Touchland co-founder & CEO Andrea Lisbona
Joining us this week is Andrea Lisbona, who has enjoyed a stunning ascent as the co-founder and CEO of Touchland. The brand scaled to $100 million in annual sales last year and this year, is being acquired by a personal care giant for up to a whopping $880 million.
For the uninitiated, Touchland is best known for its vibrantly packaged hand sanitizers that come in an array of scents, like mango passion and blue sandalwood. The company estimates that one is now sold every two seconds.
The brand has developed a cult following, and is sold both direct-to-consumer and at more than 3,000 retail locations, including Sephora and Ulta Beauty. It's also fast become a celebrity favorite, described as an everyday essential by stars like Kim Kardashian and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
In some circles, it’s even become a collector’s item traded by kids and teens on school playgrounds. Yet Lisbona knows what most of you are thinking: hand sanitizer, really?
"It was not a sexy category. It was not understood," she said.
In this interview, we get into:
Building from scratch to grow a waitlist of nearly 35,000 people
Overcoming skepticism to become a true category creator
Lessons from the playbooks of Apple, Dyson and Nespresso
Rebuilding after a Covid supply chain crisis that left it without product for a year
Why Touchland doesn't see itself as a direct competitor to Purell or Dettol
How the brand got into both Sephora and Ulta Beauty
Personal sacrifice and the pressure of always looking to what's next
Running a lean team of 13 full-time employees and working to scale efficiently
Landing partnerships with Disney, Blackpink and Hello Kitty creator Sanrio
What's next as Touchland looks to go global
Dealing with copycats
Working with her husband, a Touchland co-founder
Note: This interview was recorded before the announcement of Touchland's sale to Church & Dwight for up to $880 million.
Watch the full episode on YouTube or Spotify, or listen to the audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music.
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