Bootstrapped a period care brand to $7M, then won $1M from Pharrell.
Dana Roberts spent years watching fifth-grade girls panic through their first periods with ill-fitting products and no preparation. The period care aisle hadn't changed in decades. Same brands. Same sizing that was never designed for a 10-year-old's body. When she pitched the idea to her god-sister, Dr. Monica Williams, she got a polite brush-off. Years later, Monica's own daughter started showing signs of puberty, and suddenly the problem wasn't theoretical anymore.
What followed was a brutal education in bootstrapping: churning through agencies, surviving iOS 14.5, and funding an entire company through pitch competitions because traditional VCs wouldn't write checks. Last year, a three-minute pitch won them $1 million from Pharrell Williams. Then Ulta told them to change their name if they wanted shelf space. They did it in 90 days.
Now Scarlet by RedDrop is in almost 400 stores trying to fix something the industry ignored for generations. We talked about all of it, including the part where Monica says she wishes she'd never bootstrapped at all.
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The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.
Kurt Elster • 00:00.001
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Monica Williams • 01:12.100
Like she's had a little growth spur. It's like, okay, cool.
Kurt Elster • 01:15.700
It's also exciting, right? It's like you're you're growing up. This is validation of who you are. You know, and we want this positive experience for everybody. And so today on the unofficial Shopify podcast, we are joined by Dana Roberts and Dr. Monica Williams from Scarlet by Red Drop. A business that from what I've heard so far sounds like it, you know, it was an idea ten years in the making before they said, you know what, let's try this. And then You know, in in researching it, I found just last year they received a uh, I believe a $1 million grant from presented by Pharrell Williams of all people. Is this true?
Monica Williams • 01:52.920
This is true, Kart.
Kurt Elster • 01:54.680
That is quite incredible. So okay. All right, we're we're doing this. We're recording. We're going. Tell me. Uh share with me, Scarlet by Red Drop. What do you sell?
Monica Williams • 02:06.439
We sell period products in education for school age girls.
Kurt Elster • 02:10.200
Why is it important? Let's just get it out of the way now.
Dana Roberts • 02:13.319
Well, it's important because I mean honestly girls deserve a a positive experience as their body is changing, you know, as as, you know, you know, people say growing up, but as their body is is is doing what it's absolutely supposed to do. Um, they deserve products, you know, they deserve a a a period positive experience, and that includes products that are made for them that includes um desexualized education that includes education that they can relate to That includes uh support for their community, their caretakers, their teachers, their school nurses, their grandparents, their dads. You know, it includes all of it. Um, and it's just really, really important.
Monica Williams • 03:03.300
Well, it's important because it doesn't exist.
Kurt Elster • 03:06.220
Uh a simple reminder that this is something that potentially affects or our target market is half of the population. Exactly. So you are, the two of you as a pair of co founders, or a a a fifth grade teacher and a physician. How did you meet how did this how did this happen? You said it was earlier, you know, in our pre-interview, you said, Hey, you you heard about the you came up with the idea ten years prior to ever actually doing anything with it.
Dana Roberts • 03:30.500
Well yeah. I had a fifth grade girls class. I was teaching in a single gender environment and um You know, I had girls that were starting their periods with me that just were grossly unprepared. And Monica is a, I like to call her a serial entrepreneur And so she was, you know, on her first business at the time. And uh I was going over, uh Monica and I are God sisters. I was going over to help her pack orders, which is what we do. In our family when we need when we need help, we call people. And so I was over there, you know, packing orders and I was like, hey, I got an idea The look that she gave me was like, can you just pack orders please? Like what are you talking about?
Kurt Elster • 04:23.099
She's like, that's great. Not now.
Dana Roberts • 04:24.460
Not now. Not now. Um I mean, but what it does say, and I think Monica could probably say this better than I can, you know, her her daughter, my my niece, was a baby You know, and so she couldn't really correlate the idea of her her little girl starting her period at that time 'cause she was a baby.
Kurt Elster • 04:44.180
When my wife had that conversation with me about our daughter, I it I was like, Yeah, but yeah, no, that but that's my baby. I don't understand how this could be, right? I absolutely as a parent I understand how that mental disconnect occurred. Uh Monica, I believe you were selling pacifiers at the time. And so you're like, all right, that's great. But not now. And then time goes by. At what point did did you say, did you realize, wait a second, Dana was right about this?
Monica Williams • 05:11.539
Yeah, I mean it starts when they start to get in the car and you may be experiencing this now, Kurt, and they it's like you like what gym team c got in the car with me? Like, whoa, what is happening?
Kurt Elster • 05:23.220
Yeah. And our older kids or teen boys. And there was a time where we're like we had to crack the whip on like, I don't think you understand how important deodoranted soap use is, gentlemen.
