like completely dominated this market and a lot of it has to do with the trust that you've built with your community. You provide trust with educational content. Um, also through your customer support which every person has to have 90 hours of training.
>> Yes.
>> And they're breast milk like experts like Yeah. Talk to me about it.
>> So there's a so there's a a lactation training that they take to your point just understanding the foundations of breastfeeding. Not every customer service person that we hire is a mom so they may not understand. And I always think about breastfeeding as almost like a foreign language. Um where there's so many complexities to it and if you haven't lived it, you don't really understand and can't put yourself in the shoes of what a mom might be experiencing. So they go through this training so that they are able to effectively troubleshoot with moms who who reach out. And initially what happens is if mom reaches out, for example, and just says, "Hey, I'm having trouble with my milk supply. I'm I'm concerned I'm not giving enough to my baby." Um, right off the bat, um, our customer service team has a list of questions that they're asking to help troubleshoot with this mom. Product isn't even mentioned. It's really just about kind of understanding what's going on behind the scenes with this mom. How can we help just give free advice, free support to them? Um, and then, you know, way down the line after we've kind of gone through this dialogue, that is when we might recommend a product. But we understand that it's just a complement to what mom is already doing at home.
Whether it's nursing more, pumping more, you know, um working with the lactation consultant. We're going to find, you know, what that it could be multi-pronged, but we're going to help to provide solutions beyond just our products to them. Yap gang, I built an app in 15 minutes, and before you ask, I did not suddenly become a software engineer. I've actually never written a line of code. This all happened through Mindstone, an AI transformation company that helps close the gap between having access to AI and actually getting value from it. I attended their AI breakthrough weekend and I had no idea what to expect. I was completely blown away and this weekend was life transforming. I left that weekend thinking about how I need to implement AI across my company, thinking about all the training that I need to implement. I used to use AI for one-off tasks. draft this email, summarize this doc, give me a few ideas here and there. And that's not the right way to use AI in 2026.
There's so much more that you can do. I now use AI as a second brain. AI is going through all of my emails, is going through all of my call transcripts, is going through my Slack messages, and knows everything about me. Every article that I've ever written, every webinar that I've ever wrote, Mindstone gives you these tools. But first, you've got to actually do the training so that you know how to use AI appropriately. And that's their AI competency program.
That's where most people start. It's a four-week online program, no code. It's totally hands-on. This is what I put my whole company through. So, all 60 of my employees just got this 4-week program and they learned so much about how to prompt AI, how to use AI correctly, make sure that you're giving AI enough context, and then how to actually use their Mindstone platform, which you get access to. It's called Rebel. I use Rebel every [clears throat] single day and it's helped me become so much more productive and it's helped my whole company become more efficient that we've actually froze hiring. So, if you guys want to learn how to use AI in your company, if you want to roll out AI and you don't know where to start, this is a great program. It's really affordable and it's something that I highly recommend that everybody do for their teams. You can get 10% off the AI competency program. Head to experience.mmindstone.com/yap to start. That's experience.mmind.com/yap to get 10% off the 4-week AI competency program. Yap, fam. Attention is not income. I learned that the hard way.
Before Yap, I had the sorority of hip hop, over a hundred female bloggers, a buzzing site, MTV interested in a reality TV show twice. But I didn't get to turn that attention into an offer that people could easily buy. So, when I launched my LinkedIn secrets masterass, I did it differently. I needed a storefront that looked credible, explained the offer, took payments, and made checkout simple. That's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is a commerce platform that gives you your own online store, checkout, payments, and business tools all in one place. What I love is how fast my Yap Academy storefront felt real. It wasn't coding or duct taping tools together. I could just focus on the course content and the marketing and helping my students. Shopify's templates and AI tools help you launch fast.
Shopify Checkout helps buyers move with less friction, including one-click checkout for returning shoppers. And Sidekick is Shopify's built-in AI assistant for questions while you're building. That course went on to generate nearly half a million dollars.
And Shopify made it simple for people to buy. Young and profits, your skill is not a business until somebody can pay for it. Start at shopify.com/profiting.
All you need is the idea. Shopify handles the rest. Start your free trial at shopify.com/profiting.
Again, that's shopify.com/profiting.
go to shopify.com/profiting and start building your dream business today. I really want to dig deep on like the cost and like how to actually create a supplement brand and the cost involved with it. Something that people don't often think about uh when I'm thinking about how much does a bottle of pills cost. I'm thinking about the product itself, the marketing, the packaging, the shipping. But there's also this like research portion beforehand that I think people don't think about. So how long is the typical research process for you guys and what are the costs involved in the research process? That is a the huge part for us. Um because we are not trying to launch a million different products a year. Um we are very pointed in what we launch and our entire product development team consists of women. So, we will have very candid roundt discussions about just our own personal experiences with hormonal challenges and ovarian cysts and vaginal health and pmenopause and um I love those conversations cuz very rarely do you ever kind of hear that from people because it's so taboo. Right.
>> So, your own team becomes your market research.
>> Absolutely. Yes. And I do think that we obsessively follow what our customers are saying too. And I think in the early days that was a huge part of our success is I was in those Facebook groups listening to what moms really wanted and and trying to address those needs. So just I mean I think that's a tip for anyone who is is creating a brand or a small company right now is be obsessively following what your customers are saying cuz I'm sure there's little pearls and tidbits that you can take from that and be maybe have your next you know product idea come from that. Um but yeah we would have these round table discussions. I was definitely very much at the heart of it as well because I think for any product that we launch I want I like to think about it as you know in the heart of what was going on in my life where I was having any sort of issues for example I have PCOS would this product help me in the the depths of my issues with hormonal imbalance and if it wasn't something that would be helpful we're not going to launch it because I want to be able to feel very pride you know very proud of what we've launched and be able to stand behind it. Um, I don't remember. I'm I'm aging myself, but the hair club for men founder. I don't know if you've ever seen those commercials.
