HAUS LABORATORIES investor praises Gaga

[GaGaAst 12,852]

This interview preety much sums up why I admire her so much not just as a musician but as a person. 

 

Investor Nicole Quinn, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, has funded many incredibly popular and successful brands including Lola, Goop, Rothy’s, Daily Harvest, and Lady Gaga’s highly-anticipated new beauty company, Haus Laboratories. Here, Quinn shares how Haus (which began selling pre-orders on Amazon in July) got started, what it's like working with Lady Gaga, and her advice for women looking for investment in their own companies.

Marie Claire: You were involved in Haus from the ground-up. How did this brand come about?

Nicole Quinn: We had been looking into the beauty space for about two years. For us, beauty is such an exciting category. From an investor standpoint, it has a high repeat rate, high margins, high customer love, huge virality associated with it. We love the fact that customers will take selfies of themselves and share it out to all of their followers.

We went about trying to find the very best beauty company that we could, meeting so many companies. We found that many beauty businesses were about fitting in. And then we met Gaga, and Haus was all about standing out. Really thinking outside the box, coloring outside the lines.

MC: What was that first meeting with Lady Gaga like?

NQ: It was probably two years ago when we first heard about Lady Gaga's passion for beauty, which we heard from her agency. I had spoken to different people on her team, and I was sitting down with her manager at a coffee shop, and it was meant to be just him and me. And then I hear, "Surprise!" and I turn around and Gaga's there, wearing a little black tank top and shorts. Halfway through the meeting, she says, “I've actually been experimenting with some things. Let me run back to my car and show you.” Everybody else at the coffee shop is like, “Is that Gaga?”

I could just see in that first meeting her determination and passion for beauty. She was like, “Okay, this is what I want to do. This is how I plan on doing it.” Any question marks I had around, Will she have time to do this? were squashed because I could see that she's somebody who would really give this the time, attention, and focus that it needed.

MC: What surprised you about working with Lady Gaga?

NQ: I always knew that she was a star and an artist. What totally surprised me was the business acumen that she has. She’s fiercely intelligent. She understands exactly who her customer fanbase is and what they want. At the beginning, she was like, “Okay, this is the first time I've seen a P&L [the profit and loss statement, a financial document that tracks revenue and costs].” Within two board meetings, she was like, “Okay, can we discuss this point on the P&L?” If she sets her mind to something like understanding the finances, she does it. That's something that really surprised me and continues to.

She genuinely came from a place of being an entrepreneur, being a founder. She’ll be up to 4 a.m. working on this and sending selfies of the work she's doing. She’s half passed out on the floor, but still etching designs. There is no color that has been chosen without her, designed without her. She chose every model and did the brand video.

I always knew that Gaga was a star and an artist. What totally surprised me was the business acumen that she has.

I love the way she did the video. Usually, when she does a music video, she’ll be working with a big budget. This was a small fraction of [the amount] she would usually have. She said, “I'm gonna make this work.” Towards the end of filming, her manager says, “Hey, we're over time.” She gets the last bit and then says, “Everybody leave. We can't go over budgets. I'll pack up.” She has that scrappy founder mentality.

MC: Were there any challenges or roadblocks to getting Haus off the ground?

NQ: Hiring was no small feat. Before we invested, we spoke to Gaga about what she wanted from a team and she said to us, “I'm the chairwoman. I'm the chief creative officer. But I know what I don't know, and we need to hire the very, very best people for that.” Gaga and I met multiple different people, and there was a period where Gaga was like, “No, not that person. Not that person. Nope, they don't get the vision.” Some of those hirings took a little while, but I am glad we have the best-in-class people. Gaga and CEO Ben Jones have a great dynamic. We'd known him for many years because he worked at one of our portfolio companies, the Honest Company [with Jessica Alba]. And the CMO Nicole Frusci came from Milk, Benefit, and Sephora. She gets on with Gaga like a house on fire.

MC: Why did you decide launch Haus on Amazon?

NQ: This is where Ben Jones did a terrific job. When Amazon came to us, Ben was very level-headed and fostered a strong relationship with them. We wanted to be able to launch in the U.S. and international markets at the same time. Gaga has a huge fan base all across the world. She wanted everyone to be able to buy the product. That's something that took a long time in the making. They've been a good partner and were able to launch with everybody from day one.

Another reason we wanted to go with Amazon is because Amazon touches everybody. It’s not for one group—it’s for all different types of people, and that was important to us. We spoke to Amazon a lot about price points and actually brought down prices both on our own website and on Amazon because we wanted this to be mass [market]. And when you think of mass, you think of Amazon.

 

She talks about other interesting topics but not related to Gaga but do check out in the link below. Thanks

https://www.marieclaire.com/career-advice/a28701270/lady-gaga-haus-laboratories-lightspeed-ventures-nicole-quinn/

 

[GaGaAst 12,852]

Just now, EdgeOfGloryGa said:

I’m not reading this but omg tea 

I will edit parts not related to Gaga.. I admit it looks huge to ecen5start reading. 

[SeasonOfTheWitch 3,789]

Gonna move to LA and become a barista so I can see Gaga 

[ARTPOP2 3,948]

change the title before you get some wet paninis (can't have the title all caps)

OT : we been knew, she's that b*tch, a mf*uckin BOSS! 

[sillynate 6,170]

She called the promo shoot a music video shoot 

and Gaga was wearing a tank top and shorts when they met? Sep 2016 confirmedT

[GaGaAst 12,852]

6 minutes ago, SeasonOfTheWitch said:

Gonna move to LA and become a barista so I can see Gaga 

While serving her, 

Good morning RaRa bitch. I ain't serving you until you let me listen to your new music. 

😂😂

[Quartz 11,923]

No need to edit it out. It was a wonderful read. She also said some inspiring stuff. Honestly, give it a read.

[Lottie Winters 1,628]

This interview was really inspiring!!

[Runway 27,876]

The way she went on tour, filmed a movie, recorded its soundtrack, AND lg6, planned her residency, learned about finances and worked ln Haus Labs ALL in the past 2 years wow

[fivefoottwo 3,108]

this makes me love Haus more tbh...gaga really poured her soul into it 

[PunkTheFunk 121,511]

28 minutes ago, GaGaAst said:

And then I hear, "Surprise!" and I turn around and Gaga's there, wearing a little black tank top and shorts.

This is the same way the Joanne era started

[Maleficent 6]

but is she getting her money’s worth??

[Ghost Face 6,236]

30 minutes ago, GaGaAst said:

Any question marks I had around, Will she have time to do this? were squashed because I could see that she's somebody who would really give this the time, attention, and focus that it needed.

Exactly this is the reason  why some monsters are 'scared' that the Labs will push the release of new music further and further away.

 

And I understand where that 'fear' comes from, even though I myself believe that LG6 is around the corner 

[ChromeAngel 3,230]

This makes me so happy. This is the Gaga we always knew. She hasn’t changed 

[Lilbit 1,596]

52 minutes ago, EdgeOfGloryGa said:

I’m not reading this but omg tea 

You deserve an award for this post.