Monica Williams • 05:35.639
Yeah, and it happens with girls too. So I only have I only have the one girl and I was just like and I I I couldn't believe it. This little and she's little, like this little person gets in and just like Yep The football team come in here? What's happening? So about that point, um, it was it was definitely starting to cross my mind ab about she was actually going to grow up. Because to your point, it's like they started this little thing and even when I was walk I walked through Target and Like there's little the little clothes, even like the like the six T, I'm like, she's never gonna be that big. This is impossible. And then it's like it happens.
Kurt Elster • 06:10.060
At that point you what, you reach back out?
Monica Williams • 06:12.680
To Dana or like hey I called Dana and and per the usual she didn't answer her phone. So I kept calling. Wow
Dana Roberts • 06:23.220
She probably called me during the day and I was actually working because she's a serial entrepreneur. She could just, you know, call anytime. But by that time, I was an administrator, so I was probably helping children. That's what I was doing.
Monica Williams • 06:41.840
He wasn't just ghosting me, but it took a few calls and then we had the conversation and um I will say one other thing that really helped too. Like I said, she's my god sister. She's my husband's um sister. And we had this the first conversation we were at his mother's house. And I'll never forget. We're sitting like on this kind of old little couch or whatever. And he tells the story of how his middle daughter started her period with him and and they are at a zoo or a park or something and she wore a little white Yep, white caprice, a little yellow top. She came home and she went upstairs. She came back down. She's like, Dad, did I sit in some chocolate or something? And he was like Oh no And so he called his sisters, he called his mom, they came they swooped in and um took her to the store and had to talk, but Like he was a single dad at the time and didn't have the the tools to have that conversation. And so that really struck me too that this was like it was just such a big potential problem that we could really help solve and make things better for so many people. And so that was that was really the follow-up that that set me like, okay, this is what we need to do. We at least need to, and I think what's kicked this off is we need to just to test this idea and see people agree with us and will trade their money for this idea.
Kurt Elster • 08:02.960
So how do you well when is this? Is this like uh 2021, I believe? No, this is like 2016. A while ago. All right. Yeah. So in the before times, pre-pandemic. How do you validate the idea?
Monica Williams • 08:19.360
So like I said, this is my third business. So I had um and have all have had for many years a really good supply chain ties in China. And so I um reached out to people that I knew and got s just started frankly with samples of things that I knew we could get in bulk, like that wouldn't cost us a bunch of money. And we could like we could start out with just like you know, there's always EOM basic things and we could stick a la stick a sticker on there. and try selling it hand to hand, have conversations with people. What would you pay for this? What would you like in this? That was for me, that's how we we validate anything is like start with something that doesn't cost you like Kind of like I guess in in with web stuff, it's like your minimum your MVP. Start with some sort of MVP and minimum viable product. Yes, sorry. Minimum viable product. And see what people say, how much they will pay for it, how you can sell it. Like my second business, I started out I sc screwed it up because I started out hand to hand and tried to move it to a web product and the customers at that time were barbers, they weren't gonna buy stuff on the web. So, you know like we may start hand to hand, but how like how do we build a really basic, simple website and see Will people buy this and and order it? Because if you're used to going in the store, will you will you wait for it to get to you even though you don't know what it looks like? So like all those kinds of like thought processes around something that we're really trying to educate people around.
Kurt Elster • 09:47.079
At what point does this end up on a Shopify store?
Monica Williams • 09:51.079
Early. Um, because it like even though that was so the first shop Shopify store was probably 20, I think that was 2018. Like it took a couple years to get like to s test a bunch of samples and get to the point where we had something to to put in a in on a store and that was twenty eighteen and it was you know Shopify at that time was the only platform that's not true. There was WooCommerce, there was like other platforms, but there weren't any that
Kurt Elster • 10:20.600
That's anytime I hear a non-Shopify platform get mentioned that happens. It's something wrong with my microphone. I don't know why it doesn't. Like watch this. WooCommerce.
Monica Williams • 10:27.560
Ew.
Kurt Elster • 10:28.040
Yeah, I don't know why. I'll get it fixed eventually. Don't worry about it.
Monica Williams • 10:32.620
Sorry, so there were other platforms, but none of them were. were we're any good. Shopify since Shopify showed up on the site has on the scene has been the for me the best produ the best product for me to start at home and try and build something that w is scalable
Kurt Elster • 10:50.200
We additionally you have to find, you know, find the products, go through the samples, but you have an unfair advantage here. You have experience, you know, and you have a network you've connections to suppliers in China, which awesome, you know, that you're not trying to figure that out for the first time, in addition to figuring out the product, the business, product market fit, etc. Well, okay, as you're validating it, what's the point where you went, this'll work? Like absolutely, you know, this is valid. This is what we want.
Dana Roberts • 11:18.339
I I mean it would be when people exchange the money for it.
Monica Williams • 11:22.420
No, because early on it like what we thought we were selling, Kurt wasn't what we were selling. We thought we were selling something like price and convenience And like to me it was this is it's easy. I can click a few buttons and our pricing was very fair in the like when we were testing. And it'll show up on my doorstep. And so we had some orders that happened that way, but we what we did that I think was really smart early on was we had this little simple email email that went out after every order that said Yeah, this is from Monica and Dana. We're so happy you bought this from us. We know that there's twenty-four feet of aisle in Walmart where you can go get this really easy and probably for less money. Why did you pick us? Can we call and ask you why? And Ninety percent of Oh, that's just ninety percent of people said yes. Like it was one of those like simple texts, like it looked like I literally dashed this out to them personally. And ninety percent of people said yes. And we had one guy on the team that would that did actually call. And what we learned is that people were really intrigued by the size and the preparation. And so when we started changing our messaging to what we learned that people were actually buying, we saw some acceleration. And so for me this like the scalability was, am I gonna be able to put one dollar in and get, you know, multiples of that dollar out? And we had we gotten some of that with like the size and preparation, but really frankly wasn't at a scalable point. we finally hit on some messaging that was like, oh shit, I can put in as much money and like get some of this back. And that was the moment for me.
Kurt Elster • 12:59.200
It sounds like you're describing return on ad spend. Is that and if this was especially if this was pre-pandemic, you know, much easier to advertise on meta then than now. Was that how we require those initial customers as Facebook Instagram ads?
Monica Williams • 13:14.519
And we did, um at the time the way we did it was you've heard a smart marketer.
Kurt Elster • 13:20.000
Absolutely. A smart marketer. Molly Pittman as her firestone.
Monica Williams • 13:23.360
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we did one of the we did their like train my traffic person course, like I and another person did it at the time and so we did it ourselves and I'm not even on social media. Like so like getting in the back end and doing it was really interesting. Like especially from kind of a a this isn't my life kind of perspective. And we like we did all of that ourselves. So that was really at the time really exciting. And then when we got to scale, we hired someone and they'd like at the at that point shot it to the moon 'cause like we like you can take her and if you're if you're really not about that life, you're not gonna get the results. So working with people who knew all the like the tricks and all that and they were ac able to just kind of do a little bit of something, going from that zero to one is s it's so exciting. Like, you know, you're sitting at your computer and it's like Shit. Like, what's it gonna be today? What's the number gonna be today? And we like we text each other. It was like it was those early days were to your point before the meta changes and the and Royaz was strong. It was really exciting.
Kurt Elster • 14:27.020
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Monica Williams • 15:50.940
Uh so like once we handed it off to an agency, we got to like three hundred three hundred K that first year, which for for me, this was being my first business.
Kurt Elster • 16:00.459
For year one, that's great.
Monica Williams • 16:01.940
Yeah, no, it was incredible. Uh like so that was uh it was a overseas agency. Like they were really good, but they're like the other side of this, like we talked about, is like this is also a very sensitive moment and you're experiencing that yourself. And so culturally it wasn't really a fit. The way that they talk and the way that they they think about these things is very different than Americans. And so we got that to a certain key point and then we're like, okay, we need to change and and either try this ourselves or try a a a domestic agency. And if I'm being honest with you, Kurt, that completely fucked us up because like we could not get an a agency that would would scale in the same way. And now of course to your point, hindsight's 2020. Getting from zero to one is one thing, but getting from one to something else is much harder. And so uh we didn't know that. We expected there to be this continuous hockey stick, if you will And so we struggled for a good year with agencies and the messaging and it like we went through so many iterations uh in that messy, very, very messy middle. Like we're kind of in a messy middle right now, but that was a very, very messy middle where we were struggling with packaging. We're struggling with name. We're struggling with What's the creative? What how do we have how do we scale this now with this messaging? And and just it got really messy.
Kurt Elster • 17:23.480
Well, how'd you get out of it? I mean, just like work through each problem. It's not like, you know, it's a series of things. As you like as you scale, you realize like, okay, well, here's the next thing we gotta do. And then, you know, maybe you're trying to do everything all at once. That's often my problem, right? Like I'm like, all right, I got ten things I need to do to go forward. I know what I have to do. Let's attempt to do eight all at the same time. You know, of course it doesn't work.
Monica Williams • 17:45.820
No, it's so you're so right. Our CFO is very much like you. He's not uh he's all he's our third co-founder. He's not he's generally not acknowledged on these things, but we do have a third co-founder, Jared Shaw Because he always says that somehow he gets left out of being a co-founder. So Jared Shaw is our third co-founder. Oh poor Jared.