Um, it was for I think it was for Tupes or the hairspray to cover um bald spots, but he said, "I'm not only a um the founder, but I'm also a customer or something like that." I mean, it's so true. Like, there isn't anything that we have launched that I wouldn't take for myself or wouldn't give to all of my friends and family and very much do. So, um, so that was super important to me to have a women-only product development team so that we could have these really candid conversations. Um, and then to your point, the research part. So, it takes us about a year and a half to actually develop and, uh, launch a product.
>> Wow.
>> So, we are, um, typically in our, especially with our women's health products, we're looking for ingredients that have clinical studies behind them.
Um, typically we're often using using branded ingredients because they'll have a plethora of research behind them that we can then use for some of the claims that we might put on the bottles. Um, we're also sharing all those clinical studies on our product pages and our PDP images. Um, the thing that's interesting about supplements is it's kind of like the wild wild west in the US. And um, I >> was literally just going to ask you about this.
>> Yeah, it's there's really not I mean I know the FDA says that they somewhat regulate supplements. Uh, they don't to the level that I would like them to, to be honest. And it's a little bit scary when I see some of the supplements that have come out. And um just the lack of third-party testing and certification.
And I mean a huge chunk of of the money that we spend in the time is on that part. The third party testing, the lab testing, all of the certification. So halal certified, kosher certified, non-GMO project verified. Thought >> about that, >> certified organic. I mean, sometimes I I'll look at a bottle of something sold on Amazon and they'll just have the generic organic label on that. They didn't do any testing to to make sure that every part of that was actually organic all the way down to the capsule.
The capsule also has to be certified organic to be able to have the green the green label. Um, and so I think a lot of uh supplement companies will cut corners because they don't think consumers understand or maybe care about those things. And I very much care because we are working with a very vulnerable population when it comes to moms and babies. And I remember I was so discerning when I was breastfeeding because anything that I was ingesting, I was so worried about what how it would translate and transfer into my my breast milk.
>> Yeah.
>> So we understand that we um have to be at a higher level and elevate, you know, our our supplement standards. Maybe the rest of the US can do whatever they want, but we we understand that we're working with a very vulnerable population. It's really important.
>> Yeah. It's really interesting. It's It's like you really get what you pay for.
You might find a really cheap supplement on Amazon.
>> Sure.
>> But maybe that means they haven't invested in research or certifications or the quality is just generally low.
So, I feel like people really need to be aware of that.
>> Absolutely.
>> What kind of things should people be looking for with their supplements? I think if you know any of those certifications are important to you, make sure that you are looking for the actual certification. um we call it a bug that the the actual label on there instead of the generic version. So there should be something that looks like the actual formal label like non GMO has its own label. Um USD organic type.
>> Absolutely. Yeah. It's just kind of the circular little little label on on the bottle. And you can tell if it's generic cuz it there's it doesn't look like the formal label that you'd have. Um and you can go to all of those websites and actually see what the label should look like. Um Kosher and Halal are two other ones. They're actually organizi organizations that um you know for like let's for example for rabbis um they have a kosher certification. So this is a group of rabbis that will go to your facility to your manufacturing facility and look at every process of how you manufacture and sterilize and sanitize the line and making sure that it's it's kosher um acceptable. So, um, for someone to just put a generic kosher on there, they didn't do any of the documentation, didn't pay for the the multiple rounds of testing that, um, would suffice for the rabbis. So, just something to be aware of if that's important to you. What would be the most surprising thing people would uh find out about the price to develop a supplement? Like, is the actual ingredients of the supplement like the cheapest part about everything? I wouldn't say it's necessarily the cheap.
I I mean I think that I maybe it's a unique situation for us because we're working with a lot of herbs that are a little bit unique and very specific to lactation. So there are certain ones um that we source from different countries or certain countries actually that we refuse to work with. So we will not source any ingredients from China.
>> Um they have a monopoly on a lot of these these crops and herbs. We don't feel great about some of the testing that we has come back in terms of heavy metals and and whatnot and we just don't feel good about using those ingredients.
it does make it a lot harder to source when you're not using the huge behemoth that is China that's growing everything.
Um so we have to be really mindful of seasonality um ordering herbs ahead of time. So sometimes we have to order a year in advance just to be able to have enough inventory to make the product. Um so we have a fantastic supply chain team who who handles all of that. But um I think that is kind of unique probably to to us a little bit because we do have very high standards when it comes to the ingredients that we use. Well, I'm assuming anybody tuning in that wants to launch any sort of supplement or something that we digest is going to have similar quality standards. So, it's just such great insight to be giving us.
What are some of the metrics that you guys are following as a business? Like what are some of the key metrics that you guys are looking at? So, we are omni channel which comes with a wonderful, you know, there's pros and cons obviously to to being omni channel. So, we're we sell our products on Shopify.
We're on Amazon, of course. You know, unfortunately, you kind of have to be in this day and age.
>> I'm going to ask you about that.
>> Um, we're also in Target stores and Walmart stores. Um, I like to be where moms are, and that's typically where moms are shopping is, you know, Target and Walmart. I remember with my my baby, that was kind of my escape. I would go and grab a Starbucks and we would spend an hour just mossing around the aisles, you know, just whiling away some time.
It was like my me time. Um, so we're in a little less than 2,000 Target stores nationwide. Thank you. Um, 4,000 Walmart stores nationwide. We're also in some small um I shouldn't even say small cuz HB is amazing. Uh, but it's more of a local um grocery chain.
>> It's like our Austin um pride.
>> Absolutely. Oh, >> in Austin loves HB.
>> Who doesn't love HB? So, we're in HB stores. Um, we're in Meyer, which is kind of a Northwest grocery um, chain as well. But we've been really mindful about where we go because it doesn't make sense for us to be everywhere, especially because we are a niche market. We're focused very much on postpartum and lactation. So, some retailers just don't make sense. Um, and then beyond that, we're also on Tik Tok shop, which I have a lot of opinions [laughter] about Tik Tok shop, both good and bad. Um but yeah, be just, you know, by virtue of us being omni channel, um sometimes it can be hard to kind of wrap your mind around all of the numbers and um the sales and and the profits and and where you're kind of hemorrhaging money.
