Our guest today is Ashleigh Hinde, Founder and CEO of Waldo. Waldo makes daily contact lenses without the hassle or price tag. We discuss how she’s building a brand with a product that you can’t see, how she approaches e-commerce and retail, and why she founded a contact lens company in the first place.
Some of the questions I ask:
- What was the insight or pain point you went through that led you to founding Waldo?
- Did you always want to be an entrepreneur?
- How much do contacts usually sell for? How did you think about pricing strategy?
- How did you approach your supply chain/manufacturing?
- On the price point / margin side
- Efficient customer acquisition
- So you think about sustainability and
- It seems similar to what you are doing in contact lenses - making them more affordable, building a digitally native brand - it sounds similar to what Warby Parker did with eye glasses. What are some of the differences selling contacts vs. glasses?
- How important is having buy-in from eye doctors for customer acquisition? Does their recommendation have a big effect on the customer on which contacts they should buy from? How do you approach partnerships?
- How did you come to strike a big partnership with Walmart? Why?
- What does the customer journey look like?
- How do you build a brand with a product that you can’t see?
- What was the geographical distribution strategy? Why did you start in the UK then come to the US and how do you think about the contact lens market from a global perspective?
- How do you think about impact?
- How do you think you’ve grown since founding Waldo?
- What is the stickiness part of your business or how do you think about competitive advantages
- How did you approach fundraising? What was the biggest reason why an investor would pass or make the investment? What was the bet?
- What is one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
- Professionally: The Hard Things About Hard Things
- Personally: Designing Your Life
- What’s the best piece of advice for founders?
