659: How Molly Sims is Disrupting a $200 Billion Industry

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0:39Just head to OmniSend.com forward slash founder without the E to get started. All right, now let's jump back into the show. so what happens when a supermodel turned actress decides to solve her own pigmentation problem and accidentally builds a multi-million dollar ddc skincare brand that lands in sephora within years well today's guest molly sims who spent nearly six years modeling in europe graced the cover of sports illustrated starred in las vegas and the carrie diaries and then made a pivot no one saw coming she launched wise beauty after battling severe melasma in her early 40s and discovering a massive white space in clean, effective skincare.

1:18There's a raw, unfiltered conversation you're going to discover, the brutal truth about retail, why you need to be raggedy with retailers, and how to negotiate your margins like your life depends on it, how she knew when to bring in private equity and what that transition actually looked like operationally, and lastly, why she believes there's no one recipe for success and why you have to be bold enough to just jump off the cliff. This is an honest, no BS conversation about building a beauty brand in 2026 from someone who's lived through every pivot, setback, and unexpected win. All right, now let's jump in.

1:51Hear the stories, learn the proven methods, and accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. Welcome to the Founder Podcast with Nathan Chan.

2:05I really want to hear how you've grown this incredible brand so quickly. All the stuff you're doing with your podcast content and, you know, even why you've got private equity involved, how you made those decisions and everything you're doing on the movie side as well. I think it's incredibly clever. Thanks for having me. Oh, my God. Where do I start? I don't even know like kind of what I was doing when I started. I think that was like the I think the blessing and the curse, because what you don't know, you don't know that you can't be afraid of. But at the same time, I think I'm happy I did it.

2:47Wow. What can I say? I launched D2C strategically. That was a very personal strategic decision. it was a strategic decision to not take money early on it was a strategic decision to do my podcast before I even launched a couple two three years before I even launched wise I think D to C is very hard I think it's kind of what you said it's got to be a little bit of luck and then a lot of luck and then a lot more luck but I think Like product market fit, that was my superpower. And I mean that in like a really good way. Like I had a problem that I was looking for and there was that white space. And you can't really say that a lot of times because it's so crowded, everything.

3:45But I don't know if you guys know my story. I had really bad hyperpigmentation and melasma when I was in my early 40s. I had become a model I went to Vanderbilt I went to public school I grew up in Kentucky I went to Vanderbilt I wanted to be a lawyer I thought I maybe wanted to go into politics I spent time in the hill and then I ended up getting an opportunity to to model and I took that opportunity of taking a semester off and then going and to Europe and thinking I would come right back to Vanderbilt. And I didn't. I made every, you know, I made every opportunity that I could. It was a lot of work.

4:36I spent almost close to six years living in Europe. Then I went back to New York and then eventually to L.A. and then back to New York again. um i think for me i'm the queen of pivoting and i mean that in a really good way which i think makes me a really good founder um because i'm always thinking something won't work because normally it doesn't so i'm always um i'm very agile to pivot queen of pivots why i think because I've always had to. I think it's just my business. Like I was just at the Actors Awards last night, the formerly the Screen Actors Guild. And it's just in our business, in our world, it's just you can't count on anything, you know, and I was so used to that as a model.

5:32And I think that resilience and that, I don't know, I think it has helped me. I've been told I'm too fat, I'm too pretty, I'm too tall, I'm too small, I'm too blonde, I'm too black. I think that criticism, I think that, you know, you just really can't rely on anything, even though I sound terrible with my business. But it gives you a bit of armor that when I finally became a founder, when you go through modeling, acting, hosting, producing, you've kind of gone to school to be a founder. Because being a founder, you have to go with your gut. You have to make decisions that you probably have never made in your entire life.

