Laney Crowell (Saie Beauty) on Raising Her First $1 Million, Building a Top Sephora Brand, and Magazine Culture

What started as Laney Crowell's passion for magazines, beauty, and storytelling became Saie Beauty, one of the fastest-growing clean beauty brands in the world and a standout success story at Sephora.

In this episode, Laney joins Sammi to share how she went from working in editorial and at Estée Lauder to raising her first million dollars with no fundraising experience, launching Saie just months before the pandemic, and turning an early rejection from Sephora into a nationwide launch. She explains why she wanted Saie to be a top 10 Sephora brand from day one and the tactical fundraising lessons she wishes every founder knew.

Plus, she opens up about the realities of leading a fast-growing company, the trade-offs of building her dream business while raising two children, and what still keeps her up at night as CEO.

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Here's What Sammi Covers with Laney:

00:00 Laney Crowell's Social Currency

02:00 Feeling Like She Was Meant to Be a Founder

06:34 Why Resilience Is a Founder's Greatest Skill

08:00 Storytelling as a Competitive Advantage

12:51 Fundraising Without Any Experience

14:21 The Power of "Expanders"

16:21 Raising Her First $1 Million

17:23 Why Every "No" Gets You Closer to a "Yes"

18:30 Perfecting the Pitch One Meeting at a Time

19:47 Building Saie to Be a Top Sephora Brand

21:03 Why Investors Bet on Founders, Not Ideas

23:52 Sephora's First Rejection

26:22 The Call That Changed Everything

28:18 Launching Through COVID

29:24 Building a Beauty Brand During a Downturn

31:21 The Three Most Important Early Hires

34:37 How Laney Hires Great People

36:13 Why Sustainability Has to Be Built Into the Business

41:16 What Actually Brings Customers to Saie

42:07 Staying Focused in a Crowded Industry

43:39 What Keeps Laney Up at Night

45:46 Why Community Is Beauty's Most Misused Buzzword

47:33 Creating Value Beyond the Product

48:28 Why Founder-Led Content Matters More Than Ever

49:45 The Trade-Offs of Building a Dream Company

51:05 Laney's Biggest Pinch-Me Moment

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