The women who disrupted the fragrance industry — An interview with the Scentbird cofounders

“With entrepreneurship, you just can’t be part-time forever. After a while if you just dip your toe, the company’s just not going to go that far” — Rachel

What originally started as a group gathering in the hotels of NYC, Scentbird has gone through two of the top accelerators in the world and has raised over 1 million dollars to date. I got the amazing opportunity to interview and get to know the two female cofounders of Scentbird.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself, and what you do at Scentbird?

M: My name is Mariya. I am one of the founders and current CEO of Scentbird. From a very, very early age, I have always had an entrepreneurial bone in me. My first business happened when I was about 10 or 12 years old. My friend and I were selling jewelry pieces that we made ourselves. We just sold them on the streets. Kind of a little weird for Russia, but we had a lot of fun. And then I moved here to the United States, went to college here, and ultimately started a creative agency that built websites and apps for people. I did that for 3 years. Really loved it, but ultimately I wanted to build something of my own and stop building for other people. So when the right team came along, we started Scentbird.

R: My name is Rachel. I’m the current CMO of Scentbird and also one of the co-founders. I am originally from Costa Rica. I basically “started my career” advising my dad on how to sell canned tuna. My dad had his own business selling tuna fish. I always loved marketing and the idea of persuading people and presenting your product in a way that makes people really excited to buy it. I went to college here in the States and went on to work for Gillette, L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, and Elizabeth Arden, while pursuing my MBA at Columbia along the way. I came to a point in my career where I started feeling antsy in a very corporate environment. I know I loved beauty. But I am fascinated by the link between beauty and technology. I started talking to different entrepreneurs, and that’s how I met Mariya and the rest of the Scentbird team.

How did you one day decide that you wanted to be the founder of a company?

M: I had a hard time working for anybody else. The only jobs that I really enjoyed was when I got to work with entrepreneurial people, being their right hand. For me, I didn’t see another way. It was just a matter of finding the perfect idea and concept that I believed in to give it my all.

R: For me it was a little different because I did do the corporate route for a while. I used to always think, well, I will do something entrepreneur next…I’ll get a little more experience first. But you just get to a certain point where it’s like now or never. That was where I was. And I believed in the idea of Scentbird, which was the other part of it. With entrepreneurship, you just can’t be part-time forever. After a while if you just dip your toe, the company’s just not going to go that far.

What led you to the idea of Scentbird?

M: Basically we started by doing this little scent discovery gathering it New York City. Generally, we’d rent a hotel room. It’d be very intimate with just 8–10 women, and we’d tell them that we were giving them tips on perfumes instead of wine. We were really inspired by that moment when somebody finds the perfect scent family. They totally exude happiness. And so we tried to find scalable ways to do this online, because it’s one thing being able to influence 8–10 women every night. It’s a whole different thing being able to influence thousands upon thousands of women.

Who do you consider your hero, and why?

M: I have multiple heroes, but someone who’s relevant to what we’re doing is Sandy Lerner. She was the co-founder of Cisco Systems and then Urban Decay, one of my favorite beauty companies. She started Cisco Systems with her husband, but eventually got kicked out because she no longer had majority stake. To be able to reinvent herself and start another amazing huge company in a completely different sector is something I really admire about her.

R: Ariana Huffington, because she’s such an interesting human being. She has this charming accent and this interesting life, and yet she seems to have this enormous curiosity and ability to see what’s coming next. She’s able to reinvent herself and not get stuck in old media. I also love that she focuses on what’s important: family and health.

“There’s a lot that has been said about ‘oh, you have to work harder than everybody else, you have to be smarter than everybody else…’ But sometimes it’s also about figuring out if where you’re going is the right direction” — Mariya

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

M: I would say being determined yet flexible. There’s a lot that has been said about “oh, you have to work harder than everybody else, you have to be smarter than everybody else…” But sometimes it’s also about figuring out if where you’re going is the right direction, and if not, being able to change course or navigate slightly away towards the right path. I also think creativity is part of it, but creativity in a very business-like sense. I think it was Gary Vaynerchuk that said that…basically imagine you’re an entrepreneur, and all of your business comes from Google. Google suddenly changes its algorithm, so now 85% of your business is gone. He says a true entrepreneur would always be able to find a way out of any hole, in any situation, including this one.

R: Building on what Mariya said, I think one of the challenges of being an entrepreneur is that we work so hard, we start to fall in love with our idea. But in order to be a great entrepreneur, you must strike the perfect balance between believing in your idea and being open to feedback. You have to see what your customers are telling you. You have to constantly iterate based on feedback. If you stop, you’re dead.

What was your toughest moment in Scentbird’s history? And how did you overcome it?

M: We spent about a year working on the wrong business model before Scentbird really took off. For the longest time, we couldn’t face it. We had already put in so much energy, so many resources, so many hopes and aspirations into that concept…. We thought that there was something wrong with us, that maybe we were not working hard enough or maybe we were not smart enough about our marketing. But it turned out it wasn’t us. It was the idea. I vividly remember we had a very dark week. We simply didn’t know what happens next…do we go into a completely different industry, like manufacture cookies or something? It was not a glamorous time, and it took some great mentors for us to reemerge on the other side.