Um Tik Tok shopping one of them. Um, if anyone is watching and knows how to be profitable on that channel, please let me know because it's I I find that it's one where we spend a lot of money on >> influencers and samples and ad spend and there really isn't any profit to be found on that that channel.
>> Interesting. So much hype.
>> So much hype. And we do have sales on there by by, you know, I shouldn't say that, but the commission rates are so high. The the hidden fees associated with that channel, um, it's it's very expensive to sell on there. And [clears throat] so what we found is it's I wouldn't say it's necessarily even a sales channel as opposed to like a marketing channel for us because more brand awareness >> it is. It truly is. And we've seen a halo effect where it's impacting our retail sales and it's also impacting Amazon sales because someone might see a video on Tik Tok shop about a product and won't initially buy on there, but they might go into target.
>> I think it's the lack of trust. It is because you haven't done much with paid ads. So that's almost like being viral.
Going viral is sort of like a paid ad for sure. Because people are not necessarily going to follow.
>> Oh, absolutely.
>> But they're going to see the content and it's almost as if they they saw an ad, but then they see you in Target and suddenly you have more credibility because you're not just a Tik Tok brand.
>> Absolutely. I think there's kind of this inherent thought that if you're in a retail store that there's been some sort of vetting that's happened behind the scenes and that this is a good brand, you know, >> it's like so popular, right?
>> Absolutely. It validates that. Okay. So, let's talk distribution channels. I think this is one of the most interesting parts of your story. So, you started on Etsy. Are you still on Etsy?
>> Yes. Yeah. I mean, we're on Etsy, but it's it's a level. Yes.
>> Well, starting I always tell people who are not entrepreneurs yet. I'm like, just start an Etsy store. I feel like it's such a great absolutely first place to start and like being able to channel demand. You knew that moms are on Etsy because they're planning their baby showers. They're planning like they're already on that website heavily. So you ended up being where they're shopping and then what was the next thing that you started? Was it your Shopify store?
>> Shopify was next. And yeah, to your point, I mean, 10 years ago, Etsy looked very different, too. And we still have our Etsy shop because we garnered so many reviews. And I think that is another trusted resource, right? I think sometimes now we even have to question reviews because you just don't know where they're coming from or is it more of like kind of that gray market where like people are paying for reviews. And so these were legitimate customers leaving the reviews. We had fantastic, you know, a rate, fantastic rating, fantastic feedback. So, I just wanted moms to see that and say, especially in the early days where they didn't know about us or they're learning about us initially to say, "Oh, this okay, this is legitimate. This actually helped a mom to increase her milk supply."
>> Um, so then we moved to Shopify and then a few years in, uh, we were actually approached by our the Target buyer. So, she had just had a baby and that's how she found us. So, what typically Yeah.
What typically happens is um most of the time mom doesn't hear about us in the conception period in the pregnancy period. She's in a kind of a whole other realm of thinking about just preparing for baby and it's shortly after she gives birth that she finds us. Um so that was the case with this this Target.
>> They never know if they're going to have issues or not.
>> Absolutely. Yeah. And I don't want them to expect they're going to have problems. Um and if they if they do, of course, they have our community to to pull from. They don't always have to use the product. Target was the first retailer that picked you up and it was actually a fan.
>> It was a fan. It was a customering [clears throat] and she loved the products and I mean talk about like building trust already and not really having to have any um proof of concept or proof of business because she was a customer.
>> Yeah.
>> Um and so she was the first to take a chance on us and brought in a few of our SKs. They did very well in store. I think because of one is the product p packaging is just cheeky and it looks a little bit different than everything else on shelves. It's fun.
>> Um and the other thing is we were kind of behind the scenes. I was building this huge social media community in a way that other lactation brands weren't really focused on. They were very much focused about kind of shoving product down mom's throat. And I went from a different avenue of I want to just support mom in whatever she's going through. and the products can be kind of a support after the fact. Um, and it worked for us. It was definitely a model that has, you know, stood the test of time over the last 10 years.
>> So, you started off on Etsy. You go build a Shopify site and your DTC. Let's let's pause at that moment. Uh, first of all, did you did you create the Shopify website by yourself? We had um our designer was kind of a triple whammy.
She was a graphic designer/ illustrator slashcoder for websites. So, she kind of built the the first the main hire initially.
>> She was Yeah, she was one of the first um she she's fantastic. I mean, just so talented and so we had kind of a basic Shopify site that worked for a few years and until, you know, it gets more complic complicated, more bugs happen, but it definitely worked for our purposes um at that time. And I think 10 years ago, if you think about DTOC, >> I mean, there was a lot more power in Dc at that point. Um you could have full control of your your customer data and all of that on there. Um it was a very cheap to acquire a customer um on on Shopify.
>> I would say that over time um that is not one of our main sales channels anyway.
>> GTC has become less u important, but it was a good way for you to start.
>> Oh, absolutely. So for new founders who want to try Shopify, you can go to shopify.com/profiting.
They're one of our long-term sponsors and they're amazing, right? like they're so good to uh get your feet wet in the DTOC space. I agree.
>> Um and so you were using Facebook and Instagram to drive people to your Shopify site and then you went retail.
Has retail become your main distribution channel? I would say it's a mix between retail and Amazon. Okay. If I if I had to put >> And were you weary of putting your stuff on Amazon at first?
>> Yes. Why? Um, you know, I I have mixed feelings about Amazon. I understand that a lot of us shop on there. I shop on there as well. And I understand when mom is in panic mode and she needs something right now, it absolutely makes sense.
She's not going to wait a week if she has an active clogged duct or mastitis and I wouldn't expect her to. So, I I appreciated the expediency of being able to deliver our products to moms when they needed it, you know, right? Then what we initially started with was just kind of dipping our toe with Amazon and not um putting all of our SKs on there.
