55 - Dan Reich, TULA Skincare & Troops

In Ep. 55 of Earned, we sit down with Dan Reich—entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder of top-ranking, probiotic-powered skincare brand TULA. We start the episode by diving into Dan’s entrepreneurial trajectory, beginning with his first company in high school, to co-founding software companies Spinback and Troops, both of which were acquired by Salesforce, to launching TULA with Ken Landis and Dr. Roshini Raj. We learn why Dan decided to hire an outside CEO for TULA, and what made both Julia Straus (now the CEO of Sweaty Betty) and current leader Savannah Sachs the best fits for the role. Dan then shares the rationale behind TULA’s influencer marketing philosophies and approach, explaining why the brand looked beyond the traditional beauty influencer to drive momentum. We unpack the differences between the influencer relationships that worked well for TULA versus those that didn’t, and Dan emphasizes the importance of building long-lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships. To close the show, we discuss the evolution of the social media landscape, and Dan reiterates why word-of-mouth marketing, a tactic as old as time, is only going to continue to accelerate.