What was Scentbird’s previous business model?

M: Previous model was more of an ecommerce concept. Now we’re focused on a subscription model.

Scentbird went through 2 accelerators: ERA and Y Combinator. Can you talk about your experiences with the 2 accelerators, and how they differed?

M: ERA and YC are very different. You can just look at the class sizes. ERA is 10 companies. For YC, it’s over a hundred. ERA is very hands-on. They meet with you. You work out of their space. They invite a lot of mentors and experts. ERA really helped us with those very first steps and even the littlest things that aren’t so little when you’re going through them, like incorporation. YC is a lot more hands-off, but its’ very helpful just by the sheer competition that exists in the batch. You’re surrounded by the smartest people, who all have amazing traction, amazing product. They come from all over the world. That’s a very lucrative environment for an entrepreneur to be in.

YC just had interviews, and ERA is having interviews soon. Can you talk about your experience at the interviews and any advice you have?

M: Know your numbers. Like you got to literally have them on the tip of your tongue. If they ask you what is your growth like or what was your revenue last month, you need to know immediately what it was as opposed to taking 30 seconds to calculate it. Because interviews are very short, especially Y Combinator. ERA’s interview is a little bit longer, but still. You have to come across as somebody who really understand all the undercurrents in your business, and it all comes down to the numbers. Also, keep all your answers very succinct. One to two sentences ideally. Otherwise, it feels like you don’t know what you’re talking about. If they’re asking you a direct question, especially if it’s a yes or no question, have a direct answer. Also, as huge as your idea might be, you have to be able to describe your business in less than one sentence.

R: Even though your business might change, even though you’re starting up and there might be iterations, you need to have a really clear, succinct way of explaining what you do and what you are going to be doing. Just get to the point. Yes things may change. Yes there are variables. But the ability to articulate quickly what it is you want to do is very important.

“You can’t be everything to all people, so figure out what works for you” — Rachel

“My best advice is: initial stages, forget about self-marketing. Work on your business” — Mariya

What marketing tips would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs, both in terms of marketing themselves and marketing their company?

R: Stay on message. Think about what you want to communicate and get to the point. We live in a very accelerated world. What I find with a lot of entrepreneurs when they’re trying to market themselves is that they have a tendency to want to tell everybody, everything. And this translates into brand marketing as well, which is figure out what works for you and do it really, really well. Figure out those channels. Figure out those messages that work. You can’t be everything to all people, so figure out what works for you.

M: And to add to that, about marketing yourself…I think the best thing you can do is to stay true to who you are and don’t try to imitate someone. We always have heros who we admire, but it’s important to find your true essence and what makes you happy and what makes you you. And one other thing I noticed is that once your business starts taking off, you don’t have to do any self-marketing. Your business does it for you. So honestly my best advice is: initial stages, forget about self-marketing. Work on your business. Spend that extra hour really thinking about what’s going to make and grow your company.

Where do you like to shop?

M: Boy, it really depends on what kind of product we’re talking. For clothing, I like Intermix Online and Revolve clothing. For beauty…it’s hard. I shop everything. But recently speaking, BeautyLish has really grown on me. They have a really interesting curated approach to beauty.

R: I am totally an omnivorous shopper, so everything from the boutiquey West Village stores to the Century 21 in front of my home- and of course- lots and lots of e-commerce stores too.

What is an app or site that you cannot live without (minus Scentbird)?

M: I cannot live without Instagram, although that’s partially because of Scentbird. Our most vibrant community is on Instagram, so it’s absolutely necessary that I have that app. It’s also just visually gorgeous. I think the way we consume information has really shifted.

R: As a working mom, FreshDirect is number one on my list. I shop it on the Subway and on my way to work. I love to cook, so being able to go home to a full refrigerator is very nice.

What is your favorite scent at the moment?

M: I have so many favorites. The one that I recently discovered is by Juliette Has a Gun. It’s called Miss Charming. It’s really pretty. It’s kind of a more grown-up fruity scent. It has that warmer side to it that allows me to feel cuddly when it’s raining or really nasty outside. At any given time though, I have 3 scents in my bag. I have them in all different color cases, so I can easily know which one is where.

R: It’s hard for me to say my one favorite. I change accessories and lipstick everyday, so why wouldn’t I change perfume? That’s really how I think. But right now, for the daytime, I’m really liking the Nest Indigo. It’s nicely scented without being overpowering for the office. And then at night, I’ve been liking the Black Opium. It’s very different from the original Opium. I like the sexiness of it.

To keep up with Scentbird’s latest fragrances, follow them on Instagram @scentbird_perfume!

And if you’re into fashion, follow my startup on Instagram at @onlyaticon and sign up to be alerted when we launch at ICON.

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