Building and scaling a beauty business requires decisions that extend well beyond product development and consumer demand. From navigating regulatory requirements and managing cash flow to securing retail distribution and preparing for potential acquisition, brand leaders must understand disciplines far beyond their immediate areas of expertise. Sometimes, the biggest challenge is knowing what questions to ask.
On October 21, BeautyMatter brought together emerging beauty brands in Los Angeles for its MBA, an educational program built by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. Grounded in the belief that knowledge is power and fundamentals matter, the program provided access to subject matter experts delivering practical insights across e-commerce, regulatory compliance, intellectual property, capital strategy, operations, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, retail expansion, and mergers and acquisitions.
Unlike traditional industry events, the MBA is exclusively for early-stage brands, with no investors, retailers, agencies, or suppliers in attendance beyond the experts leading individual modules. The deliberate approach created an environment where founders and leadership teams could ask candid questions, share challenges, and engage in transparent conversations without the pressure of pitching their businesses or pursuing commercial opportunities.
BeautyMatter founder and CEO Kelly Kovack and co-founder and President John Cafarelli officially opened the MBA, emphasizing the importance of creating a space exclusively for brands. “Today is about learning: it’s about being in a room with people who are in the same situation as you. BeautyMatter is a community,” said Kovack.
The programming then got underway, with support from MBA presenting sponsor Pattern, along with Capsum KKT, Ekwani Consulting, Quilt.AI, and kdc/one.
Jesse Knight, Vice President, Business Development, Pattern
Jesse Knight opened the program by examining how artificial intelligence is changing product discovery and what that means for beauty brands competing on Amazon. As consumers increasingly turn to AI-powered shopping assistants for recommendations, brands are moving from competing for visibility across pages of search results to potentially competing for a single recommendation. Knight positioned this shift within a broader digital commerce landscape spanning marketplaces, direct-to-consumer platforms, social commerce, and agentic shopping, emphasizing the growing importance of understanding how consumers find products and what ultimately drives purchase decisions.
The presentation focused on traffic and conversion as two fundamental drivers of e-commerce performance. According to Pattern's data, 60% of Amazon clicks go to three of the highest-ranked organically searched products, while 35% go to the single leading organic result, demonstrating the importance of search visibility. Knight also challenged conventional return on ad spend measurements, encouraging brands to distinguish genuinely incremental sales from purchases that would have occurred without advertising.
Dr. Akemi Ooka, CEO, Independent Beauty Association
Dr. Akemi Ooka shifted the conversation toward regulatory compliance, outlining the increasingly complex legal obligations facing beauty businesses in the United States. Her presentation emphasized that compliance extends beyond product formulations into packaging, manufacturing, advertising claims, and labeling, with different requirements across federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Ooka addressed regulations, including the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA), state-level ingredient restrictions, and extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation. This highlighted the importance of understanding regulatory obligations throughout every stage of a product's development.
Beyond the legal implications, Ooka positioned compliance as a commercial consideration with direct consequences for brand reputation, retailer relationships, and business valuation. She highlighted the financial risks of noncompliance, including potential penalties of up to $50,000 per day per violation under California's packaging EPR framework. Retailers, investors, competitors, and consumers are also increasingly scrutinizing brands' regulatory practices, making compliance relevant to commercial partnerships and acquisition due diligence. Her presentation reinforced the need to integrate regulatory planning across business functions rather than treating it as a final step before launching a product.
Krupa Koestline, CEO, Capsum KKT
As beauty categories become increasingly crowded, Krupa Koestline examined how proprietary technology and intellectual property can create a competitive advantage that extends beyond branding and marketing claims. Her presentation, “Own What's Inside the Bottle,” explored the difference between describing a formula as proprietary and possessing intellectual property that competitors cannot readily replicate. Koestline outlined five forms of ownership, including brand-owned patents, supplier-held patents, exclusive licenses, proprietary formulas, and trademarked ingredient names, explaining how each offers a different level of protection and commercial control.