We just wanted to understand what was happening. And to be honest, I was the one who listed our products. And I'm not an Amazon expert [laughter] by any means. Um I remember a few years after that, we had an Amazon agency do an audit and they were like, "You don't even have product photos on here. You have like one image." And I'm like, "Yeah, we this is that was me.
[laughter] >> I was our Amazon expert for a while."
Um, you know, now we have an Amazon team and have really cleaned up and optimized our listings and all of that. And now, of course, we do have way more SKUs on there than we did before, but there are still some um some products that we have not put on Amazon. Um, because they do well on D TOC. Um, it I think it's still important for us to have a presence there as well. Um, we've tested certain things on Tik Tok shop just to see kind of what happens in terms of, you know, your point about verality. Um I think that it's a great channel to see kind of what happens and test and learn and then see that that halo effect happen with Amazon and um retail. So oftent times what we'll do is um for a product launch we might just start with Tik Tok shop >> and start to get you know some UGC some content creation going on getting a little bit of buzz and verality and then we'll launch on Amazon.
>> Oh so interesting. And then you still don't put all of your products on Amazon. Is it because you want some sort of like exclusivity for your DTC website?
>> Absolutely. There's uh there's a little bit of exclusivity with a certain product that we have. Uh they're called silicone collection cups. They're a a pump part that you use with your breast pump. Um and there are a lot of them out there. Um but we found a lot of success with just keeping them exclusive to DTOC and to Tik Tok shop. Interesting. Um and it's one of our bests sellers at this point. Um I think maybe because you can't get it everywhere.
>> What's the difference between selling something on Amazon versus selling something on retail? like is there any cost differences, shipping differences, minimums, even the relationship part of it?
>> The interesting thing about that is 10 years ago if you had asked me that I would have said D to C is where the margins are the best. It's so cheap to acquire a customer. Facebook works exactly the way that you want to when it comes to ads.
>> Um it's actually very different right now. Um I was talking to our CFO about this. The margins are virtually the same between DTOC retail and Amazon now.
>> Oh, interesting. So there and I think that's great for us because we're agnostic, right? We're we're going to go where mom is and and if it's Amazon for a period of time, >> so you can keep the prices also the same across the board.
>> They are the same across the board. Um and that's actually really important if you're looking to go into retail is those prices do have to stay the same because you will get dinged on Amazon.
You may learn lose the buy box. I mean, there's all of these kind of rules around, you know, the retailers are looking very closely to make sure that you're not offering a certain discounted price on Amazon or even on Tik Tok shop versus what it's going to look like in retail and you might get dinged for that. So, we have a fantastic sales team and that's kind of their job is to be responsible for like making sure that there's um price matching no matter where you go.
>> So, that's a big thing that your sales team is actually focused on is price matching.
>> Yes.
>> So, you're in so many amazing retailers, Target, Walmart, HB, Sprouts.
This is like every person's dream who's in, you know, the CPG business, right?
How did you do it? Like what like are you really good at relationships? Were you doing email campaigns? Did you know the titles you were reaching out to? Or did it just like happen? I think uh I wish I had a secret formula to share um with anyone watching. I do think that it came back to like building a brand and and building this such a strong community of of moms. Um, I think that the retailers couldn't help but notice.
>> Did everybody just follow Target? Like Target put it in and then Walmart was like, "There's probably people looking at the aisles of the different stores."
>> There's a a lot of kind of drama that happens with the buyers going into each other's aisles.
>> That's so cool.
>> Yes. They they definitely um you know and and Walmart was something I had to think about because I didn't know if that's necessarily where moms are are going to shop, but now it's actually proven to be um a place where our products sell really well. Um and we're in 4,000 stores nationwide, which is pretty pretty surreal to think about. Um but I think it just came very organically and naturally, and it came back to some of the buyers actually being customers of ours. the the brand um social media presence was just so strong and to your point um we were able to kind of usurp any other competitor because what we were doing couldn't be replicated. Um I remember our salesperson came from a um a competitor and she said we used to go onto your social media and we would try to pinpoint what it was that people loved about you. Like why were you getting so many followers and so much engagement and so many comments and we couldn't understand it. we're trying to kind of, you know, piece apart why why it's working. And so I think, you know, once you have that good formula, like the the sales and the the following will come with it. Um, and you don't have to shove your products down someone's throat to get there.
>> Yeah. You have such an amazing founder story. Like what a cool story. No investors, bootstrapped it all, reinvested all your revenue, just grew it brick by brick. So much organic.
Like do you ever feel like this is just like fate? Like it's just I'm definitely where I need I should be and I'm still so passionate about what I do. I mean every day to we get constant messages from mom saying you know you helped me through such a tough time in my breastfeeding journey. I couldn't have done it without you.
>> So it's your mission.
>> Oh absolutely. And I think the people that we hire are very missiondriven too.
We're primarily women. I mean which makes sense. Um, our team really cares about these moms and babies that we're helping. And so we're also passionate about it, which is fun to kind of just hear people's thoughts. You're like, "Oh, wow. I didn't know you cared so much." But, um, also it just resonates with me because I want to work with other people who care to this deep of a level. Um, and I think it just elevates us. Um, and we started out with a very small skeleton crew. I mean, I think with every founder, you feel like you can do it best and ultimately you find that you're actually the one stagnating growth because you think that you're the Jill of all trades and that you are the expert and actually there are people who are much smarter than you and much more capable in certain areas and you should probably focus in on your strengths.
>> Yeah.
>> And I learned that the hard way over time. Um, and now we have a fantastic, very capable, very smart team that I learned from every single day. Yeah. you were telling me offline that, you know, you're not really paying attention too much to the finances necessarily. And I'm really the same way. I've been getting more into it with my business, but I get more excited about creating new products, building community, being the visionary of the brand, and I've hired around the places where I'm weak, and every good founder should do that.
So, at some point, you were super burned out >> and you were like, I need a leadership team. Even your husband, I think, works for you. I'm curious of of what he does for you guys, but like how have you designed your team?
