806 Jenn Krouse: Founder & CEO of AUNU

0:00I am unwilling to give up, but I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be.

0:09Kara Goldin:You just want to make sure you will get knocked down, but just make sure you don't get knocked out. So your only choice should be, go focus on what you can control. Hi everyone and welcome to the Kara Goldin show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world's greatest leaders. We'll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can't wait to get started. Let's go. It's honestly staggering that even in 2026, so many small business owners are still making post office runs or stuck paying for expensive postage meter leases.

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1:53Kara Goldin:I used to block out time every week just for post office runs. Now I handle everything from my desk in a fraction of the time. Stamps.com has genuinely changed how I run my business and I'm not exaggerating when I say it saved me hours every single week. Right now, you can try Stamps.com risk-free for 60 days. Go to Stamps.com and use code CARA to get 60 days risk-free. 60 days gives you plenty of time to see exactly how much time and money you're saving on every shipment. That's Stamps.com, code CARA. That's Stamps.com, code CARA. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to The Cara Golden Show. Thrilled to have our next guest today.

2:46Kara Goldin:Jen Krause is the founder and CEO of a fairly new brand called On You, spelled A-U-N-U. It's a skincare brand built around one of nature's most powerful healing ingredients, medical grade, Manuka honey, which I was not familiar with, and I'm a beauty junkie. So I was so excited to be able to try this. Jen has helped scale iconic brands, ones that you may have heard of, like Tory Burch and Victoria Beckham Beauty. And now Jen has decided to hang her own shingle, so to speak, and found her company based on this incredible ingredient. really excited to see everything and hear everything that Anu is doing.

3:39Kara Goldin:Like I said, really born out of the benefits of Manuka honey, but I think it's so much more. So really excited to have you here, Jen. Very, very thrilled. So welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Cara. I'm so happy to be here and so thrilled to join you today. I am so excited because Jen had told me before I came on that I was her first podcast. So I'm like so honored on so many levels. And she's just such an incredible entrepreneur and force. So really, really thrilled that you decided to come on. Oh my gosh, my dream, Kara, my dream. Thank you. So excited. So for listeners that are just discovering anew, how do you describe the brand?

4:28Well, like you said, Anu is a medical grade natural skincare brand and it uses Manuka honey as its key ingredient. And Manuka honey is so, and I'm so excited to tell you more about it, but Manuka honey is such an incredible healing complex ingredient that's so incredible for skincare. And what we do is we use a Manuka called Kavita Medi Honey. And this is a medical grade Manuka Honey. This is actually used as the base of an FDA cleared medical device. So it's used in hospitals globally for burn and wound healing and in Anu for our cosmetic skincare.

5:18Kara Goldin:So, so cool. So you grew up between Korea and Japan, I understand, before coming to the U.S., and you were introduced early to the healing benefits of Manuka Honey. When you looked at actually creating a product, did this come from a personal problem that you had had with skin that you thought, I need to go and develop this product, and if I'm not doing it, then no one's going to do it. Or share the story behind what made you decide to do it. Well, it was more multi-layered than that and took years and years. But starting from my childhood, I grew up in Korea. My mother's Korean. And in Korea, our household was very, and the health and kind of the wellness was very based in natural, holistic healing.

6:21So we always had ginseng. We had all of these supplements. My uncle was a Chinese herb doctor, so lots of different herbs. All of the honeys, including manuka honey. And manuka honey was introduced quite early. And in that sense, it was used, or my use of it was taking it and taking a spoonful of it when I started to get sick or started to get a sore throat. It's used very commonly. It has very, very incredible antibacterial benefits. So once you start getting sick, you know, you can really take that to kind of, to ward off your cold. And that's how I had always taken it and had always known it.

7:04And that as, you know, having our, my childhood based in that type of health and wellness really has always continued throughout my life. And when coming to the US, moving to New York, I've lived and worked in New York for over 20 years, have always continued to kind of seek out these natural ways of care and self-care. But a few things happened. So I had always only known Manuka in that way of taking it as an ingestible. I continue to take it. it's really great for all sorts of health benefits. But I was working at Victoria Beckham Beauty. I was, you know, one part of the founding executive team there.

7:47I was a CFO and the COO. An incredible, you know, lots of growth, lots of change, like so many learnings, both professionally and personally. I had two children during this time, really, you know, very just kind of peaked, I think, in terms of mental and physical health. and that was really showing up in my skin. Plus, you know, I'm sure all of the hormones and everything else that was happening on top of that too. But I was experiencing all of these new skin conditions that I had never had before. You know, all of the dryness, the sensitivity, like it was weirdly like dry, but also breaking out.

