We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nicole Boyd. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nicole below.
Nicole, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?
While I was on maternity leave in ‘20 I had time off and a moment to reflect on my 10+ years in consulting/corporate world and realized I didn’t want to spend another 10 years climbing to the top of where I was headed. I loved solving problems and innovation and saw this wave of entrepreneurship with friends and my own sister diving in. I started to evaluate this path and pursue something I was passionate about. I wanted to build a company that solved a problem for women. The problem I felt compelled to solve was one that I personally faced: the desire to look and feel beautiful but the fact that the process to look good is hard work!
To go into a bit more…when you look good, you feel good, and can show up more confidently in aspects of your life. But the process to search social media for inspiration, find the right products for you, getting recommendations you trust, figuring out outfits, makeup, skincare, etc., staying on-trend and up to date with brands, shopping online is a pain the in a**!
When evaluating the market there was not an accessible, affordable, yet personalized solution between a box subscription focused on products (and limited products with little advice) and more expensive luxury offerings (in-home/more designer/$$ hourly rates). I saw a white space I wanted to tap into making a solution for women that deserved and desired assistance. I started to validate by survey and talking to any women I could if this was just me or if they too were struggling and early on I found it was not just me. Women 1) wanted help with style/beauty to look and feel BETTER and more confident, and 2) would pay for a resource and assistance to save time/stress. So that really got me excited and got me going.
At the start of the pandemic and #wfh period, I started my company Prept, a platform that provides the modern woman on-the-go with accessible personalized style + beauty assistance. With a name, initial virtual hopefully pandemic proof concept, basic branding, and an instagram we launched. We started providing our virtual experience to friends and family and then beyond and just kept going because we were helping women and getting great feedback!
Nicole, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Prept provides the modern woman on-the-go with personalized style + beauty assistance at her fingertips so she can save time and stress and feel beautiful, confident, & “Prept” for any and all occasions.Our virtual style + beauty services are affordable and accessible through our app. Each entails 1:1 connection with vetted style/beauty pros for advice and shopping suggestions just for you.
We love help women of all walks of life, shapes, sizes, and budgets look & feel their best. Some of our most popular services are Style me for an event ($45), Style me for photos ($55), Style & wardrobe refresh ($80), and Teach me how to do my makeup ($100). ♡
What started as a grew a side hustle to 260 customers (and larger community of 5k+ women), 3 apps, 50+ professional team across 10 states, sustainably growing revenue, and so much more. I just finally took my biggest risk to date and went all in (full-time) to continue to pursue my dream and #startuplife this past April and am excited about the future ahead.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
I have found really getting to know and deeply understanding our clients – who they are, where they spend their time, their lifestyles (families/careers/etc.), where they shop, their style/beauty pain points, etc. allowed us to understand where we should meet them. We have found partnering with women’s organizations and other women’s communities to be a very successful strategy for us.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Fundraising for our pre-seed round and our first external capital has taught me resilience. First to even get to the population of potential investors and investment channels was a process. Crowdfunding, angles, VCs, accelerators, friends & family, etc. Then evaluating approaches/theses to figure out who focuses in your space, if they are early-stage, getting to know the different individual investors, networking, building relationships, etc. It has been so much more work than I could have ever imagined. I have always had tough skin but this has taken it to another level and really built up my mental toughness. The feedback investors share that you have to hear but then take into account and figure out how to take into account/apply/if it’s relevant per YOU being a domain expert. Further, the amount of NO’s even when no isn’t actually said and you hear “you’re too early” “come back when x”…it has been hard but also really pushed me and my thinking in the most amazing way as an entrepreneur that I’m very thankful for.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.prept.club
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prept_/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolemboyd/