We were lucky to catch up with Heather Kirchner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Heather thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I’m a firm believer in leading by example and doing the right thing always. Be it in personal or professional settings, if you work hard, prioritize treating people with respect and are focused on doing right by your team, your customers and your business, the rest will fall into place.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve spent a majority of my career in tech helping passionate founders grow and scale their SaaS businesses. When working with a founder, non-negotiables for me include undeniable passion for their business, a commitment to delivering a top notch service that has strong product market fit, constant commitment to creating and maintaining raving fans and someone who leads with their heart. Melanie Richards, the Founder of goGLOW embodies all of this and it’s a joy to be a part of the journey as she scales goGLOW across the US.

As a wellness fanatic and someone who has undergone surgeries to remove skin cancer, I was inspired by the goGLOW experience, drawn to details like patented technology that eliminates harmful chemicals and overspray during the service, proprietary solutions that react with the natural oils on your skin and a vegan skincare line to support your glow. Bringing a better product and better outcome to St. Louis residents is the catalyst for me to continue chasing my entrepreneurial dreams by opening the Rock Hill goGLOW location with more St. Louis locations to follow.

goGLOW is reinventing the sunless tanning industry and for St. Louis to be one of the first franchise locations open has been the compilation of all of the things I love: pioneering an industry, launching a product in a new market, creating a positive and energizing culture for our team and clients, taking big swings, mentoring our team and giving our staff a chance to step up like so many have done for me. My favorite thing is the way our young kids watch, understand and believe in our business – there isn’t a day that goes by I’m not tearing up in joy from how proud they are to talk about goGLOW and “mommy’s business”. My husband (Aaron) is the real deal for showing them what it’s like to have unconditional respect and support for your partner – none of this happens without you.

I couldn’t be happier to be building this brand in my hometown and I’ve been overwhelmed by the love and support from our community – St. Louis is truly something special for small businesses.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

Most recently, my husband and I invested in goGLOW, but it’s probably more interesting to share my experience living through a big tech acquisition for other entrepreneurs pushing toward an exit.

About 4 years ago, FoodStorm was an Australian tech startup with their eyes set on the US for expansion and I took the leap with a small but mighty Australian team to lead our go to market and expansion in the US. I was our first US employee and wore many hats in the early days – from sales and marketing to implementation, customer success and shaping our product roadmap with our development team. It was a grind, but it challenged me to take big swings and push my self to do more and be more.

After just 1 year of focus, passion, get it done attitudes and nearly 50 new contract signings in the US, we were acquired by Instacart. Reflecting on our early days, the FoodStorm team is pure magic; it’s rare to have a company with a combination of great culture, great tech and a strong product market fit. It is never lost on me how incredibly lucky we were…but as I noted earlier in the interview, I’m a big believer in working hard and doing the right thing always. If you have a team and a culture where that is your top priority, you will make it happen.

I am so grateful for how seamless and positive the acquisition was for both of our businesses. For those of you looking to sell, prioritize the alignment of culture to ensure your people are going to be happy – they are the lifeblood of your organization and will be critical to continue to have on board as you integrate your businesses, teams, processes, etc.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There are many times in my life where I look back and think wow, how did I ever get through that? From skin cancer (where my passion for goGLOW comes from), deaths of close family and friends, to autoimmune diseases, I feel like I’ve experienced a lot, but the most pivotal breaking point for me was a miscarriage.

Around the time of the acquisition by Instacart, I was dealing with the loss of a baby we were so excited to welcome into our family. On one hand, it was the most rewarding year of my life, while on the complete other it was the most excruciating and challenging to navigate. I found solace at my gym, where the trainers have become my dear friends. During workouts, many of the instructors will say things like, “I KNOW you’ve done harder things,” or “set an intention and do this for the ones who can’t do it themselves”…and suddenly those motivational words hit differently and were like therapy for me. I HAVE done hard things, and I am going to be okay. If nothing else, I knew I could walk in that door at my lowest, and walk out feeling a bit lighter, which some days I needed more than anything. Pushing myself to get out of bed on the hardest days to move by body truly supported my mental health and helped me keep my commitment of putting myself first, so that in turn I could be the best version of myself in my marriage, friendships and professional life.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @goglow_rockhill
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-kirchner/

Image Credits

Image credit, goGLOW St. Louis