8:22And I just didn't really understand what was happening. But when trying to navigate the skincare landscape to try to explore what I should be doing or how I should be treating all of these conditions. It was nearly impossible. It was so complicated and it was so oversaturated and the messaging was just everywhere. And it was really ironic to me, even working in the beauty industry, for this to be so confusing when really having this kind of problem solution. And then on top of that, it was the confidence and the level of safety of the products that I was using because I was in such a vulnerable state, either pregnant or postpartum, really having an idea of how these different ingredients would affect me or kind of my child in that way.

9:16So these were all kind of internal thoughts and experiences that were happening. And then I met the then CEO of Convita, the Manuka honey company that we partner with. And he was really passionate about partnering on building a brand using Manuka honey as a key ingredient. And I think if you work in Manuka honey, it's a very short leap over because it has so many incredible benefits for all of these ingestible purposes. But it also is so just fascinating for and so efficacious for topical usage, especially Convita having their Medi honey line and their wound healing line. So we met and it was really like kismet in this way when talking to him and learning about how Manuka actually operates in topical application.

10:21And the thought of using this as an ingredient, as a key ingredient and building the skincare brand around it was a really kind of fast and natural progression.

10:33Kara Goldin:So you've worked with incredible brands and executive level. You've watched them grow from just an idea to scaling and all the beauty and warts that go along with that scaling. And then you decided it's time. How different is it founding a company than actually being in the executive roles that you were in? Do you think that it's what you thought it was going to be or do you think that it's significantly different? because I think that the key thing that I've seen is that I worked for founders prior to actually starting the brand that I founded, Hint, but no one ever told me, I guess, that the buck stops with you, right?

11:29Kara Goldin:Like it's just, and especially, it can be really lonely in the beginning, especially when there's no one else there, right? And there's different elements of that that I didn't have in some of my other experiences. But I'm curious what your experience has been. Yeah, absolutely. It's all learning. It's all new. And I think that I was in this position through my other roles where I felt, you know, ready to do something like this and confident in kind of my ability to develop a brand like this. But I, you know, it's just so, so much more than I ever anticipated, really. I think, you know, in listening to a lot of your previous guests, I think one of these recurring themes and something you hear often is that you just really have to believe a thousand percent in what you're doing.

12:27And I think there's so much and so many conversations that happen during the cycle of, of concepting, of building, of, you know, positioning and development, you know, and where there's, there's just so many questions and people will kind of question what you're doing or not, you know, give advice that goes against what you think is the right thing to do. And all of this, you know, you're just, I didn't anticipate thinking about Anu every waking minute, whether it's, you know, like consciously or subconsciously. I, you know, it has to be something that you are just so passionate about and that you believe in so much because it is all consuming in that way.

13:13And like you said, it's also very lonely. It is very lonely. And I think that's something that is difficult to kind of you get into your own head about things. You start to really kind of, you know, question things. You just, you know, all the unsureties is they really rise up a lot. And that's difficult, too.

13:34Kara Goldin:What were the first things that you did when, you know, you have this idea and you're looking at this partnership, but now you have to build a company around it, right? and not only produce the products, but also the packaging, the distribution, how you're going to actually go to market, all of those things. What did you do first? Yeah, the first was really thinking about the brand position. And this is something, you know, that just had so many iterations of what the brand actually stood for and how we wanted to present this brand. and well one I guess I'll let me take a step back the first thing I did was just obsessively research Manuka honey so it was you know I was just consumed with it just reading researching thinking like if you did this and then what about this and that was really you know that was kind of the basis then to think about then how that kind of looked in a skincare brand and then on top of that.

14:42So one, we, you know, the use of the MediHoney, the, there's a high concentration of this MediHoney in all of the formulas, really understanding why and how Manuka works and why it is such an like unique skincare ingredient. You know, it has really, you know, it has all of these natural benefits. It has really high antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory. it's a natural moisturizer you know it it's it seals moisture into your skin it has a very unique antibacterial property so there's all you know it's all the kind of the learning and the education around there and then synergistically how this as an ingredient works together and what it does is it makes your skin stronger makes your skin healthier it's always protecting and healing and regenerating.

15:36And so that as kind of our key ingredient was one. And then using a high concentration of that is two. And then developing all of the formulas around that. Because here too, in skincare, it's not unusual for there to be, you know, white label formulas or kind of similar formulas that are just used and packaged in different products or different brands. You know, here everything was like proprietarily built around this concept of the Manuka honey. So ensuring that all of those ingredients were also meaningful for that final form or that product that was being developed. So that was one, but then there were these other additional benefits going back to kind of my own experience and looking at the skincare landscape.