Kurt Elster • 18:04.399
Shout out to Jared, co-founder.
Monica Williams • 18:05.760
Shout out to Jared Shaw. But he is always trying to do all the things it wants, Kurt. So like we did some we we did some more um surveying, like what's the right price? We One of the challenges I think we had our first kit had way too many pad had a lot more pads than they have now. So we were worried we were trying to get to lifetime value and and repeat purchase So if you if you give people like a month and a half of pads or two and a half months worth of pads, when are they gonna come back? They're gonna run out and then they're just gonna end up at the store. So we're trying to figure this out. So we're we're gonna downsize, we're gonna make our package packaging more girl friendly because we the first packaging was pretty sterile. It was nice, but was pretty sterile. And then we wanted to adjust the price. We asked people, how much do you think you should pay for this? We know the national average is sixteen fifty a month. Are we is this like for a first period kit or a period kit with everything in it, is there how much price sensitivity is there? Is that does it have to be $16. 50? Can it be thirty dollars? So we did all this like work on what people really wanted. And we made changes. And we did them we did a lot at once. And so like our AOV fell, our it their iOS changes, so customer acquisition costs went up. Um we didn't have 14 I was 14.
Kurt Elster • 19:26.840
5 pr yeah that that change happened, caught us all. They told us we knew it was coming and then you know the actual results of it seemingly caught us all off guard at that time. It certainly you weren't alone.
Monica Williams • 19:38.060
Yeah, no, but like w but the other side of this too, Kurt, is we are un we are unfunded. Like we won that million dollars from Pharrell last mu last year. That was our first funding. So everything we did had to create money. And so when all these changes happened, it was so it again, like that's why I say it was so stressful because We knew that we were making these changes based on data, but the results were not meeting out in a way that allowed us to grow this business. And it's like, are we gonna lose this business because we just don't have enough money and we don't have the the the access to the capital to grow this in a traditional way. It was tough.
Kurt Elster • 20:16.940
So of the expenses, like there's it sounds like it's you know, it's everything adding up as you realize where it has to go. And it's exciting and frustrating. 'Cause you're like, hey, you we absolutely have seen this work. We know it can work, and we're just trying to make it work better than it does currently. But then you run into this issue of, all right. I gotta spend money to make money. That's my scenario. Of those things, what was the biggest expense? What was the like you know, w what was the one that kept you awake at night?
Monica Williams • 20:42.700
I think the thing that kept me awake and I'd love to hear Dana's answer during this period of time is we um we made so we at this point now we've launched on Amazon and Amazon was a pretty significant channel of business for us Like, you know, when we get like some good marketing turn going, is that another ooh? Do I get a do I get a thing after that?
Kurt Elster • 21:01.920
Well, for Emma, you know what, why not? I don't they don't need any more of my money at this point.
Monica Williams • 21:07.860
All right, so Amazon is a significant channel of business for us. And we when we made the changes, we didn't know that we're gonna have to make complete changes on Amazon. So we ordered a specific amount of in like what we could afford. And then to for us to be able to continue to sell on Amazon, essentially we had to double that. So like half the inventory went out the door to Amazon. We ran out of inventory. Like we couldn't get it was God. Oh my god, you're making me relive this. What was your question?
Kurt Elster • 21:40.420
Well, all right, so like you you needed cash. You know, you had to feed the beast. And so what was the thing that kept you up at night? Like what specifically of these many issues at the time?
Dana Roberts • 21:51.700
For me. it was bad hires. It was to me it was a marketing agency that wasn't working in our best interest And when I say in our best interest, nothing malicious, right? It just wasn't working.
Kurt Elster • 22:06.799
Yeah, just the fit wasn't working.
Dana Roberts • 22:08.000
Right. There was it wasn't a good fit. And I will say too, we had a bad We had a hire that wasn't a good fit, that was um, you know, working with marketing. And so it was just a really hard time because You're looking at it from a lens like this should really be working. Like this this does not make sense that this is that this is this hard and it's not working when you feel like you have like Some real experts in the room. And to be honest, we're not the experts, right? So we're hiring what our kind of advisors and mentors have told us to do. Like get you some good experts, like do this, do that. And it's not. working. And I think that is what kept me up at night because I realized that it was a cycle and it was just continuing and we had to really like Honestly, like we had to win that million dollars because we needed to make a complete shift in our agency and our overall approach in marketing. And we were able to do that with that money.
Kurt Elster • 23:19.180
So all right, t tell me about that. You were awarded a million dollars by Pharrell Williams. Is it like, you know, epic Grammy Award winning artist Pharrell Williams. Billboard chart chopper. Happy gentleman. Like that, Pharrell Williams. How? How does that happen? No one has ever handed me a novelty check before, let alone an A-less celebrity.
