409: Dying to Ego and Embracing Failure with Toni Ko of Bespoke Beauty Brands

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Toni Ko's first beauty brand, NYX Cosmetics, made $4 million in year 1, and eventually exited to L'Oréal for $500 million. Craving a new purpose, she started a sunglasses business. It failed after 3.5 years—and Ko says it's one of the best things that ever happened to her. Ko's lessons from that "failure" empowered her to launch her third and current venture: Bespoke Beauty Brands, which partners with influencer entrepreneurs on everything from concept creation to product development, marketing, and fulfillment distribution. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Listen to Nathan and Ko discuss: </span></p> <p> </p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Being a third-generation entrepreneur of Korean immigrants </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The early days of NYX Cosmetics, when she had 6 job titles</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Raking in $4 million in retail value in NYX's first year</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Why she's not good at sales </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Selling NYX in 2014 for $500 million to L'Oréal</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Experiencing depression after exiting her business</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Starting a sunglasses business and failing </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Launching Bespoke Beauty Brand </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Working with celebrity influencers like Kim Chi and Jason Wu</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">And much more influencer entrepreneur