In 2004, Joey Shamah and his partner launched a cosmetics company built on an idea that made almost no sense:
Sell high-quality makeup for just $1.
At the time, high quality beauty products were supposed to be expensive. The biggest brands spent fortunes on celebrity endorsements, glossy ads, and premium shelf space.
And every major retailer told Joey the same thing:
Your idea will never work.
But Joey believed he'd found a wormhole in the beauty business: spend money on the product, not fancy packaging, marketing, or celebrity endorsements. Then, pass those savings on to your customers.
The brand grew slowly, but Joey knew he was onto something when a bizarre rumor spread that Bloomingdale's was buying e.l.f. and raising prices. Within days, the tiny company went from a few hundred orders a week to 18,000 orders a day.
What followed was a journey from a scrappy warehouse operation in New Jersey to one of the most disruptive brands in the beauty business.
You'll learn:
Timestamps:
This episode was produced by Carla Esteves with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei.
It was edited by Neva Grant with research by Olivia Rockman. Our audio engineer was Patrick Murray.
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