Monica Williams • 23:39.840
It's a so he has every year a competition called the Black Ambition Prize and it's a pitch contest It's a in in many ways it's a nine-month interview process. So you start out like with most pitch contests, there's a a application and you submit a video and you get to the next stage and there's another application, there's a cohort. Um, and then there's several rounds of virtual pitch competitions to get to the finals, and then there are ten finalists that go to do it in person for our year. Like I know there are COVID COVID years where they did it virtually, but we were able to go in person. Our year was in New York. And Ultimately eight people were selected to go on stage and you have three minutes to win a million dollars. High stakes.
Kurt Elster • 24:28.120
Yo, it's crazy. If I were in a scenario like that, I would do my best and probably remember none of it. Like a hundred percent I just black out from the pressure. you know, similar situations after the fact. I'm like, I hope that went well 'cause I don't remember it.
Monica Williams • 24:41.780
Sadana's point, we really needed to win. But there were like there are eight, seven other really good businesses, really impactful businesses, other individuals who are making tremendous changes in this world and like you through this process you really bond with them and you want everyone to win. Is it like so everyone does win something. Don't get me wrong. Everyone like the I think the smallest check to that group is fifty thousand dollars. That's fifty. I think there was a hundred that year. It was two fifty and then a million. So he gave he he gave not gave away, but people won three point seven million dollars that day.
Dana Roberts • 25:18.120
Yeah.
Monica Williams • 25:18.600
Um, so it's a it's a big, very expensive room. But to your point, that three minutes I had drilled and drilled and drilled with advisors with Jared. Shout out to Jared again. Um, with they had a a pitch coach, couple pitch coaches, like there's a lot of work that goes into that to really distilling your story down into three minutes. We ha you do have slides, which is great. And if I'm being honest, not to take away from this moment, Kirk, but the the only way that we have gotten money w in this company to this date is pitch contests. So I'm not saying I'm great at the press election. No, this was not this was not our first pitch contest.
Kurt Elster • 25:59.780
We've had people on who've like, you know, been on Shark Tank and you know gotten the deal or not gotten the deal. Um, I don't know that I've ever had someone who's like, we did multiple pitch contests and then won multiple and like won a grand prize. That's quite incredible. Just extremely unusual.
Monica Williams • 26:15.640
Well, I'll say in and you know like I'm not trying to highlight the fact that that minority founders do not get funding generally and but for us that's the only way that we've gotten it. We've we've been awarded I wanna say almost one point five and it with contest. Yeah.
Dana Roberts • 26:30.779
I mean, but I I know Monica I I don't have a problem with highlighting it. Like I mean, literally at that point, it was literally I don't know where our company would be. We definitely, I think, would be alive, don't get me wrong, but it would be a very different um circumstance right now. Um and so when you especially like when you look at is this business and like Monica said, the eight or seven other businesses that we were competing against all we're trying to be are or not trying are being impactful in this world, right? Um, and so when you look at it from our lens, it's like, my gosh, like it shouldn't be this hard to sell like an investment into literally humans, like into girls. Like they deserve you know, this non-traumatic experience. They deserve a very positive experience and to to keep like pushing that message and kind of it falling on deaf ears. was was really um it started to sometimes and and I can only imagine for Monica because she is the pitch person in our on our team, it's like it really just impacts your psyche sometimes.
Kurt Elster • 27:51.840
Yeah, how could it not? It's hard not to to internalize that stuff. Especially, you know, as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, you know, you as a founder, you've it very much becomes part of your identity. And so, you know, what the business goes through reflects on you and uh your head your headspace, truly. So one of the things that's so tough about marketing a product that is the end user is children. And so that's a difficult target, a difficult market to target to because they can't make purchases directly. They don't have credit cards. And it's weird too. There's all kinds of regulation around that kind of advertising. And so realistically, you actually are advertising to their parents, would be you know my suspicion. And you know, you talked about like you gotta change agencies. You know, get the marketing messaging right. You know, what's tell me about that marketing where, you know, what what's the hard part about marking period products to tweens without talking to them directly?
