A 26-year-old MBA student launched a beauty business while studying. It is now stocked in Sephora, making $10m a year and expanding into Europe.

A 26-year-old MBA student launched a beauty business while studying. It is now stocked in Sephora, making $10m a year and expanding into Europe.

Growing up in a family business environment, Amy Roe had always dreamed of following in her parents’ footsteps and becoming an entrepreneur. In 2017, at the age of 26, she made the bold decision to uproot her life in South Korea and enroll in an MBA program in the United States. Her goal was to gain the business acumen necessary to kickstart her own venture.

Initially, Roe hadn’t quite settled on a specific industry for her business. However, during her time in the US, she couldn’t help but notice the growing trend of people focusing on clean eating and caring about what they put in their bodies. This led her to realize that people would soon start caring just as much about what they put on their faces.

Inspired by her Korean heritage and the popularity of superfoods, Roe set out to create a skincare line infused with these nourishing ingredients. She wanted to bring her Korean-inspired, superfood-infused skincare products to the health-conscious, salad-loving crowd in New York City.

The first year of Roe’s MBA program was dedicated to rigorous market research. Surveys were conducted among her fellow MBA students, and she discovered that sheet masks, which are popular in South Korea, weren’t as well-received at Columbia Business School. This valuable feedback helped her decide which products to launch.

To ensure she was developing the best possible products, Roe had her classmates test product samples and provide reviews. Their perspectives, as non-beauty industry insiders, were invaluable in refining the formulas. Byroe, the company she had envisioned, was born in 2019, right as Roe was finishing up her second and final year of university.

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Today, Byroe is a thriving brand, with its products stocked in Sephora and generating $10 million in annual revenue. The company’s team has grown from a one-woman operation to a team of 12, and revenues have been doubling year-on-year. Reflecting on her journey, Roe advises other aspiring entrepreneurs not to wait for their business to be perfect before launching it.

Roe believes that waiting for perfection can be paralyzing and may lead to missed opportunities for success. Instead, she suggests launching when the business is around 70% ready and continuously improving it along the way. Taking this approach allowed Byroe to enter the market and make necessary adjustments based on real-world experiences and customer feedback.

Buoyed by the success of Byroe in the United States, Roe decided to expand globally. In less than five years since its inception, Byroe recently launched in the United Kingdom. This expansion has not been without its challenges, as the brand had to comply with different regulations and reformulate and re-label products to meet British standards.

Entering the UK market proved to be a difficult endeavor, but Roe remains optimistic about Byroe’s prospects. She has noticed distinct differences between British and American consumers. British consumers, for example, are more results-driven, sustainability-focused, and brand-loyal. As a result, Byroe has adjusted its marketing strategy, emphasizing clinical trials and real results over flashy visuals.

Roe is confident that Byroe has turned the corner in Britain. She predicts that within two to three years, the UK arm of the business will achieve similar sales levels as in the US market. The journey has been challenging, but Roe’s persistence and willingness to adapt have propelled Byroe to success on both sides of the Atlantic.

Overall, Amy Roe’s entrepreneurial journey is a testament to the power of taking action, embracing imperfection, and adapting to different markets. By launching her business before it was 100% ready and making necessary changes along the way, Roe has created a thriving brand that continues to evolve and resonate with consumers worldwide.