>> Oh, absolutely. Yes. So, my husband is our COO and um we also have a very strong CFO. She is a dynamo. Um she's terrifying in the best ways. She's just so smart, so capable. I mean, when people say we all have the same hours in the day, she doesn't. I don't know how she gets this stuff done. She amazes me every single day. Um, and she she's very much looking into the financials and really digging in and trying to understand because we are omni channel just not letting anything get out of control because that can happen very quickly where you know we were looking at Tik Tok shop for example the other day and we're like what are all of these hidden fees? All of a sudden we're paying 10% more than we were the previous month and that can happen very quickly when you're omni channel because you just you have to be able to kind of like get full control over what all of the distri distribution looks like and your sales channels. Um so I I really credit her with helping us to get organized and implementing processes and all of that which were very much needed.
We operated under a skeleton crew for quite a while and then we started um hiring um in marketing um accounting and finance regulatory. So we have an in-house regulatory person who's essentially just looking to make sure that any claims that we make are substantiated that we have research behind them and all that. I think that's really important and I think a lot of brands get in trouble because again back to the wild wild west where there's certain things you just can't say again they're not proven there's no research behind them and that's where you kind of get the slap on the wrist from the FDA.
So it's super important that you you know if you're thinking about working in supplements um that you have a regulatory team behind you even if you're going to hire someone to do that for you um you outsource that. It's it's super important to have that. Um but primarily our management team are women.
um our head of product development as a woman, um CFO, head of marketing, um head of sales, and I I just >> And you have a board now, too, right?
>> We do have a board. And I think it was really important for me to see women in manager and director roles because I don't know about you, but I never had a female manager. Um before starting the company, I just never saw that happen.
Um, and so I wanted especially young women who were starting with us, maybe this is their first job out of college, um, to be able to see role models in in their bosses and think that I want to be like this person in 10 years. Um, and so I think it's it's fostered a lot of um, mutual respect amongst the team. We have clear expectations.
Um, I'll get on my soap box for a second about the one thing that I is a pet peeve of mine is when um, small businesses or companies will say we're all a family. M >> I don't think that my team members are my family. Um I think it is actually um inappropriate kind of even to to relate to that because I have a family. I have two kids >> and um there are certain things that they can say or do that I accept because they're part of, you know, they're my kids.
>> So the other day my, you know, my son said, "I really didn't like the ham sandwich you made. It was really dry and terrible. I want dad to make it next time." I have to accept that abuse from my son. Um because he's my kid. But I think that um when we we're permissive and we say that this is part of your family, well, you don't pay your family to interact with you and hang out with you for 8 hours a day and you don't um fire or terminate or let go of your family. You know, I think that um it sets unreal realistic expectations. I think what um I'm always expecting for my team is mutual respect, mutual support, clear expectations, and I think that we've really fostered that environment where we are kind to each other. um we're able to have constructive discussions and discourse even if we don't agree on things because again we're all very passionate about what we're doing um but ultimately we are here to help moms and babies and I think we've done a fantastic job of that. So, how many people are on your team in total? Would you say >> there's about 40 of us altogether >> in all Austin based?
>> So, we do have some remote people because I do think um when you start to specialize. So, for example, for Amazon, we found a team in California where that was kind of their bread and butter. Um it wasn't something that we could necessarily find in Austin. So, um wherever we need to basically where it makes the most sense where we're going to outsource, but we do try to keep um everyone in the Austin office if we can.
>> Very cool. Okay. I want to do a little segment called founder failure file. So I'm going to just read off some questions to you uh because we all learn best from failure and why not help other people tuning in uh not repeat the same mistakes that you necessarily did. So are you cool with this?
>> Sounds good.
>> All right, let's do it.
>> What was your worst product launch?
>> Oh goodness. There have been a lot.
There have been many. Um, we, this was probably, if I went back to why it failed first, it would be because we weren't listening to our customers um, in the way that we should have.
Again, obsessively listening to the customer and what they wanted. There were these breast milk bags. So, if you are a pumping mom, you um, you collect your milk into these milk bags that you then store in the fridge or freezer and then you can feed it to your baby at a different time. And um we had gotten some u feedback from mom saying that their milk smelled off or tasted off after they thawed the milk. And in me doing more research because I had to put the Y hat back on and understand and do, you know, do the deep dive. Um we realized that it can be due to light exposure.
>> Um and so we created a bag that actually was completely opaque and had an oxidation layer um inserted inside of it so that it couldn't it basically prevented oxidation of the milk. really cool product. Um, very neat and I think kind of ahead of its time. But then we realized, oh, um, because it was completely opaque, when mom poured her her bottle of milk in, she couldn't see any measurement lines of where she actually how much she had pumped. And that was really important to mom because she's bricking these bags, putting them in the freezer. She needs to know the exact amount for, you know, a month from now when she goes and and thaws that milk and feeds it to baby.
>> So, again, great idea, but we weren't like thinking about it through Absolutely. Yes. process. So, that was a a flub on our part and the product didn't really sell and and the people who who did like it um that was their main complaint is I I can't see the milk anymore and but unfortunately the whole solution was it was going to help u make your milk taste better and prevent that oxidation but obviously >> but you learned from it right because then you put out another sort of physical product right that wasn't a supplement and did you do it differently this time >> definitely primarily focused on um supplements we've kind kind of expanded into gear a little bit. Um, we have one product um, I'd say is kind of like a spin-off of that one, which is a Honey Bear straw cup that has done phenomenally. I don't think any of us expected that it would do as well, but it was another kind of remake of a product that already exists and just trying to make it better. So, we again >> looked at the customer feedback, what were moms really wanting and were we able to create a a version of that um that was better and and [clears throat] I think the sales have proven um that.
>> What was your biggest marketing flop? I probably [laughter] >> is a Tik Tok guy. There's so many Tik Tok um certain you know influencers and creators that we worked with that were uh you know early on um certain like reality TV stars that gosh I remember one was asking for like $20,000 to do one post and we did it and it I think we got like two sales from it. you just don't know and you know it's early days and everyone was kind of into this very like the big you know influencers that's what you were supposed to gravitate towards and you spend your money towards that um so you know we lived and learned it was it was a good learning lesson but I do think Tik Tok shop I can't even say that it's a bad investment because it has helped from a marketing perspective and to your point about brand awareness but from a purely sales channel I would never put all my eggs into that basket on the flip side I know that Facebook Instagram has worked really well for you is there any any other marketing channel that you want to highlight that we didn't talk about that you're like man we get a ton of sales this way and people might not think about that >> I'm trying to think I mean Google for sure Google ads are is another um so you are doing a bit of ads >> a bit of ads as well yes we've we've definitely started um incorporating more on Facebook Instagram Tik Tok and Google as well we also have email marketing um we have a a pretty robust email marketing um channel as well um quite a few subscribers that we've accumulated over the last decade Um, and I'd say the same premise that we use for social media is what we do for email marketing.
So, it's very much education first and then product second. And that has worked well for us. What was your most painful inventory mistake? So, u this is kind of the inverse of probably what a lot of um founders have done is we're pretty conservative when it comes to um our purchase orders. Even now, I'm still very conservative because you just never know >> if something is going to perform well or not. And we do have an a warehouse in East Austin, but you know, we have to conserve space cuz we do have quite a few other SKs and we have to be mindful and and smart about, you know, what we order um because it needs to be funneling in and out. So, a lot of it is like projections of what you order.
>> Yes, you have to be forecasting um and you know, sometimes it's like this is how you forecast. It's like >> that sounds good. I'll throw a number at the wall. Um but I remember we had launched we were about to launch um a drink mix. This was the first time we'd ever done this. It was called She's Thirsty. And um it's a really fun packaging. I I love our our she's thirsty packaging. And it's for pregnant and postpartum moms, breastfeeding moms to make sure they stay hydrated. Um you know, especially during the summer months when you're pregnant. Gosh, you're just like chronically thirsty.
When you're breastfeeding, you're chronically thirsty. It had a coconut water uh base to it. So was a dehydrated coconut. And then we had these really fun flavors. It tastes It tastes amazing. And um I guess I didn't really expect the demand for it and the excitement for it. And so we had a pretty conservative purchase order and we immediately sold out like within days >> which sometimes is not a good thing.
>> It isn't not it can be a good and bad thing. I mean there was definitely it created a sense of urgency and we had people signing up for the weight list but also you don't want to be out of stock too long cuz people forget about it, right? They move on to the next thing or they try to find something that's comparable to whatever that is.
Um and so then we made a bigger purchase order and that sold out. So it just kept happening until we were like okay we have to kind of go big with this. you probably bigger than we've ever done before and take the chance and take a risk. What's a decision that you made too slowly? A couple of things would be um hiring out a very capable and competent team. I think we were too late on it and I put way too much stress and pressure on myself and >> uh experienced very debilitating like physical and emotional burnout from it.
M um and I was also managing you know two children and you know my have a husband and um family life and home you know just household chores and just there was just so much on my plate and um I wish I didn't think I had had to be the end all beall for the entire business cuz that's a lot of pressure to put on one person and there are some amazing people that we've hired that I wish I'd hired earlier. Um, and then the other thing is I think we probably could have tried, especially with Facebook, it was much cheaper to acquire a customer like 10 years ago than it is now. And the algorithm has changed so much, it's much more difficult to even um, have ad spend on there anymore. And um, I wish that we had maybe pulled the trigger a little bit earlier when it came to actually doing paid ads cuz there were several years where we weren't doing that. It was very much word of mouth.
And um it worked well for us, but I I think we probably could have expedited the business a little bit more by doing that.
>> I feel like sometimes when you start a business, you're like your brand is carrying you in the beginning. It is point you're going to have to invest in a different way or try something new and kind of get to that next level. And retail was like really big for you.
>> Oh, absolutely. um in terms of like growth spurts.
>> They took us to the next step to level and I think we talked about like it garers a certain level of trust and authenticity into the brand when you see something in retail because you do think oh this has been a vetted brand there's been some sort of testing to bring this into store or or it's just very well loved right and you you kind of >> start to think oh I wonder if I want to try that now because it's there.
>> It seemed a bit effortless for you to get into these retail stores but what was your biggest retail challenge? There are hidden costs um and dings that happen when it comes to inventory stockouts. Um not shipping inventory on time.
>> What is stockouts mean?
>> So let's say they put in a purchase order for 100 units and at this moment in time you only have 50 units available to send. You will get dinged for that and they will um they will heavily find you. They charge you.
>> They will charge you for that. um if you don't ship the products at a certain date, if it doesn't get there in time, they will find you. Um so, I mean, just those are all the hidden costs that you don't realize um until you're in it. Um and some retailers are better than others and easier to work with, but they all have certain um rules and requirements.
>> It sounds like your husband has to worry about that.
>> That's Yeah, mostly like supply chain. I would say he's he does the not fun stuff, but it yeah, mostly supply chain and um our CFO is is fantastic about making sure we're we're keeping up on all that inventory as well.
>> Okay. Another game I want to play with you is a SWAT analysis because I thought it'd be fun. It's a great way, I think, to kind of recap some of the things that we talked about. Um, and this conversation has been incredible. I feel like people have really learned a lot and I feel like we got a lot of great stories out of you.
>> Definitely. [clears throat] >> Okay. So, what would you say Legendary Milk's biggest strength is as a business? I would say um the brand loyalty and trust. I think that has carried us for the last decade and I hope it continues to carry us.
>> And what would you say your biggest weakness is as a business right now?