Monica Williams • 28:50.160
Um, I think that it's it's actually not as hard because kinda like you were saying, your wife said that she remembers her her first period experience. A f a period, a first period especially, but those early periods are core memories. And so we really appeal to moms in that that take them back to that moment. Um I think the the biggest challenge is that ultimately every woman that you that you that if there are women in your office, your your wife, all the women you see, started with products that didn't fit her and she survived. So it is diff the the challenge we have is convincing them that your experience wasn't great and now you have to I have to remind you that your experience wasn't great and that there's a a product that's worth investing in early because you want this here when like when the next period comes or when their first period comes, whatever, to prevent this. And As opposed to you survive, she'll be okay too. Like that's to me, that's the the hardest navigation for us
Dana Roberts • 29:54.760
It's really impacting the psyche of of of moms. Really, you know, saying like, you know, your your story about your wife, like, we've heard that story kind of over and over again where a mom makes a conscious decision who had a traumatic or not the ideal experience. to ensure that her daughter's experience was going to be completely different. And so it's usually on the on the that spectrum, right? It's usually I'm gonna make sure my daughter has a completely different experience. Or I'm gonna bury my hand head in the sand. And then unfortunately that baby's gonna end up having the same experience that mom had And so I think it's just really talking to moms. Like I I've had so many conversations with women who will say, Well, they really don't need this. And I'm like, Yeah, they do. And guess what? I wish I could have given it to you. But I just you know, we weren't around then, but they actually you deserved it. But now we're gonna make sure that they get it. And so it's just really impacting their psyche because I think there has been a perpetual cycle of like you just You just use what you have. Like you don't demand any excellence. You don't demand anything different. You just have to take what was given. And that's changing a whole mindset.
Kurt Elster • 31:19.620
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Monica Williams • 32:35.120
We really do it as like a big sister voice. And so it's kind of um how do you how would uh you have liked to have a a like an assistant in this moment. So we we try to insert ourselves as the assistant but in a way that's relatable and not preachy and not um we're educated but we're not doctory. It's like we really try to walk that line with with uh being a big sister and having the right tone.
Kurt Elster • 33:02.500
I like that. And I I like that you've got that such a a clear way to describe tone of voice. Big sister. That immediately makes life much easier for any kind of copyright marketing exercise when you have that like those those clear definitions of how it is supposed to sound. You had what there was a product on your site on your Shopify store that I thought was was very clever. What was it? Oh, the bathroom pass. Tell me about the bathroom pass.
Dana Roberts • 33:26.179
When I was a teacher, we had a hand signal. We we came we decided on a signal and the girls gave me the signal and they you know walked out and did what they needed to do. We didn't even have to have a conversation about it. But, you know, that's not always the case, right? So the bathroom pass is literally, you know, a pass where they can hand off to their teacher or um you know, whoever their coach, their counselor, whoever. And it has some terms and conditions on the back, like this is what I'm using this for. You know, I'm not going to abuse this, you know, whatever the case may be. And it just really helps. um alleviate a a a real kind of sometimes uncomfortable conversation. We get a lot of feedback on Facebook about the bathroom pass. about like, hey, this is great. My daughter was able to use this with her male teacher. It made her feel, you know, so much more comfortable. Um, and to be honest, I wish we I wish it wasn't even a thing. You know, I wish we didn't even have to have this. Like I wish that this was so normalized And we felt so empowered to have the conversation that it's just, hey, I'm going to the bathroom. I mean, and let me just say this, because I get I get a lot of pushback on this from uh uh from comments that I don't feel like girls should have to justify why they have to go to the bathroom Let me be clear.
Kurt Elster • 34:54.220
A hundred percent.
Dana Roberts • 34:54.940
Okay. Um we get a lot of feedback on that. A lot. Like but the the spirit and the intention behind the past is literally to help make you know, the girl more comfortable to say, I need some support and I need to to go to the bathroom. And that's it.
Kurt Elster • 35:16.000
just a a simple solution to a a societal problem. You know, I I when I saw it immediately understood the purpose use case, et cetera. And I j I thought it was very clever. Um, even if it's not, you know, the core product, but it it speaks to it. So I want to talk about the rebrand. You uh this year changed names from red drop to scarlet. Tell me about it
Monica Williams • 35:43.440
Uh and that was honestly really pushed by Ulta. So we did the Ulta Muse Accelerator and part of that it's a it's a three month process where you get retail ready, if you will. And the the beautiful thing that Ulta does, or thing that Ulta does very beautifully, is they fold you in with their leadership in in a very authentic and conversational way. And so by the end, you're having conversations with this VP, maybe not the present, she's really busy, but like really high up people in. retail who have been in in cosmetics and and understand buyer behavior in that space way better than you can and they're comfortable enough to say, look, this is polarizing. Um, and red drop kind of going back to what will people trade their money for. In the beginning, if I'm being honest, I waited tables for the first money that that we put into putting um products together, put bring bringing products to the US. We didn't have money to to work with a real branding agency. Red drop was something Frankly, a guy that is now a big brander who was right waiting tables with me at the time was like, hey, let's just try this. Let's be very on the nose. Like it was meant to be very intentional. Because your period isn't a flower. It isn't fun and blossomy. It's a thing that's like it can be uncomfortable. It can be very messy and we felt like let's just be more in the face about it. Elsa didn't like that. So they're like, hey, look This is too polarizing. Um, we need you to work with our branding agency to come up with some some other names. And they over the course of I'd say it was six weeks because from the time that the Ulta accelerator ended to the time that we had to have product in DC was a little more than 90 days. So the first four to six weeks were were spent on this naming exercise with their branding agency. And then um we did the legal searches. and we had to build the packaging really, really quickly. If I'm being I like I love Scarlet. It feels like Red Drop smoothed out for the people. We didn't come up with that. The branding agency came up with it, it felt like it was the most like the thing that had the most continuity from where we started. But the the the pace at which we had to proceed from that from that initiative. Kurt was unbeliev like frankly, what we did is impossible. And I'm like, we've done a lot of impossible shit. And I'm really proud of that. That is something I'm super proud of. Um But it it was really hard and it was I would say also internally, and Dana, I'd love to hear your opinion about this. I know internally for some of us we had gotten so far with red drop. We won that million dollars with red drop. So it was kinda like, what's wrong with red drop? So there was like part of this was like us like it being our baby in some ways and part of it was, okay, brand bad branding costs money, but like at this stage, how do we know how much money it costs us? So it was a there was a lot that g went on with that.
