Shark Tank can do one of two things for an entrepreneur: eat them alive or propel them toward sustained success. For Dawn Myers, BC ’07, it was the latter.
“Having Mark Cuban on your list of investors is a game changer,” Myers said. “The heft that we have behind us because of that deal is very real, and it’s definitely having an impact for the company.”
Myers came up with the idea for her product, The Mint by Richualist, after watching another beauty founder pitch her product on Shark Tank. Inspired by her success, Myers realized she wanted to create a product that would truly make a difference for women with textured hair. The Mint helps women enhance their natural curls, and does so with an easy-to-use thermal infuser.
“I think I can solve a problem for people who look like me,” Myers said.
And that’s what she did.
Although Myers is a lawyer by trade, she has worn a variety of hats in the professional world.
But her success hasn’t come easy.
Myers had to start at the very beginning—with just a pen, some paper, and an idea.
“I sketched out a concept and went to the store the next day and bought up a bunch of prototyping materials,” Myers said.
From there, Myers turned her attention to understanding the user experience, fine-tuning the product to better meet consumers’ needs.
“It started out with a very ugly little prototype,” Myers said. “I just put something together from there. I used that to go out and perform some tests and get some feedback from customers.”
Ultimately, it took five years for Myers to perfect her design, and even when the product was ready, some consumers were still hesitant.
“We’ve had people who have said ‘This is stupid. Why would you make this? People can do this process with their hands. They don’t need your products,’” Myers said.
Despite the criticism, Myers did not back down. Instead, she recognized that this backlash was not coming from her customers, but from people with non-textured hair who did not understand the product’s purpose.
“Our customers—the people who actually were textured hair consumers—they were all really excited about it,” Myers said. “They saw the value, and they encouraged me to go forward and to make the thing. So, I made the thing.”
Myers learned she could target the product specifically to consumers who truly needed—and understood—it.
“There’s this tension between understanding that there’s a real problem there, but also learning how to narrow the parameters for our product so that it’s only going to customers, and the idea is only getting out there to people who are going to understand it,” Myers said.
Myers admitted that finding people with first-hand experience of textured hair, who could recognize the demand for such products, was a challenge. Ultimately, this issue extended beyond consumer targeting and into product design and development.
“All of our engineers are brilliant people, but these are folks who understand computer-assisted design,” Myers said. “These are people who understand industrial engineering. These aren’t people who understand textured hair.”
Myers simply needed to find engineers with hair like hers, but this has proven to be a challenge.
Unable to find an engineering team that could develop her product, Myers had to take on the role of a pseudo-engineer herself.
“I’ve had to turn into a little bit of an engineer,” Myers said. “I’ve had to learn how to think through the complaints that our customers have, the pain points that our customers have, and turn that into functionality that does work for them.”
Myers believes that her ability to take on so many different roles within her company stems from her deep understanding of both her product and the hair type it targets.
“There’s no way that I would be able to make this product unless I had this hair type,” Myers said. “In fact, the same dynamic is the reason that our company is allowed to exist.”
One of the major challenges in the textured hair industry—and a key reason for The Mint’s success, according to Myers—is that the research and development teams entering the industry often fail to understand the needs of their target consumers.
“There are a lot of big companies—Procter and Gamble, L’Oréal, Unilever—who are interested in this concept, but the people who are responsible for research and development in those companies don’t look like me,” Myers said. “They don’t quite get it yet. They will eventually.”
Armed with a headstart in an industry not fully served by large beauty corporations, Myers took to pitching her product at incubators and accelerators. Eventually, that practice led her to pitch in the biggest stage of all: Shark Tank.
This was no challenge for Myers, though.
“Pitching on Shark Tank, a lot of people said that it was going to be the hardest pitch ever,” Myers said. “It was the easiest because I’ve spent so much time on the road pitching, trying to get capital for my company, and so it was just a joy.”
Myers’ confidence propelled her to success, ultimately walking away with a $150,000 investment from Mark Cuban and Emma Grede in exchange for 20 percent of her company.
Since Shark Tank, Myers has focused on expanding her company and developing partnerships with other organizations. Even with these big goals in mind, Myers remains dedicated to her team and her customers.
Sara Tariq, marketing lead at Richualist, highlighted Myers’ ability to make everyone around her feel heard and valued.
“She cares about us,” Tariq said. “Not only does she care about her team but she also cares about her customers.”
When shipping problems arose, Myers took the initiative to write every customer a handwritten note apologizing for the delay.
Myers’ commitment to the women who need her product keeps her going, despite any obstacle—even a stage 3 cancer diagnosis. Through the trying times that came along with the diagnosis, Myers remained consistent in her work.
“She was raising money from her hospital bed while she was going through chemo,” Tariq said.
Even in the face of trials and tribulations, Myers stated that business ownership has been one of the most gratifying experiences she has had.
“It’s been a really affirming experience,” Myers said. “It’s been a strengthening experience. It has strengthened my intellect and my capacity and my capabilities as a leader and as a CEO. It’s been all around just an amazing experience.”
Myers’ former chief of staff, Jessica Grant, agrees.
“I got the call a couple of days after she got her cancer diagnosis,” Grant said. “And I was on the other end of that phone call crying and Dawn was on her side saying, ‘We are going to get through this, and this is how we’re going to do it.’”
In Grant’s view, the company could not be in better hands than with a strong, inspirational woman like Myers.
“She is a true leader and knows how to weather a storm,” Grant said.
Myers’ company is more than just a business—it is committed to uplifting women and helping them see the value of their natural hair.
“I’m advocating for all people with textured hair,” Myers said.
For Myers, this advocacy includes countering the false narratives about textured hair that persist in both the media and society.
“What we have to do first is become really, really comfortable with our hair the way that it grows out of our head,” Myers said. “That’s a whole transformational process.”
Myers said she hopes to teach her consumers that they don’t have to change anything about their natural hair for it to be beautiful.
“Identify whether you are trying to change your hair into something that it is not, or whether you are trying to simply enhance what you have,” Myers said.
Myers wasn’t always sure of her company’s trajectory, but she knew how to keep moving forward. This determination drove her success, and she urges other aspiring entrepreneurs to prioritize it.
“Do something and never stop,” Myers said. “So don’t wait for the perfect circumstances. Don’t wait to be more confident or to know more: start now. Do something. Find a way to start and then never stop.”
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