>> There's so much stigma around breastfeeding and um what that looks like in the US. They're just I mean >> go read our Facebook and and Tik Tok comments. They're outrageous. Like people are still so disgusted by breastfeeding. And so I think there's just a hurdle of providing that education about why breastfeeding is so important and why breastfeeding rates are so low in the US. And so kind of getting past that hurdle is something we've been working on for the last 10 years and advocating >> um you know for for moms to not feel like this is just such an underserved community. Um it's still something that's very I think there's still a lot of work to be done. M >> um so that has been a huge hurdle because we'll you know we'll be randomly posting about a mom breastfeeding and you know typically it's an older woman for some reason and she'll just be like oh that's gross cover up and >> it takes away from the mom being able to learn and you know confident.
>> Absolutely. And I think it's deletterious to her breastfeeding journey to see things like that. So, um I don't know that that's, you know, bad for the business, but I just think at the heart I've it's always been about for me the support to mom. And I just I hate to see comments like that because I think it it takes away from the progress that we've made.
>> So, it's like battling like the culture around it. Absolutely. And like making it okay to look for this, talk about this.
>> I think it's gotten better, but there's still so much work to be done. And I think that um other countries have got it right and it's just a part of life, you know?
>> Well, maybe you need to go on more podcasts.
I think that is >> how about you being uh a bootstrap business and not having an investor and like I know a lot of uh I just talked to a lady who has this company called Rebel Cheese. She's making about 20 million.
She's also in retail doing great and for the first time ever she's like raising like $5 million or something to help with marketing and paid ads and get her to that next level. Do you feel like it's a weakness or a strength that you bootstrapped? I don't see it as necessarily a weakness. Um, you know, we've we don't have any debt. We've never had any capital investment, no loans. I think that also we've not had any overnight success. You know, I think you probably have had brands where maybe they're a few years old and and maybe they had a someone within the celebrity world who posted about them and that was just like overnight success, which is amazing. But we've kind of just been slowly chipping away at it over the last 10 years. It's been consistent and we've been profitable every single year, but we didn't get from 0 to 50 million in the first year.
>> And I appreciate that stability and consistency cuz I don't think a lot of brands think of it that way or operate that way. They want to have that like overnight crazy success.
>> And I don't think that that helps with longevity. If that's what you're really thinking about where if you want to be here in 10 or 20 years, I think probably the better way is to think about it in small increments and just slowly continuously to grow. Yeah. So, is this more of a lifestyle brand for you that you want to do forever or do you guys plan on selling the business?
>> I would like to continue. I mean, I still have a lot of energy and passion for what we're doing. And I think it can also expand beyond um just postpartum, too. I mean, I think that there are so many chapters of a woman's life that are underserved. I'm now going into pmenopause and I mean, talk about like people sweeping symptoms and and is chronic issues under the rug. Like that's a huge aspect of it where there's not enough research done for women and we're told that all of these hormonal imbalances and issues are just normal.
It's just part of being a woman.
>> Um and I don't accept that. So I think that there there's a way for Legendary Milk to expand beyond kind of the postpartum.
>> They kind of grow with you as you grow and as your passions change, which is just like really awesome that your customer gets to really grow with you.
So let's talk about opportunities. What do you think are the biggest opportunities of your brand, Legendary Milk? I think there's still opportunities for retail expansion. I mean, there's still various retailers that we're talking to. Um, international expansion. We've I talked a little bit about, you know, the US being the wild wild west. And I actually really appreciate that in other countries, there's a whole plethora of documentation that has to be happen from like the government levels to even get your products, you know, to be sold there because they they just have a lot more scrutiny on them. Um, so you know, I think that's a goal for us is to start selling um, in Canada and Australia and parts of the Middle East and there are breastfeeding moms all over the world.
Um, and we would like to be able to cater to them as well. So definitely opportunities for international expansion and then just expanding the product line as well. I think there's still um, opportunities for us in conception, fertility, the pregnancy period um, and postpartum as well. Last threats. What do you think are the biggest threats of your business? I I don't see it necessarily as a threat, but I do see competitors pop up all the time, which I appreciate because, you know, kind of speaking about back to, you know, when I started this 10 years ago, there weren't a lot of options.
>> It was fenyreek and kind of cookies and lactation cookies and brownies and that was it. And I think that mom should have options. I think it's really important to for her to feel like we all have unique body chemistries and what works for one mom might not work for another.
and I don't want her to ever feel like she's run out of options and solutions for her. So, I see other brands popping up all the time and I love that. I think it's great to have healthy competition and it makes us better, too.
>> Yeah, I love that. Well, thank you for that SWAT sprint. I [laughter] feel like that went really well. I'm going to do that with every founder from now on. So, let's talk [clears throat] about if somebody can actually copy this. Now, of course, you own 70% of the lactation supplement market. So, you've got a mo.
I don't think anyone's going to try to compete against you. But if they want to launch a different supplement for hair loss or what whatever, you know, problem that they're suffering from that they found a solution for, what is an industry secret that you feel like you really got to let them know?
>> Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think again, religiously following your customers feedback and comments. Take it to heart.
Understand what they're telling you.
That is a gold mine. I mean, they're giving you free. We're reading reviews.
I'm obsessed with my reviews, too.
>> Oh my gosh. Read the reviews. Read I mean, we will get DMs from moms, just unprovoked, just unsolicited feedback of like, hey, I liked this product, but I wish it had been X, Y, and Z. And we take that to heart. We have a whole spreadsheet where we're following that feedback. I think it's really important to under I mean, this is the jackpot you're hitting when your customers are actually willing to give you feedback cuz think about all of the different products that you use on a daily basis.
Do you typically go to these brands and tell them what you did or did not like about it? probably not. Yeah.
>> So, if they're like giving that to you unprompted, that's a gold mine. Yeah.
So, definitely be reading that um reading the feedback, go to the places that your customers are at. So, I join the Reddit forums. I look at the Facebook groups. Again, I want to be I'm not actively breastfeeding, but I want to understand what mom's pain points are and what they're experiencing in this period of time in 2026. Yeah.