Dana Roberts • 38:43.460
It still is a little, I mean, ska you know, we're officially Scarlet by Red Drop. Let me say that for the people. It you know, so there, you know, red drop is still a little there, but It was hard because like Monica said, like we had literally just won a million dollars as as red drop And it's really hard for you to have like a entity, to be honest, come in and tell you like you're and and they didn't say it in this way, right? But it's like you're not gonna be successful if you don't do this. Like.
Kurt Elster • 39:18.780
And you're like, No, I 100% I get it. I mean they're basically like saying, if I was like, hey, you know, Dana Monica, I think you guys should change your names. You know, it'll it'll just work better. You could be Danielle and I don't know, Mona. That'll be better.
Dana Roberts • 39:33.340
Yeah, and and because in particular that year twenty twenty four was a very hard year. And so it's like when you're on top of that, you know, you get this one big win and then they come back and they're like, hey, but by the way, if you want to play on the playground, you gotta change your name. And part of me was like, F that. Like, I don't care. Like, you know, I mean, and I really had to take my emotions and, you know out of it and and and just try to ride the wave and and trust the process. Um because it was really hard
Kurt Elster • 40:17.260
At the same time, you know, they're saying the essentially uh extreme Painting it a little more extreme, they're holding you hostage in that they're saying, Look, like currently you're in 380 Ulta stores. That is phenomenal, right? I'm my office is in a mall. I can walk to Ulta and find your product right now. And it that that's incredible for a small business to get that kind of retail distribution. So they're saying like look, you're gonna change the name if you want to be in those 380 stores. Now that it's happened, you know, you you've made the name changer in the stores, worth it?
Dana Roberts • 40:53.660
Oh yeah. I I love Scarlet by Red Drop. I do love it. I think we were very thoughtful when, you know, presented with the options that they gave us that we really wanted to find the option, you know, the best out of those options to signify who we are, what we do, and what's important to us. And I also believe like those names that they offered us came from girls, came from, you know, focus groups. And so I I love the fact that we Selected something that they loved, that they resonated with, you know. Um, and that's really important to both of us, you know, and so I I love it now, especially with the packaging. I do. It was it was a little hard in the beginning
Kurt Elster • 41:47.300
You know, and I I also accept their I accept their advice and experience. They certainly have more you know experience. uh in in branding products than any of us do combined. Uh so, you know, sometimes you just have to go, yeah, they probably know what they're talking about. Yeah. And I just don't have the experience to appreciate it. Basically they Yeah. You know, having some some humility and not letting your ego get in the way of good advice, even if it doesn't make sense, but you know it's coming from a good place. Okay, you know, take the chance on it. And in this case you did and it worked out. Plus, you know, the name doesn't change your mission in power like what uh the name could be whatever. It could be like, you know, Barney's period pads. The mission is still oh man, Mattel gonna be mad at me for that. The mission's gonna be Power Girls Normalize Periods and Desexualize Puberty. Fabulous, right? The name doesn't change it. So from here Where do you go? You know what what's next? What's coming in 2026 for Scarlet by Red Drop?
Monica Williams • 42:46.040
We w obviously more retail distribution will be great for us because to get to really accomplish our mission. We need to have access to more girls and families. So um hopefully some retail expansion. We have some interesting um product expansion ideas. This year we are able to add tampons and menstrual cups and period swimwear, which is fantastic. We have some other product addition product line additions coming. And um yeah, it's that's that's the big those would be the main things. I mean like we're finally able to sell on TikTok, so that's kind of exciting. That took a lot. Oh.
Kurt Elster • 43:26.920
Oh. Yeah, so of your like obviously you've got the the meta sales channel going, you're selling on Amazon. Now you got TikTok shop going. Any other unexpected sales channels or uh marketing channels that are working out for you?