6:20You have to run ops. You have to run marketing. You have to run HR. You have to run all these verticals that I've never in my life been exposed to, but just very infrequently. I was always the girl on the other end holding up the lip gloss and getting her picture made. Now I'm creating something. Um, but I do think my background has really helped me to a, not be afraid and to pivot and to be like, okay, you know, especially, you know, if you talk about D to C, you're constantly having to pivot your strategies. Like what, what works for three months won't work for another three months. I feel like for me, I'm a socially, um, led business first.

7:07So social media. So it's like my brick and mortar, whether it's meta, whether it's Google or a social first brand or a community brand. And I think, you know, it's really important to have that and have that community that will help you grow that D to C. um yeah I mean I think first and foremost I had a problem you know I was in my early 40s I had bad hyperpigmentation melasma I was looking for something that really didn't exist in the market everything was either too old too derm too like menopause like they're talking to my grandmother or things that were amazing and beautiful and shiny, but no efficacy.

7:58And so where wise came in is they had efficacy. We were cool. We were speaking to a woman that's kind of been forgotten to, and she wants to know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. But most importantly, she wants to feel like she's in the game. And I think what was interesting about my background, I've had a chapter in my 20s, I've had a chapter in my 30s, I've had a chapter in my 40s and now I have a chapter in my 50s. And I think that has served me well, building a business and also building it in the way of it's a marathon. You know, it's not a race. It's a marathon. It's these decisions that you're making now that will affect you three years from now.

8:43It was a three-year journey that led you to launch. Why did it take so long? how much did it cost to to create the product um like you said it was a it's an underserved market you've really got product market fit but tell me what happened in those three years yeah i mean ultimately that's what it takes you know i didn't do uh i didn't do a business where i bought my i bought my um formulas um which that's a certain way to do it but there's testing there's a regulatory. There's clinicals. I was told I can do this company for$750 ,000, which they were about, I would say, a million to two million off, which was stomach churning, to say the least.

9:40I did a lot of things right. I did a lot of things wrong. I think if I look back now, I would have gotten someone very early on that knew the beauty business in terms of cost of goods. And I thought I had that, but that was more of a middle man, which again, your middle man is great until he's not really, right? So I worked with a company early on to help me. And while that was great, while that was great, it was very hard to unravel, right? I wouldn't do that again. What did you do wrong? It's not that I did wrong. I just didn't have an understanding of the business at a base level, right now I have a good understanding from a base level on how much it costs what are your margins ops like as good as your product is you know you've got to get you've got to make it for a certain price right you've got to make it ultimately to a to make money but to be to be able to survive right to have your marketing dollars um I mean what did I do wrong um it's not that I did anything wrong.

10:58It just, I just wish I would have had a real professional helping me on my side. And I kind of piecemealed together, which worked. But I, once I launched, I quickly realized, oh, wait a second, this could really work. And we ramped up so fast that at one point, seven months after launching, we were out of stock on like, I don't even know, six products. So again, ops team, you know, that where you're manufacturing, your products, all the things around me right now, like all my products, all my regulatory, you've also got to get it on the shelf. You've got to get it into the hands of your consumers, your customers.

11:51And so I just, again, it was, it's things I didn't know. Yeah. It was a big learning curve, like a huge learning curve. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. And, you know, the business has been on a crazy growth run. You've only been around for, you know, not even close to three years. And And you guys are growing almost 100 % year on year. You're on track to do reportedly from our research$30 million annual revenues. So incredible growth. If you could boil it down to one thing besides product, what have you done well to really accelerate that growth? my team knowing when to hire knowing when at this moment when you have to pivot and that person or that team is it right for the next six months is it right for the next two years that was the hardest thing for me I thought who you started with was ultimately who you ended with and because our growth was so exponentially fast, that was one thing that even though didn't want to, I had to, I had to figure out my team and I had to figure it out quite quickly.

13:19I think the biggest thing was ops. Working with the right labs, you know, I was involved with the lab that was not great. They were not ethical.