>> Because it looks very different than 2016 when I had my baby. Um, so um, I think that's really important for any brand is I promise you they are not interested in your product. Find a way to relate to them in a way that you understand their pain point and then relate it to your product. Um, go back to that Janet Jackson song, what have you done for me lately? And think about that. And anytime that you make a social media post, um you make an email, you do a paid ad, think about the pain point for that respective customer and what you know, put yourself in their shoes and what you would want from them.
>> So smart. If somebody wanted to start a supplement brand, I know you started with $750, but that was 10 years ago.
[laughter] Very different time.
>> What do you think is like the appropriate budget that they should save up for if they want to bootstrap it? I think it's so different now. I wish I I could even quantify like what that would look like now because I know it's a much more saturated market, so competitive, and you have these like million-dollar brands who have so much investment behind them already, you know? Um I think Grun's Grun is one of them, right?
Like they had so much backing behind them, celebrity backing. I know the investors already and were able to kind of catapult sales from that.
>> It's a lot harder if you don't have that. Um, but I think you have to understand what um what your premise is as well. You know, I think Grun, I think they said something about the science wasn't important to them, the clinical research. It was about it just tasting good from a compliance standpoint. And so that's what their laurels are.
That's, you know, kind of their their mission is to make good tasting supplements that maybe aren't necessarily as effective. And that's fine because I think that there's a lot of >> consumers who would they enjoy this the gummies. they want to keep taking them and and they'll continue to take them and probably get some benefit from it.
Yeah.
>> Um and so I think just understanding what you bring to the market that's >> what makes you different.
>> Absolutely. What are your key differentiators because it's a very saturated market and I have seen um small brands just burn burn to the ground because they didn't understand how they were different and how could they could differentiate in the market.
>> Okay. So let's say you're um somebody who wants to be a founder a new founder.
you saved up $10,000 to launch your product. What would you tell them to do with that $10,000? I would say um find out what your strengths are and outsource everything else early on. Um because they I promise they're experts in the field who are more educated on this, more competent, who can absolutely help you right out the gate. Definitely bringing bringing some sort of awareness or creating some sort of awareness on social media. Um that's free advertisement for you. Create a presence there.
>> So it's like figure out what your brand is like. What do you stand for? What's your mission?
>> For sure. Yes. Um definitely. I think there's something to gerilla marketing.
I think um Kendra Scott does this a lot or she did, you know, early on where anytime that she was opening up a new store, she very much um entrenched herself in community events and really creating a presence in whatever city or or town that she was in.
>> Okay. So start local.
>> So start local. I think that there's definitely some um some validity to that and it also is a great way to get kind of a mini focus group of people who can give you feedback on what they like or don't or try to get invested.
>> There's probably like holes because you're you're on like tunnel vision, right? You have a certain goal in mind.
You think this is going to be the next great product, but there are probably holes that someone could pick through it because they're not so closely attached to it the way that you are. Would you recommend that? So, you were saying start local, but how about Amazon? Do you feel like that's like the second step is like getting your stuff on Amazon or or should it be DTC your own website? I mean I think that there's benefits to both. I will say Amazon has changed so much over the last 10 years and probably what I did where we listed I helped I launched everything on our Amazon by myself probably wouldn't cut it these days. I just think it's very competitive on there now and you have to have your optimized listings and your um your A+ content and your PDP images and um there's a lot of compliance that comes with that with supplements. So, that's another thing is uh that we didn't touch on is just getting insurance >> um is really important. Amazon will will require it of you and it's just something good to have um in case god forbid anything happen. It's really important that you have insurance for the the business because supplements um are again something that you ingest and you know there comes a a level of risk when it when it associated with that.
For somebody who's out there tuning in and they really want to start a business and they're similar to you in terms of like they're a little bit more introverted but they have a great idea.
What is your final piece of advice to them?
>> I think I would go back to start small, reinvest in the business and obsessively follow what your consumers or future consumers are saying and what they want >> because there's there's probably some validity to what you want to launch, but they they'll pick at those holes and make it better for you.
>> Luna, thank you so much for joining us on how we profit on profiting. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you. I appreciate it. And that's how Luna and Legendary Milk profit.
Every business has a hidden engine, and today we learned that for a consumer wellness brand, the real leverage is trust. Luna built trust with her community before she ever asked for the [music] sale. And that trust became her biggest growth channel. Thanks for listening to How We Profit Wednesdays, the Young and Profiting series where real entrepreneurs share real numbers, real margins, and the real story of how their businesses actually work. I'm Halah and I'll see you next
Related Videos
0:10
Business
Drop the Loser Mentality
houseitlexi
180 views•2026-04-20
1:03
Business
Arrête de louer en Floride Tu passes à côté d’une opportunité énorme !
thierryburtincfde
104 views•2026-04-21
21:16
Business
SINGAPORE UNCOVER INVESTIGATION - Eco Ring Japan luxury goods buying centre in Singapore
PaulPlutaPrestige
5K views•2019-03-29
12:57
Business
Humanizing Data | Stan Lee | TEDxUTAR
TEDx
472 views•2019-03-07
46:32
Business
Mastering the Restaurant Industry - From Dive Bars to Michelin Stars
RestaurantRockstars
118 views•2025-04-06
43:04
Business
Ep. 35: How to Send Lots of Satellites to Space (for Cheap)
crossingthevalley
188 views•2025-03-05
12:40
Business
Ford CEO Jim Farley on the Future of the Essential Economy
markets
56K views•2025-10-04
29:56
Business
Motivating Behavior
GreggU
5K views•2019-11-08
Trending
13:25
Business
Playstation NO DISC/NO BUY Fight Is Over...
DavidJaffeGames
4K views•2026-07-23
22:40
Business
Steam and Xbox Just Dropped The Hammer On PlayStation
OhNoItsAlexx
9K views•2026-07-23
16:52
Anthropology
Americans Confused in Australia for 17 Minutes Straight
IWrocker
17K views•2026-07-23
20:36
Business
SuperBike Factory Has Gone... What's Next for the Motorcycle Industry?
thatbikersimon
11K views•2026-07-22