Using K18 and Epicutis as examples of brands built around differentiated technology, Koestline explored how innovation can become a foundation for brand identity and long-term value. She also examined opportunities to develop ownable ingredient technology through cultivation processes, peptide development, and delivery systems, emphasizing that innovation does not necessarily require discovering an entirely new molecule. For founders, the session highlighted the importance of understanding contractual ownership, exclusivity terms, and supplier relationships before committing to product development, particularly when intellectual property may become a significant asset in future investment or acquisition discussions.
Chris Hobson, President and CEO, Rare Beauty Brands
Chris Hobson examined the relationship between business valuation, capital strategy, and fundraising decisions. The session addressed one of the most consequential considerations for emerging beauty businesses: how to secure the investment needed to support growth while understanding the implications for ownership, financial performance, and long-term enterprise value.
The presentation also connected the dots between fundraising to the underlying financial health of a business, placing capital requirements within the context of growth ambitions and operational commitments. As brands invest in product development, inventory, marketing, and retail expansion, understanding how those investments affect future financing needs becomes increasingly important. The session encouraged founders to approach capital raising as a strategic business decision, considering not only immediate funding requirements but also how their financial choices may influence future growth opportunities and potential exit outcomes.
Melanie Martens, Founder and CEO, Ekwani Consulting
Melanie Martens shifted the discussion toward the operational infrastructure required to support a growing beauty business, focusing on inventory management, fulfillment, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. As brands expand across direct-to-consumer, wholesale, and marketplace channels, managing inventory availability, order processing, and fulfillment becomes increasingly complex. The session examined the importance of reliable systems and processes to maintain visibility across operations and support business decisions as distribution and order volumes increase.
Martens also addressed the use of ERP technology in managing that complexity, emphasizing the importance of understanding a company's operational requirements when evaluating systems. While technology can help connect different areas of a business, its effectiveness depends on the processes and information supporting it. For founders focused on consumer acquisition and distribution growth, the presentation drew attention to the less visible operational decisions that can determine whether a business can fulfill demand consistently and efficiently as it scales.
Michelle Gay, Director of Innovation, and Thomas Lau, Head of Strategy, Quilt.AI
Michelle Gay and Tomas Lau explored how large language models (LLMs) and agentic shopping are reshaping the relationship between brands and consumers. As AI-powered platforms increasingly influence how consumers research, compare, and discover products, brands face new questions about how they are represented and recommended within these environments. The presentation examined the implications of this shift for brand building, particularly as traditional discovery channels such as search engines, social media, and retailer websites are joined by conversational interfaces capable of influencing purchasing decisions.
The discussion looked at how brands can maintain relevance as the mechanisms of product discovery evolve, with AI introducing new considerations around digital visibility, consumer understanding, and brand positioning. For emerging beauty businesses, the challenge is not simply reaching consumers through another channel but understanding how AI systems interpret and communicate brand information. The session complemented Knight's earlier presentation about Amazon by extending the conversation beyond marketplace performance to the broader implications of AI for brand discovery and consumer relationships.
Kristin McMorrow, Vice President, Global Innovation BPC, and Jamie Bennett, Chief Commercial Officer, Beauty and Body Solutions, kdc/one
Kristin McMorrow and Jamie Bennett opened the afternoon program by examining the operational challenges that emerge when consumer demand accelerates faster than a brand's infrastructure can support it. Their presentation challenged the assumption that strong sales momentum automatically signals readiness for expansion, emphasizing the importance of aligning product development, manufacturing, packaging, forecasting, and financial resources before committing to increased production or distribution. Through an interactive case study involving a fictional beauty brand, JUNO, attendees were asked to consider the decisions facing a business experiencing rapid growth, from responding to viral demand to managing production capacity and new retail opportunities.