16:24There's, you know, there's one, one side, which is very kind of clinical and scientifically driven. it's um you know it's for it's it's just a more kind of like you know synthetic world of of skin care and then there's another side and then even past that if you go even a level past that there's like medical skin care steroids prescription for really kind of irritated or compromised skin which is ultimately not healthy for you and then on the other side of that there's these clean you know clean, natural skincare brands. And there's issues between all of them. You know, the natural and clean skincare brands, they are or can be really great for you, but may not necessarily be as clinically validated as some of those science-driven brands.

17:14And then on that side, on the science level side, you know, there's some formulas that are really just very simple where they're not irritating. They are kind of a short list of ingredients and they're really meant to be kind of like non-triggering for skin issues or just have something that's really kind of proprietary or interesting as a scientifically built ingredient. And there wasn't really a bridge between the two where you have this natural ingredient that has so much of this medical and scientific data behind it in terms of its efficacy, but yet is this natural ingredient, which is, you know, one of these wonders of our world.

17:57So kind of bridging that and positioning the brand to really, to ensure that we wanted it to be as, or I wanted it to be as clinically competitive with some, with these science led brands, but really utilizing this truly medical grade ingredient with this FDA cleared MediHoney. And this is really where the landing of this medical grade natural kind of formation of the brand began. Along with that, because it is a natural ingredient, I also wanted to ensure that it was really clean and it was really safe and a very kind of pure way of caring for self. So there was this other work done to ensure that all of the formulas are NEA certified, which is the National Eczema Association.

18:42They're EWG verified. We're really trying to put some claims against it because, and put these clean credentials against it to ensure that it's also safe for use for kind of anyone at any life stage.

18:53Kara Goldin:That's incredible. Yeah. And that the emphasis on like these clinical testing, I mean, a lot of brands, especially early brands don't do that. So I think that the fact that you're putting such an emphasis on that is just really awesome. And it's another reason why I think you telling the story of getting the story out there about it, because often it's really hard to get that information out to consumers, especially on your packaging. You have a very small space, right? So how are you getting the word out about all that you're doing in the That's huge. Yeah. This is, you know, I would say another learning from building a brand is just the network of...

19:52So one, we're getting the brand out just kind of through these means of in our digital space. We have our website, which is where a lot of our information lives. We have our social. But we are a brand new brand. You know, we launched a little over three months ago. So the impact that we've had is very small. We've been able to have, and I think, you know, the brand has resonated with some real beauty, you know, experts in the field. So we've had some great, we've been able to secure some great coverage, some media, but as a whole, it's really difficult, you know, getting the brand, getting the brand out and getting the awareness of the brand out there.

20:35We have taken a very, you know, a very concerted effort. We've taken a very concerted effort on starting to roll out the brand in a very thoughtful way through this professional network of dermatologists and estheticians. We have this professional network, which is really great because there's so much kind of education that does come along with this brand. And they have this customer that a brand like this can really, that they can really benefit from. You know, in this medical space on the dermatologist side, it's really a wonderful brand to bring in if you have compromised skin, if you're suffering from a lot of these skin issues at Manuka, so incredible at healing, like, you know, the eczemas and the dermatitis and these other kind of compromised skin are just really irritating.

21:22or sensitive skin. On the cosmetic side under the dermatologist, there's a lot of, you know, lasers or cosmetic procedures where a brand like this can also really help on the healing aspect. And then on the estheticians, it's really so much about this kind of holistic care and the health and the healing of skin quite often. So we have, you know, we're going through that measure and really partnering with those professionals in that distribution space. But another, you know, really like such an overwhelming way that we've also been able to reach new people is through word of mouth and through like the most amazing group of people that are really cheerleaders of this brand and have really supported the brand and have come out and you know to completely unprecedented actions of sharing and supporting and passing the brand along.

22:22And that, to me, has just been the absolute best thing about starting Anu and, you know, something that's just taught me, has inspired me so much and has taught me so much just through kind of those actions that I've seen.

22:38Kara Goldin:You've been at companies that have scaled into the hundreds of millions as a senior executive. When do you know that a company is successful and, you know, really taking off? And what is it like? Because you've been there, right? When you're building these brands, this is a brand new brand right now. And you've got, you know, the little wins that are happening right now. But what is that moment when you know that you've done it? But, you know, it's difficult because like, I think that can, that can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. And there was something I read recently where it was like, if a customer buys something one time, you know, you've made a sale and then if they buy, and then if they buy it again, you've gained trust.

