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When the indie fragrance brand Phlur first launched in 2022, it was only available onlinemeaning customers had to buy its perfumes without ever smelling them. At the time, creative director Chriselle Lim wasnt sure whether anyone would actually want to take that risk. But after she posted on TikTok that the signature fragrance Missing Person was inspired by her own experience with the smell of a heartbreak,” the orders started flooding in. Today, Phlur is available through both Sephora and Amazon, and was purchased in late July by the private equity firm TSG Consumer. Its one example of a small company thats leveraged savvy marketing, a clear brand perspective, and a voice on social media to develop a dedicated fanbase and pave the way for a successful acquisition. At the Fast Company Innovation Festival on Wednesday, Lim joined Allison Ellsworth, cofounder and chief brand officer of the prebiotic soda brand Poppi; Sarah Gibson Tuttle, founder and CEO of the nail care company Olive & June; and Giorgos Tsetis, cofounder and chair of the hair supplement company Nutrafol, to discuss how small brands can go up against incumbents and actually stick with consumers in 2025. Here are three main takeaways: 1. Start with an insight that big brands have missed When Tuttle founded Olive & June in 2013, she said that category leaders in the nail care aisle had become a kind of echo chamber, all competing for the same market share while losing sight of what customers actually needed. Her brand was able to break through by identifying an overlooked pain point for nail-obsessed customers. Before Olive & June, the incumbents were really focused on salon products that were made for manicures, and they just put them on the shelf and assumed that the consumer would use them, Tuttle explained. What we realized by being hyperfocused on the consumer is that there weren’t products that were available for them to actually do their nails at home, so everyone felt completely stuck in the category. Tuttles solution was to create a brand centered around providing easy-to-use products while also educating customers on how to do their own nails. Since focusing on the at-home nail care market, Olive & June has scored partnerships with Target, Walgreens, and Walmart, and was acquired for $240 million in 2024. 2. Build a solid community on social before you scale Brands that are successful on social media almost always have one strategy in common: posting as quickly as possible to stay on top of trends. But, for many bigger companies, layers of legal approvals and executive oversight make it difficult to actually move at the speed of the cultural zeitgeist. At Poppi, which was founded in 2018 and acquired by PepsiCo this May for nearly $2 billion, Ellsworth says her team made posting on social an early priority. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok served as the initial testing ground for the brand to pitch its prebiotic recipe and connect with customers looking for a healthier soda alternative. Now, Ellsworth advises others to build your community before you scale and avoid thinking of social media as an afterthought to leave up to the intern. What happens is, you get so big that it’s not a priority, and then youre reactive to what someone else has already doneyou’re almost copying what other people are doing versus paving the way, Ellsworth said. 3. Be picky about how you distribute After Tsetis launched his hair supplement brand Nutrafol online in 2016, he said he faced significant pressure to quickly launch in stores like Sephora and Ulta. Instead of caving to those demands, he decided to wait eight years before partnering with any retailers. I was like, Well, does it actually make sense to show up here with an expensive supplement? Tsetis says. Someone is going to buy it one time, and they may not see results. Then we made the money, but they’re actually not set up for success. Eventually, Nutrafol did ink deals with both Sephora and Ulta, as well as other retailers including Amazon, Walmart, and Targetbut Tsetis said that period of resistance was important to build necessary customer awareness and ensure that the brand was expanding for the right reasons. [We had to] make sure that that the strategy was truly set up for success, not just for the company, and not just to make more money or to take in more market share, Tsetis says. Instead, does it make sense for the customer for us as a brand to show up in this spot? Ultimately, you’re stealing someone’s time, and that comes with responsibility.