The scenarios demonstrated how seemingly positive developments can create significant operational pressures when decisions are made without considering their wider implications. For example, increasing production volumes may affect formula consistency, packaging changes can introduce new lead times, and expanding distribution can place additional demands on inventory and working capital. McMorrow and Bennett concluded with a readiness framework covering eight areas of business operations, encouraging founders to identify potential risks before they become barriers to growth. The central message was that successful scaling depends on making informed commitments, maintaining flexibility, and ensuring the entire business can support its commercial ambitions.
Adam Jones, Vice President, Business Development, L’Oréal
Adam Jones brought the perspective of a global beauty group, examining how innovation can contribute to enterprise value beyond individual product launches. The presentation explored the role of differentiation in building businesses with long-term strategic relevance, connecting innovation to the broader commercial considerations that shape a brand's development. For emerging beauty companies, the discussion punctuated the importance of looking beyond immediate consumer trends and considering how product development and competitive positioning can contribute to lasting business value.
The session also connected themes introduced earlier in the day, particularly the importance of proprietary technology, defensible differentiation, and long-term commercial strategy. While successful products can generate consumer interest and drive revenue, building enterprise value requires considering what makes a business distinctive and how that differentiation can be sustained. Jones's presentation bridged the operational demands of scaling and the strategic considerations that may influence a brand's future investment and acquisition opportunities.
Kelly St. John, Founder and CEO, KSJ Collective
Kelly St. John examined the complexities of retail expansion, challenging the assumption that securing additional distribution automatically translates into stronger commercial performance. For emerging beauty brands, increasing store counts can represent a significant milestone, but expanding physical distribution also introduces new financial and operational commitments. Inventory requirements, working capital, retailer expectations, and marketing investment must all be considered alongside the potential revenue opportunity, making retail expansion a decision that requires more than identifying available shelf space.
The presentation encouraged founders to evaluate distribution growth in the context of their wider business capabilities, rather than treating door count as a standalone measure of success. Expanding too quickly can add pressure to resources and divert attention from existing retail relationships, while a more deliberate approach allows brands to assess whether new opportunities are commercially sustainable. The discussion reinforced the importance of aligning retail strategy with operational readiness, capital availability, and long-term growth objectives, connecting the session to several earlier presentations from the day.
Ali Goldstein, President, Mergers and Acquisitions, L'Oréal USA
The educational program concluded with a fireside chat featuring Ali Goldstein, President of Mergers and Acquisitions at L'Oréal USA. The session considered the strategic and commercial factors relevant to mergers and acquisitions within the beauty industry, offering founders insight into an area of business development that may become increasingly important as their companies mature. Following presentations on innovation, valuation, operational readiness, and retail expansion, the conversation brought these disciplines together within the context of long-term enterprise value.
For founders building businesses with ambitions beyond their current stage of growth, the discussion was a fitting conclusion to the MBA's educational program. The prospect of a future acquisition places additional importance on the foundations established throughout a brand's development, from financial performance and differentiated products to operational capabilities and sustainable commercial growth. Goldstein's session rounded out a day that had examined not only how beauty brands can expand but also how the decisions made during that expansion may shape their longer-term strategic opportunities.
While the day’s presentations offered access to subject matter experts across the disciplines required to build and scale a beauty business, the opportunities to ask questions, gain practical insights, and make meaningful connections were equally central to the MBA.
From navigating AI-powered commerce and increasingly complex regulatory requirements to managing capital, retail expansion, and manufacturing readiness, the program addressed the interconnected decisions facing independent beauty businesses.
The MBA equipped founders with expert knowledge and practical tools to make informed decisions, anticipate challenges, and identify growth opportunities. The program reinforced the three principles underpinning BeautyMatter’s mission: collaboration, knowledge, and community.
The learning continues on April 7, 2027, when BeautyMatter brings its next MBA to New York City, this time focused on growth. The brands-only program will explore the knowledge, strategies, and decisions involved in scaling a beauty business. Join us in NYC for the next chapter of BeautyMatter MBA.