13:32Ops is a very big, big part of it. I used to think like, oh, my gosh, you're on fire. You've got five products that are out of stock. Actually, that's really bad for your company. It's really bad for your growth. And it just means you have bad demand planning. So it's I know I sound so like, you know, green and everything, but I didn't know how important the ops was until I was in it. And it's still probably one of the most important next to, yes, marketing is so fun and product development is amazing, but your ops, getting it to you in a timely manner is really super important. When it comes to, I guess, those three years in the testing space, hundreds of different formulas to really find something that is truly groundbreaking.

14:25How did you, did you ever like, and you said it cost you over a million dollars more than you thought it would. How did you know whether to keep going? It sounded like, you know, those three years would have been really tough, like, cause you'd want to get it out there and you'd want to have something that is superior in the marketplace. Talk us through that. Look, it was a really, really, I mean, no one's ever asked me that. It was a really scary time. I remember April 20, we launched on April 25th, April 24th, 2023. I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my life. I've had some very big moments, the birth of my children, the me getting married, getting engaged.

15:07But April 24th, 2023 at 12 o 'clock when we went live, I mean, I was, I don't know if this is going to work. I mean, look, I think those three years, they were difficult. I never really understood how much it costs. I would be told one thing and then it would turn out to be something else. I went against people. The biggest thing I went against is doing clinicals. By the time I launched in those three to four years of developing the product and coming and coming to life, I had five to six celebrity skincare cosmetic brands launched before me, which I don't think a lot of people realized. And I didn't know if I could make it, to be really honest with you.

16:01I think I was so far in. I was so far of like, I've got to try to see this through. It was hard. I had to invest a lot of money, my own money, which I think, look, at the end of the day, I didn't want to do friends and family. I didn't want to do because I, God, what if it went wrong? But it was definitely very difficult because I kind of didn't know what I didn't know, which made it better. but the ball the the the bird's eye kept changing I had to push six months because of regulatory I didn't actually get to I didn't actually launch with Skin Glow which is one of my number one skews because it was SPF having a really strong point of view having really difficult conversations that I'm going to have to go to Vegas and bet.

16:55And that's what I did. I led a lot with my gut. I know that sounds odd of what I'm saying because it doesn't sound good. But a lot of how I led was, would I buy this product? I remember when I was developing the products for WISE, I would always say I want my products to do a lot of different things. I want my products to multitask. At the time, you had your clarifying line, your enzymatic line, your anti-aging line, your acne line. And that's actually not how I buy color or skincare cosmetics. I buy cult. I go to a French pharmacy and I look for things differently. What if this had a baby with this that had a baby with that?

17:53What would that look like? One of my favorite products is my your favorite expats. They were based on a very successful product that I loved and I used it for many years. it got taken off the market because it was too harsh on your skin. But I loved what it did. I didn't love how it smelled. I didn't love how it made me burn. I didn't love that I couldn't use it every day. But how could I make that product work for me now? It's not so much about inventing something that's never, but how could I take something and make it better? I had a unique thing happened to me. During my 40s, almost to my 50s, I was addicted to hydroquinone, which is a very strong active.

18:47I was doing very strong barrier things that, yes, were great in the moment. I had a lot of downtime, a lot of redness, a lot of thinning of the skin. And just it was that era of like 2015, 2010 microdermabrasion, like just let's just kill your skin. And I started to notice that it was backfiring on me. All the things that I was trying to do were actually making my skin worse. And so I had started having some insight. And so I kind of pulled back on everything. And that's where I had a really good insight on what was making my skin have so much downtime. And I took that information within the clinicals, within the proprietary, like what goes with what.

19:42And I always remember when I'm like the barrier, you can't constantly mess with your barrier. You can't. because it makes you look thinner, it makes you look older, and it makes you look drier. So I had all of these things because I was the guinea pig. So when I developed these products, I'm like, I don't want it to smell. I don't want, because for me, product development isn't just about the product. It's about the experience. And my woman, she just, oh, here, do a harsh derm product, put it on three times a week. And that wasn't the approach that I wanted. I want cult favorites that work, that do a lot of different things and not a lot of time.