23:36And then if they recommend it to someone, like, then you've built a brand. And just reading that, you know, I felt like, wow, I've actually built a brand because I've seen that activity already. And knowing that there is a place like that, you know, a place for this brand like that in the market is a very small measure of success. To grow a business and be successful in that business is very different. And I think this is something that obviously shows in sales and volume and customers an opportunity of reaching new customers. and for a brand like Anu, I think when I feel like this brand is successful is when this brand is on whole families.

24:38You know, I think that Manuka honey as an ingredient is so good for you. It's so pure. It's so healing. It's such an, you know, this brand is really meant to deliver something that changes people's lives in this way. And I don't want it to stop there. You know, we want this brand to be able to expand into touching every part of a person's body and every age of a person. So for me, when I think about this brand and what the success is, this is a brand that is across skincare, whether that be face, body, hair, on children, You know, it's such a healing, it has such healing power for many of these skin issues that children suffer from.

25:24You know, I have one product in our line right now, which is called The Solve. And this is incredible for children. I use it on my kids all the time. It heals any kind of compromised skin. So when we're touching people in this way, like that to me is success. And when we're seeing that and the use of this product and delivering this in households where more people know about Manuka Honey and understand that this is a skincare ingredient that is, you know, something that can rival anything they're using today and is so good for you. So that to me is what success looks like. When you have a customer who loves the brand and when you've built a really incredible business and that's from everyone that works on the brand and that passion and that unity and delivering something positive, that's success.

26:15Kara Goldin:Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I always say, too, that the consumer feedback that is often given to brands, actually, it's probably not given as much as it should be, but that's often the fuel that founders need to keep going, too, right? Oh, my God. It's so huge. absolutely absolutely there's yes you know there's been so many moments when you know I was down and then there was that feedback that was like okay this reminds me like this is meaningful to somebody yeah absolutely when you look at uh overall entrepreneurship uh it you know any entrepreneur or any founder will say that it tests resilience.

27:06Kara Goldin:For sure, you have those days where you never know what you're gonna wake up to. You think you have a plan and then all of a sudden you get a phone call and your plan changes, good or bad, right? And I'm sure you've had those moments where things get delayed that you didn't expect and then that's like a domino across the rest of the business. Can you think of a time that you got through, but gosh, it was challenging, right? Like it was a story that maybe you didn't expect, but then it's, you know, you ended up getting through it, but you look back on that and you're like, oh, that was exhausting.

27:47Yes. You know, so many, just so many. And I, you know, I'm a real believer in a lot of these things. A lot of things, you know, are out of your control and And more often than not, when you look back, you're like, that was, it was meant to happen that way. But, you know, there were a lot. I think, you know, at launch of the brand, there was, for me, because in my experience of brand growth, it was so much about kind of distribution and partnering with retailers and going and growing the brand in this way and, you know, touching customers and being able to get in front of these customers. and you know we kind of started out exploring those paths like having these conversations with bigger retailers and wanting to go into these doors and and then you know like making those plans and then when it started coming down to the actual plan and like those actual meetings of of those partnerships happening, you know, I just had the biggest pit in my stomach where I just felt like really, really scared.

29:07And I was like, this does not feel good. I don't know what this is, but it's terrifying me. And I feel like I'm making a huge mistake. And I just don't know oh, if this is what's right for us or for the brand. And that's happened. And then, you know, what we ended up doing was really kind of just resetting, resetting the timeline. And I think that was a really, you know, it's not that dramatic of a thing, like when talking about it now, but here it was just something that was like also just giving me so much anxiety and then just kind of facing it and being like, you know what, this isn't right.

29:52We're not ready. We want to push it back. And it was just kind of such a simple solution. And the retailers were so great and we're like, okay, great. And that's how it ended. And then that's when it became really clear to me, working through these professional networks, like working with our estheticians who really are interested in the brand and really want to talk about the brand and recommend them in these very thoughtful ways to their customers was something that felt so good to me at this time. And that's what we're doing.

30:29Kara Goldin:I love that. And especially as you're building out the company and really seeing kind of what the right mix is as well. How many SKUs did you launch with then? So we have five. They really cover kind of like your daily regimen. I'd love to hear about them. So first there's a cleanser, really incredible, so hydrating, non-drying, non-irritating. And, you know, a big part of kind of our brand and our value proposition is that the use of this product and the use of, and what Manuka really does is it makes your skin healthier. and that's really synonymous with really building your skin barrier. It does a lot of other things.