Category:
E-Commerce
Higher education is in a moment of profound transformation driven not only by advances in technology, but also by growing demands for relevance, flexibility, and real-world impact. And while universities often look inward for solutions, the most promising ideas are increasingly emerging from beyond the traditional academic boundaries. Institutions like mine, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), and peer institutions like those in the University Innovation Alliance, are demonstrating what it looks like to prototype the future of higher education by engaging outside experts in the inside work of design. Uncomfortable at times? Yes. However, its how we build the future with the people we serve, rather than for them. At VCU, this approach has come to life through Shift Retail Lab, a signature program of the VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation. This nationally recognized storefront and innovation hub gives students and community members a place to test and launch ideas in real time. Its where entrepreneurship isnt confined to business majors, and feedback doesnt come in the form of a grade, but through actual user engagement. In just two years, Shift has supported over 300 student- and community-led ventures, from sustainable fashion brands to social impact startups. LIVED EXPERIENCE AND CULTURAL RELEVANCE But Shift is more than a space; it’s a living prototype of what inclusive, future-facing higher education can look like. It challenges long-held assumptions about who belongs in the university ecosystem and what qualifies someone to lead, teach, or inspire. That ethos came to life when Everette Taylor, CEO of Kickstarter and proud Richmond native, stepped inside Shift Retail Lab. He didnt just tour the space. He connected deeply with student founders, offered hard-won wisdom from his own entrepreneurial path, and modeled a radically different kind of leadership. It was forged outside the academy, grounded in lived experience and cultural relevance. After this, he said yes. Yes to delivering VCUs Spring 2025 commencement address. Yes to becoming affiliate faculty and teaching and mentoring university students. Yes to helping reimagine higher education despite, or perhaps because of the fact that he never completed college himself. That kind of yes is more than symbolic. Its transformative. Its the future. DIFFERENT CREDENTIALS In a system that still too often prizes pedigree over perspective, Everettes involvement signals a powerful shift: one that elevates real-world experience, entrepreneurial grit, and community credibility as valuable credentials. Its a bold endorsement of the idea that the people reshaping our industries should also be invited to help reshape our educational institutions. If higher education is serious about preparing students for an uncertain, rapidly changing world, then it must embrace and engage those whove already navigated it successfully on their own terms. Everette Taylor didnt just walk into a lab. He walked into the future of higher education and held the door open for others to follow. The world is changing rapidly, and the next generation of entrepreneurs, creators, and makers will need to be equipped with new skills. Skills that are applicable and not just taught in traditional classroom settings, he told us. I was inspired to get involved with Shift because they have seemed to get it right, that education has to come from out-the-box creativity to serve an inclusive community of people that need the support. I hope to bring my unique perspective, coming from an untraditional background to a group of students who also may relate to being the odd duck. I want to give them not only my wisdom through my own experiences, but the confidence to go down their own unique path. A BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE This isnt just a feel-good story. Its a blueprint for change. Universities that are serious about innovation must do more than update curricula, digitize coursework, and embrace AI. They must rethink their very structures of who teaches, who learns, who leads, and who benefits. This kind of boundary-spanning work is no longer optional; it’s essential. The future of work demands agility, creativity, and collaboration. Students need more than lectures; they need labs. More than content; they need context. And more than credentials; they need confidence earned through experience. Ive been in the world of entrepreneurship and tech for 15-16 years, and this has been the most transformative era that Ive ever experienced, Taylor told us. Education has to evolve, and evolving now is already too late. It shouldve been happening. Things are moving at a rapid speed. Education programs have to be nimble and be able to pivot fast just like a startup or we will be doing the next generation a disservice. I believe VCU is on the right path, and I want to be a part of that. By engaging leaders like Everette Taylor whove built, failed, adapted, and thrived, universities like VCU are bridging the gap between aspiration and access. These universities are sending a clear message to students: Your background doesnt define your future, but your ideas just might. As we prototype the next chapter of higher education, lets make sure were building with students, communities, and industrynot just for them. Lets invite those whove forged their own paths to help pave the way for others. And lets remember that innovation doesnt happen in isolation. It happens at the intersection of experience, empathy, and action. Thats the future Shift is building. And were just getting started. Garret Westlake is vice provost for innovation and strategic design at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Category:
E-Commerce
The streaming wars have seen giants of entertainmentNetflix, Disney, Warner Bros. Discoveryduke it out for consumers, each with a fast-growing library of original movies and TV to keep viewers coming back. Roku is a bit of a dark horse in this race. But the platform’s recent hit series Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross suggests the scrappy underdog might just become a real contender. At the Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York this week, Roku head of originals Brian Tannenbaum told the crowd it all started with a text message. Ross’s agent sent Tannenbaum just a handful of words: “Tracee Ellis Ross. Solo travel show.” It was enough. You only need to hear Ross speak once to know why. The daughter of legendary Motown singer Diana Ross, a theater graduate from Brown University, and an eight-year veteran of hit comedies Girlfriends and Black-ish, Ross knows how to thrill audiences. “It’s televisionyou want to give them a show, you know?” she said on stage at the festival. “You want a belt, you want a shoe, you want to give ’em a little razzle-dazzle.” The show premiered on the free, ad-funded Roku Channel in July. Over three episodes, Ross journeys solo across Morocco, Mexico, and Spainschlepping four checked bags through busy airports; seeking serenity in the sound of birds chirping and winds whistling between trees; and quipping away the awkwardness of dining in a restaurant as a party of one. It’s since become Roku’s most-watched unscripted original series. A catalyst for magic That’s a big deal for Roku, which is known for hooking up streaming devices, but less for making art itself. On paper, Solo Traveling had a fitting recipe for a brand thatas far as The Roku Channel goesis perhaps still on the riverbanks of mainstream. It blends a quirky host with the premise of going it aloneand it opts, daringly, to do this all unscripted. Something clicked with its timing, too. Solo Traveling has struck a nerve today, five years after the isolation of the COVID pandemic, when anxiety over the economy, politics, and climate change is heightened, and a loneliness epidemic persists. The zeitgeist feels more doom-and-gloom than everand there’s desperation for escapism. Is that why the show took off? In the unscripted space, “the best shows are the ones you can see yourself in,” says Tannenbaum. What would it be like if I was singing on American Idol? Or if I were on an island, like Survivor? Or, if I were traveling solo?” Throw in a dynamite host, and the power of top-notch production, engineering, marketing teams, and “when those catalysts combine, that’s when you get the magic,” he adds. Ross has a different take on the appeal of traveling alone. “If you’re not waiting for a certain thing, or a certain person, to go out and live your life, what would that look like?” she asks. “If you’re not allowing culture and society and the norms to tell you who you should be, what would you be doing?” She isn’t afraid to be honest: For Ross, flaunting her fashion wardrobe plays a major rolehence the four checked bags. “I will never stop loving clothing and buying clothing,” she says, “and travel is an opportunity for me to adorn myself and create a sense of joy and beauty for myself out in the world.” Seeing a brave new world In 2018, Ross added “entrepreneur” to her resume by founding Pattern Beauty, a hair care line designed for natural hair that’s been picked up by retailers like Sephora, Ulta, Target, and Macy’s. She’s also been vocal about staying single into her 50s. “I don’t have children, but I made a company,” she says. “We all get lonely. It’s not evidence that my life is broken. It is evidence that I am a human being.” She added, “I wanted to bring some of that forward [in the show] because there must be some examples that are between Joan of Arc and cat ladies . . . And I have worked very hard to become the badass professional that I am.” Meanwhile, Solo Traveling was just as much a foray for Roku as it was for Ross. Founded by an ex-Netflixer in 2002, the company became synonymous with cord-cutting, dominating that transient moment after consumers began ditching cable but before the technology to screencast from mobile apps existed. Its first “box,” released in 2008, was revolutionary, allowing users to play Netflix on TVs via the internet. Today, Roku is a $15 billion company that’s cornered the market on streaming TV operating systems, reaching 90 million American households. But the focus its own content came later. The Roku Channel debuted in 2017, but Roku didn’t start making original content until 2021 (after it bought the library from the defunct streaming service Quibi). In August, it ventured into streaming services with Howdy, a $2.99-a-month subscription. For now, both Roku and Ross are just exploring. At one point in Solo Traveling, Ross muses, “Not having long relationships, not having children, has allowed me to explore things of my own humanity . . . It has deposited me here, at 52, in an experience filled with joy, loneliness, grief, delightall of it.” “It’s a reflection of what I care about in the world,” she said at the festival. “And I don’t mean me. I mean the idea that we all get to craft our own lives, that we get to live our lives on our own terms . . . It’s somebody telling the truth.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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