20:29My woman has disposable income. She likes high-low. She'll buy Prada, but she'll buy her shoes at Zara. Like I knew my girl. I knew that she still wanted to feel like she's in the gain. And that is who, that's kind of how I developed. That's how I see the market. Even today, does it peel under your makeup? Like, can you layer your serums? Can you layer it? Or is it, yeah, yeah. I mean, it just, so many things goes into, have gone into those three years. It was a roller coaster. It was difficult. I had to come up with more money. I remember Christmas, December 2022. I'm like, I had to come up with like a million dollars.

21:22I'm like, I don't even know if I could do this. How'd you get it? I had it. It wasn't about not getting it. It's just about, do I want to put it there? But there must have been besides your own itch, you must have been speaking to people, right, that told you, yes, I want this. Like from, you must, like, did you poll your community? I didn't really poll my community. I was in the midst of COVID. You know, I was thinking about doing something differently in my life. We're hitting 2020. I have three kids under eight years old. My husband is a pretty prolific producer in the entertainment industry.

22:02He and I cannot both be gone at the same time. I was in the midst of writing a third book. But I wanted to be a part of something. And I know that sounds odd, but I wanted the newborn, the walking, the toddler. Like I wanted, I want, maybe I didn't want exactly this, but I wanted to be a part of something. I didn't want to go back and be in a trailer and sitting in Atlanta and I wanted to be with a different manager who I thought would kind of look at me a little bit different not just as an actress and she really before she took me she said you're gonna have to come up with a five-year plan and her saying that to me was such a game changer because I'm like I I don't have a five-year plan.

22:53I didn't even know. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know anything. And that's where I got specific. I got a hunker down. I worked with someone and I went back to her and I was like, there's a couple of things that I think I can do. And that's ultimately how that all started because she said, you're going to need a five-year plan. It got me focused. Did I pull my community? Not really. I was in the midst of COVID. But what I did do is I would make boxes for my friends. And I would label them with post-it notes. My girlfriend, Robin, who lives down the street. My other girlfriend, Annie.

23:40And I would leave them. I'm like, okay, you do this, this, this, this, and this. That's kind of when I started to know that I might have something. I'm like, hmm, a big dermatologist had seen me a couple years later and he was like, I don't know what you did for Annie's skin, but it's really good. And so I took those 15 things and that is really wise today. so talk me through great products we really kind of you really unpacked how you've built this product and the demand and you know made a different made things different and better talk to me around the podcast and and the movies piece because that's really fascinating to me I speak to a lot of successful founders in the DTC space and attention and marketing and getting either getting content created for your brand one way or another.

24:40You've done in a really kind of unique way, which has been highly effective. And in the grand scheme of things, you've turned somewhat of a cost center into a profit center because you know Netflix pay you to create product for them but then you have two hours of somebody's undivided attention and you've got product placement I think it's really clever so talk to me about how that came about and also the podcast and how you're using content differently than most DTC founders and brands to grow your brand? I think the podcast of it all was strategic. I was in the middle of writing my third book.

25:23And when we just, when I decided to do the brand, um, it was a way for me to become somewhat of an expert. I wasn't really thought about in the beauty space. I was in the modeling space. I was in the entertainment space. I was an actor, but in terms of beauty, um, I don't know that I was thought of. But the one thing that I did have and I knew in my gut, I am a connector. And I would always, if someone would ask me, I would tell them what I was doing. I didn't just say, oh, I drink a lot of water and I, you know, I get 10 hours of sleep. And I found in my business in 2020 when Emisha and I launched our podcast, Lipstick on the Rim, there was a lack of transparency.

