Founder Profile: Stacy Blackman
Tell us a bit about your company
Stryke Club is clean, simple, effective, and locker room-worthy skincare for teen boys.
What inspired you to start your business / what opportunity in the market are you seeking to address?
My son is 18 and had barely ever washed his face. Yet, like most humans, of course, he cared about looking, feeling, and being his best. I realized that most boys were using products developed in the ’80s, borrowing from their sisters, or not engaging in self-care/grooming at all. I wanted to develop a dermatologist-created, super-effective line that boys could claim as their own. Instead of forcing unnatural 3 step routines and embarrassing zit creams on them, I created a line that fits with their lifestyle and that they could use with pride.
What are one or two of the biggest wins or most encouraging experiences you’ve had so far?
The day we landed on the shelf in over 1,000 Target stores, just one year after launch was pretty exciting!
What about your personal background, experience, or perspective fuels your passion for this venture?
I am a serial entrepreneur; I love identifying solutions to problems and bringing new concepts to market. I love consumers and understanding their behavior. I sold my first company almost 25 years ago. My second one, Stacy Blackman Consulting is still thriving and growing more than 20 years after launch. But I truly hungered to create a fabulous and meaningful consumer brand. When I identified this hole in the market, I knew this was what I needed to create.
What has been one or two of the biggest learnings so far?
EVERYTHING. I have had to get up to speed on so many topics from formulations and testing, packaging, shipping, operations, retail channels, soooo many things and have tripped up in pretty much every category every single day. So many hiccups, from inventory getting, lost to exploding bottles to manufacturer audits.
What are a surprise or two that you’ve encountered as an entrepreneur?
How really, truly challenging it is, how much you have to believe and just put your head down and work. There is no magic, no secret formula. But that said there are always solutions to challenges if you are willing to hang in there and get creative. You have to believe when others don’t believe and you have to keep plugging even when you are not yet seeing results.
Follow Stryke Club, or connect with Stacy for updates on Stryke Club’s progress!
