Before she was a beauty mogul worth millions, Anne McFerran was building a career as an independent artist. But her life changed when she came up with the idea for magnetic eyelash extensions. She GramneticSolves common problems associated with eyelash adhesives.
Ann used her degree in psychobiology and her love of makeup to develop her first set of eyelashes. With a limited budget and clever negotiation skills, she kept production costs low and a year later, she had $50 million in revenue. Grammnetic’s innovations continued to thrive, with brands like Sanrio, Sephora, and Ulta Beauty offering partnerships.
Anne’s invention changed the false eyelash industry forever, and a big part of her success was keeping costs low and bootstrapped her brand.
How to get your product to market on a budget
When starting a business, you want to keep your operating costs as low as possible so that you can reinvest profits back into your company. If you follow Anne’s advice, you’ll be able to launch your first product without spending a fortune.
1. Samples, samples and more samples
A lot can happen between the time a product idea is born and the time it hits the market. Testing and sampling are key to avoid expensive production line failures.
Using Google and YouTube, Anne researched the top 150 vendors who could manufacture magnetic eyelashes. “It took me more than a year and a half to develop because it took me a while to understand what to look for to find the right one,” Anne says. She ordered more than 100 samples and tested the magnetic eyelash strips herself before officially placing her order.
2. Use spreadsheets to stay organized
Throughout the development process, Anne kept detailed notes in a free Google Sheet to track the vendors she sampled. “I created a column for each requirement, such as number of magnets, durability, unit price, etc.,” Anne says.
Having a clear definition of their requirements made the selection process much easier when it came time to place a pull order: “(Once that was all said and done), I found two companies that could make samples exactly how I wanted them,” Ann says.
3. Do it all yourself
Though it takes time, Anne recommends learning all the aspects of production you can do yourself. “Having a professional do your photography can be quite expensive, so I learned how to do it myself,” she says.
When it came time for e-commerce photos, Anne turned to Bumble BFF, offering free headshots with hair and makeup to women who would participate in her brand photoshoots. “I bought everything[needed for the shoot]on Amazon and did the rest myself,” Anne says. She went online to learn best practices using search tools like YouTube and Google.
Launching a new product takes a lot of time and money, but there are ways to minimize the costs. Avoid high fees by taking your time with development, slowing down the process, and managing it yourself, one step at a time.