26:13There was gatekeeping. There was the sense of like, I'm not going to tell you what I'm really doing. I'm going to talk about it, but I'm not going to share what we're doing. And when I look at Wise and I look at my community and I look at my product and I look at the girl who is buying my product, the woman, it's not just the outside. It's how she feels on the inside. And creating this podcast and this open dialogue, yes, now it's much better. People are telling you they're getting your boob jobs. They're going to tell you what facelifts are doing. But cut back two to three to four years ago, people weren't sharing.

26:57and that was my ultimate goal because wise is a community and wise is not just a product and I think for me yes strategically I became an expert and I got to interview you know Dr. Levine who did you know the famous facelift for for Jenner we got to interview you know Victoria Beckham, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Duff, Jennifer Garner, surgeons, doctors, wellness, But I kind of, I got the inside and the out. And with that, I gained all of these women who had been craving because, look, there's so much on the internet. I'm holding up my phone. There's so much. Like, I wanted a place where a woman could go and get really good advice.

27:48So for one hour every week, I have my pack, my paper, just like the person I'm interviewing. I take notes. I've done it now. My podcast is going to be five years old. And I do it week after week. It is the wise woman. She's learning how she can make her life better. What does she need? What is she struggling with? Listen, it's been brilliant to wise and wise has been brilliant for Lipstick on the Rim because it's the same woman. She wants information. She wants to be educated. Producing, listen, I started in 2015. I was writing a second book. I always love putting things together. I can spot talent pretty well.

28:42It's always kind of just been a gift. left Clea and Joanna from the Home Edit, ended up doing a piece in my second book. They were in my pantry and they were amazing. They didn't have an agent. They were just starting. And then, you know, cut to two years later, we sell the show to Reese Witherspoon. We get it on Netflix. So that just is something I've always been good at putting things together. it's like a Jenga puzzle, you know? And then, I don't know, I'm very specific in my producing. So I really love funny or I really love thriller. I don't know, a hobby for reading for my husband. I don't know, I'm really good at like, how do I say this?

29:33If I want something, I'll find a way to get it. If someone says to me, no, it makes me only work harder. I know that's just an odd thing. I think that's part of why I've been successful because I've mainly had no's in my life that I have to turn into a yes. I come from the no culture. And if I could give any founders one piece of advice, get the no's to fuel you. Turn the no's into yes's. Take it as a challenge. Keep opening the door, even if it shuts. Keep opening it again. Be able to make decisions. I have a really unique ability to make decisions. And I know that sounds pretty generic, but it's a little bit of my superpower.

30:24It might be wrong, but I can make a decision. I don't sit in neutral. um I don't think I can be everything to everyone um I think with wise this is not for your teenage daughter right some people try to like oh my god it's for your daughter but then it's for you know your 50s and it's for your 30s and it's for its 20s it's like no who who are you targeting right really knowing your customer your Amy's your Lauren's your Jennifer's um how to get them how to get that AOV up in your basket. Maybe it is a lip for the girl in her 20s, or maybe it's a serum for the girl in her 50s. Who are you targeting?

31:09I think the biggest trap women make is trying to be something to everyone and you're something to no one. Let's talk about Sephora. You guys launched an exclusive partnership with them last year. and you guys are in Sephora now. What did that require financially? Financially, it was twofold. You have to be ready, whether it's a Sephora, an Ulta. Once you, you know, DTC, your margins are so good, right? Because it's your DTC. You got your Shopify, you've got your strategy. Retail is a whole nother beast. It required money. It required product because what you can't have happen is you can't have not product on the shelves.

32:00You can. It just is not the best thing for you. Product was, I mean, Sephora was a different game plan, which is also why I waited, right? Because I think sometimes you want to go, you want to try to do everything. You want to try to do retail. You want to try to do D2C. You want to have a lot of different distribution channels. because you need money. But the problem that a lot of founders and a lot of people figure out, and I was taught that very early on, it takes manpower for each vertical. So your strategy for D2C is one thing. Your strategy for Sephora is a whole nother one. What's their buy-in?