Some women are disappointed that lipsticks only come in reds, pinks, and nudes. Plus, they contain unnecessary chemicals. The Lip Bar offers a wider range of cocktail-style colors, minus the irrelevant elements. Founders Melissa Butler and Rosco Spears pitched on Shark Tank, but no deal was struck. The Lip Bar is estimated to be worth $15 million by 2024.
Founder
Melissa Butler and Roscoe Spears are both Brooklyn natives. The former currently lives in Detroit, Michigan, and the latter lives in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. Melissa graduated from Florida A&M University, while Roscoe attended Ferris State University.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Butler worked on Wall Street for many years. She was a licensed stockbroker and worked as a financial analyst at Barclays Bank.
Although she holds a master’s degree in criminal justice, Roscoe is more interested in being an artist. She has worked as a stylist for companies such as Alice + Olivia, Brooks Brothers and Macy’s.
The Lip Bar
As an empowered woman, Melissa didn’t like the idea of lipstick being limited to a limited range of colours. She believed women could be whoever they wanted to be, so she created a lipstick line that was both self-expressive and responsible.
Melissa began making lipsticks in her kitchen. She also used vegan ingredients because she didn’t like the harmful chemicals found in regular makeup. When The Lip Bar opened in 2011, Butler hired Roscoe as creative director.
They began selling through a website and created an app so customers could customize the color of their lipstick. After two years in business, the company had $107,000 in sales.
Shark Tank Appearance
Melissa and Roscoe had a hard time striking distribution deals with big retailers. In 2015, the duo appeared on Season 6 of Shark Tank and asked for 20% of the $125,000.
Lori Greiner was the only female Shark present at the time who was able to correctly understand the potential of the product. Cuban and Herjavec felt that they were not marketing the product correctly and did not like the brand.
The ladies revealed that they make about $8,000 a month and are still making the products by hand. Kevin made all sorts of rude and frustrating comments to get laughs, but the audience didn’t like it.
The Sharks didn’t like their idea of a mobile lipstick cart either. Melissa and Roscoe went home without a deal, but later, the Sharks would regret not investing!
After Shark Tank
Despite Kevin’s constant abuse, Melissa and Roscoe didn’t give up hope, but used it as motivation. As the business expanded, Butler moved to Detroit and focused on marketing the products to beauty influencers and retailers.
She found contacts on LinkedIn and sent them cold emails. Butler followed up and got a breakthrough with a buyer at Target. They launched on Target’s website in 2016 and were in 44 stores in 2018.
After six years of bootstrapping, they raised outside funding for the first time. In 2018, New Voices Fund (owned by Sundial/Unilever) invested $2 million in the cosmetics brand. The investment was used to expand the retail business, which now operates in more than 1,000 stores nationwide, including Target and Walmart.
In September 2022, The Lip Bar completed a $6.7 million funding round led by Pendulum. The funds were used to improve the distribution of The Lip Bar and Thread Beauty, as well as to create a third beauty brand. The company has sold more than 2 million products and has an estimated annual revenue of $1.6 million.
Categories: Shark Tank
Source: dut.edu.vn
