684: She Bet Her House Deposit on Hair Gel - and Built an 8-Figure Brand

**Nathan Chan** (0:01)
Hey Foundr fam, before we jump in, I wanna take a quick moment to talk about our sponsor Omnisend, the email marketing and SMS platform built specifically for e-commerce founders. We've been recommending Omnisend to Foundr students and members of our platform for a while now because it just works. So whether you're launching your first store or you're scaling it to seven figures, it really helps you automate your marketing and get results. And did you know, on average, Omnisend customers make $79 for every $1 they spend, which is an insanely good return on investment. And if you're already on another platform, here's the thing. In just five days, you could actually be paying 35% less without doing an absolute thing. Omnisend will move every flow across, list and template. You just show up when it's done. And finally, because you're part of the Foundr community, you get 50% off your first three months with the code Foundr50. Just head to omnisend.com/foundr and that's Foundr without the E to get started. All right, now let's jump in the show.
She had one shot. Put the house deposit down or bet it all on a hair gel. She chose the hair gel and sold out 20,000 units in 24 hours. Today's guest is Yasmina Elmerkaoui. She's a founder of Macau, the brand born from postpartum hair frustration that blew through a year's worth of stock on launch night and is now on track to do eight figures in its third year. So if you're an early stage DTC founder, this episode is your blueprint. Yasmina shares how she turned 90,000 followers into a sold out launch and why a big audience alone won't do it. An exact pre-launch move with her manufacturer that saved the business when everything sold out overnight and the Black Friday disaster that made a year's revenue in one week then nearly broke her. From house deposit to eight figure trajectory in just three years. All right, let's get to it.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:55)
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Welcome to The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan.

**Nathan Chan** (2:09)
Hey, I have a quick ask. If you're loving these episodes, leaving a quick review is honestly the best way to support us. It helps the show grow and means we can keep bringing you the Foundr stories and insights you tune in for. Please share it with a friend. Thank you so much. Now let's get into it. Yasmina, welcome to the show.

**Yasmina Elmerkaoui** (2:26)
Thank you for having me.

**Nathan Chan** (2:28)
You're welcome.

**Yasmina Elmerkaoui** (2:28)
I'm excited.

**Nathan Chan** (2:29)
I want to find out. You started your career building your personal brand as a content creator in the beauty space.
Tell me, how did you build this incredible brand? Macau, how did it all come about?

**Yasmina Elmerkaoui** (2:43)
Honestly, it came from a personal frustration of my own. This wasn't something that I was looking to start. I didn't come out one day and go, I want to start a brand of my own. I was looking for a hair gel to solve an issue that I personally had, which was postpartum hair growth and no hairspray and no hair gel, being able to hold it back long enough for me to get to the play center and come back home. I looked like I was electrocuted by the time I got back home. And I shared that frustration with my community. And I even did a series where I shared that I was trying every Slickback product on the market and sharing how it lasted and not a single product held up. And so when I saw that, I kind of saw that there was a problem that we were all having.
And I thought, why not create one of my own? And at the time, if I'm honest with you, I still didn't want to start a business. This was more of a selfish want. But when I saw the frustrations of others come back to me, and people messaging me, telling me that they too were searching for the perfect hair gel and to let me know when I found it. When I did go about formulating it, it took over a year and a half, almost two years to get to a formula I was happy with. I was using formula products that I wasn't even 100 percent with, but that was still better than what was on the market. And so when I got to the final formula that I was happy with, I remember the day I put it in my daughter's hair and she went to school. And I had all these moms asking me, what's in her hair and how does her hair still look like you just did it? And whatever it is we're sold like send us the link. And there was no link because I had created it. And so that was where I kind of hit go.