Monica Williams • 43:42.380
Yeah, so we just got accepted into this really interesting um like vending machine concepts. You know when you go to those big big airports, there's like vending machines for like Kylie Beauty and AG One.
Kurt Elster • 43:53.900
Like you see them all, CVS, they all have these kind of like Okay, I just bought cake out of a vending machine at an airport. So absolutely I will buy cake from a vending machine again.
Monica Williams • 44:03.539
Absolutely. And so I think I I love the idea of a vending machine. And so we we got accepted to six um in 2026. And so just providing access to girls and and moms on the go with some tr like small travel options we're excited about.
Kurt Elster • 44:20.200
You've got some certainly every Shopify store has apps installed. You've probably you potentially you've got twenty to forty. Of those those many apps and all their their important features, do you have a favorite? Like I see you've got a store locator going, obviously, you know, that's important. What's your favorite app?
Monica Williams • 44:39.260
Uh Clavio.
Kurt Elster • 44:42.060
Clavio. Excellent. Yeah, definitely uh put that in the need to have category.
Monica Williams • 44:47.840
I love Claythea. They're so good.
Kurt Elster • 44:50.320
Of your your Shopify metrics, your KPIs, key performance indicators, I bet there's one that you obsess over more than others. What is it?
Monica Williams • 44:59.099
Uh it's funny I'm pulling up by a we have a scorecard. Let me see. Ooh. Uh new customer AOV Well, between new customer AOB and new customer cat.
Kurt Elster • 45:09.780
And then I assume this is so we could we could stay on top of our cash flow, you know, understand our contribution margin, make sure we're acquiring customers profitably. Yes. If you were to go back to the beginning, you know, hindsight's 2020, we have our time machine. It's finally happened. What's the one piece of advice? that you would give yourself.
Monica Williams • 45:28.300
It's funny, Kurt, because I just had this conversation with Jared yesterday and we were because w we are we are trying to to get some significant funding now so we can really grow. And we're getting some advice from um an investment banker. It's funny because you just said like, you know, have the humility to listen to this advice. They probably know more than you do and this is coming from a good place And some of the advice we're getting is just so counterintuitive to everything that we have done to s to survive to this point. Like we need to reduce our channels. And I get it. I understand why an investor would say that. Um, but it's but our our channel our wide channel expansion has helped us survive because if Facebook gets shut down today, we still are making money on like, you know, three other platforms or four other ways to make money. So it's really helped us sort to survive. But Their their point is that it has stretched our our resources very thin. Like we could have a a a buy over here, a wholesale buy of you know, 30,000 units and we only bought 40,000 and we thought they would let they would last for two months and now we're we're out. So like they're they're right, but it's difficult to accept. So I say all that to say that the piece of advice I give myself today that I if our starting over is don't start this without significant resources. It's re it is really, really hard in this day and age. Like it's hard to raise money. But it's even harder to to raise money in this environment of traction and bootstrapping. So I like I wish that we hadn't had to bootstrap for as long as we had to bootstrap.
Kurt Elster • 47:04.320
Interesting. So you would you would seek VC funding earlier or seek uh grants earlier? Like our Or competition winnings.
Monica Williams • 47:14.780
I would seek angel earlier. Angel and competition winnings earlier.
Kurt Elster • 47:20.520
Yeah, it's like by the time you you realize you need it, you probably needed to go try to find it, you know, a month prior. Good point. Okay. And you know, I'm gonna send I'm gonna send the link to your site to my wife and be like, hey, you know, check this out. Uh, order something for our daughter. What it remind me, what is that site that I should send her?
Monica Williams • 47:44.280
It's triscarlet. com. And Kurt, I will happily send send you and send your wife and your eight-year-old some some goodies. You'll have to order. I'm happy. I'm so happy you had us on here. This has been super exciting. I'm um I've been listening to you for years, like I told you in the pre-interview, and this is like this is a super watershed moment for us. So thank you so much.
Kurt Elster • 48:03.020
I am so glad. I have goosebumps. You made my day.
Monica Williams • 48:06.140
Oh, you made my day. So thank you so much.
Kurt Elster • 48:08.460
Monica Williams, Dana Roberts, Scarlett, thank you. Hey, before you go, I was hoping you would check out our new app, Promo Party Pro. It is what I want to be the single best, easiest way to run a free gift with purchase promo on Shopify. We just put it live in the App Store. We've got less than 50 users. We want your feedback. So if you need to run a free gift with purchase promo in the near future, install it, try it. There's a live chat. I check that all the time. And so if you have any issues at all, you know, or any suggestions on how we can make it even easier to use, let us know. We're happy to help. If you want to try it, search promo party in the app store. Promo PartyPro is the app. Give it a shot. It's got a free trial. Thanks