111SKIN: From Harley Street to the world

Growing up in Bulgaria behind the Iron Curtain, Eva Alexandridis watched her grandmother smooth homemade potions of cucumber and pumpkin onto her face. “We had no access to any Western products. So, we had to make do with whatever we had,” she says. Whether they worked is another matter. “It made her happy, and it gave her a big smile.”

Today, Alexandridis co-runs 111SKIN, a clinical skincare brand. Its products are trusted by Lady Gaga, Margot Robbie and Victoria Beckham, stocked by retailers such as Harrods, Selfridges and Bergdorf Goodman, and available in around 60 countries.

Getting there was slow by design. Speaking to Sir Richard Harpin on the Business Leader podcast, Alexandridis explains why she let retailers come to her, what she'd do differently, and why bringing in a new CEO has freed her to focus on the next phase of growth. In our interview, you will also learn about:

• Why letting customer demand pull you into retailers beats pushing your way in
• How bootstrapping for a decade stopped 111SKIN from expanding too fast
• How being selective paid dividends in the long run
• How she knew it was time to hand over to a CEO

111SKIN began with a frustration. Alexandridis’s husband, Dr Yannis Alexandrides, is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at 111 Harley Street. He was unhappy with the products he offered patients, who often did not stick to the routines he prescribed. Alexandridis, shaped by years in Silicon Valley, had a simple answer: “If you’re not satisfied with what’s available, why don’t you create your own?”

After 18 months of development using ingredients new to skincare, the first products were launched in the clinic in 2008, designed to speed up healing after treatments. For more than four years, nobody else could buy them.

The pair complement each other, she says: “My husband is a surgeon; he has the knowledge, the expertise, the science. I represent more what the consumer wants from a sensorial point of view.”

How 111SKIN got the retailers to come knocking

Then Harrods called. Word had spread from patients, and the store was looking for scientific, doctor-led brands. 111SKIN launched there in 2012, with a deliberate strategy.

“We stayed two years in Harrods, not because we didn't have demand,” says Alexandridis, “but because we wanted to learn everything about our consumer: her behaviour, what drives her, what really is a satisfactory product for her. After we became confident that we had something unique, then we started expanding.”

Despite the temptation to go quicker, she's glad she didn't: “I think I’m building a legacy brand, and for me, time is important to learn all the lessons.”

Many companies are encouraged by investors to follow a strict expansion strategy. But by bootstrapping the company for at least the first 10 years, Alexandridis was able to be patient and pick the right opportunities.

As a result, retailers approached 111SKIN when their customers were asking for it. “We knocked on very few doors,” she says. And skincare, she argues, cannot be rushed. “Even now we develop products that sometimes take two years.”

Selective brand placement

There is one move she is less sure about. A few years ago, 111SKIN entered Sephora Europe, a deal facilitated through an investment company the business was in talks with.

“Perhaps we were not ready then to open into such a massive retailer at that stage of our development,” she says. A retailer of that size demands heavy investment in sampling and training. “We were too small of a brand to be able to scale. I think now we’re at that stage.”

111SKIN was born as a retail brand, and around 70 per cent of sales still come through retail, with 30 per cent digital. Its counter staff are trained aestheticians, an extension of the clinic. “I believe that even the digital customers encounter us at some point in a face-to-face environment,” she says.

Rather than moving into other clinics, 111SKIN chose five-star hotel spas. The brand now works with more than 100, including Mandarin Oriental and Four Seasons properties, and The Plaza in New York runs a 111SKIN spa. “We feel that it’s exactly the same customer,” she says.

The business is equally disciplined about what it will not do. Retailers keep asking for haircare. Friends ask about baby products. The answer, for now, is no. Because Yannis sees patients almost daily, the brand has a constant read on what customers want. She says: “We only create products that can either be better than what exists on the market or something completely unique that doesn’t exist.”

Alexandridis believes that one of the company's keys to success came from the fact that she was an industry outsider: “I did not come from the beauty world. I didn't study beauty, and I kind of forged my own path, slightly being an outsider and this has helped me. We've created many different initiatives, even the way we market our products.”

An example comes from London Fashion Week, in the company's early days. It made a conscious effort to appear backstage to prepare models’ skin for free, a tactic that has since become standard.

111SKIN has never had paid global ambassadors. Instead, it built relationships with make-up artists, hairdressers and others preparing the talent. If they fell in love with the products, they would use them and that opened doors to celebrities.

How 111SKIN chose the right investors

111SKIN now has two outside investors. The first is a US fund that Kim Kardashian is involved in. “The decision was not based on Kim Kardashian,” she says. The US is the brand’s biggest market and the fund brings local expertise.

The second is Estée Lauder. Strategic buyers had been approaching for three or four years but it felt too early until that conversation. Estée Lauder's minority investment validated the slow build. “It was an amazing validation of all the hard work that we have put into this brand for so many years,” says Alexandridis.

“Because we're not one of these fast-emerging brands that captivate an audience very quickly. We have been building a steady business for more than 15 years, and the fact that Estée Lauder acknowledged our longevity in the beauty world.”

Since the deal, Estée Lauder’s experts have helped vet distribution partners, review cost of goods and tighten up trademarks. The negotiations took close to a year and were a distraction from running the business.

Handing over the reins

The other big change was appointing a CEO. The obvious choice was Vanessa Goddevrind, a former McKinsey consultant from its beauty practice, who had been COO at 111SKIN for a few years. With around 70 staff, three warehouses and every department head reporting to Alexandridis, the business needed someone running it day-to-day.

“I knew that I could trust her,” Alexandridis says. “It never crossed my mind that I wanted to bring someone else on top because I already knew that I had someone who was very passionate and very knowledgeable.”

However, initially it wasn't without its challenges: “Emotionally, it was difficult for maybe a month. But after that, it was very clear to me that this was absolutely the right decision. I actually encourage people to really look at their skill set and see if they're missing some business acumen. If they do, then it's important to have someone that is very strong.”

Eva Alexandridis’s four lessons for leaders

Don’t rush. “Success usually comes after a few years. It’s not instant,” says Alexandridis. Taking time to learn about your customer can be the foundation of a legacy brand.

Let demand lead. 111SKIN rarely chased retailers. Waiting until customers were asking for the brand meant it rarely had to exit a partnership.

Be honest about your skill set. Alexandridis encourages founders to look at where they lack business acumen and bring in someone strong to fill the gap.

Know why you feel something. She no longer talks about gut feeling. Instead, she digs into what lies behind it: “It can be your experience, it can be your knowledge, it can be lessons learned.”

Watch the full conversation with Eva Alexandridis on YouTube.