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The American Dental Affiliation recommends flossing not less than as soon as a day to make sure clear and wholesome tooth and gums. Nonetheless, 32% of Individuals don’t floss in any respect and solely 68% solely floss not less than as soon as weekly. Flaus is a direct-to-consumer oral well being model that provides the world’s first electrical flosser to make flossing fast, simple, and cozy. Much like an digital toothbrush with sonic vibrations, the waterproof Flaus unit retails for $99 for the machine that makes use of head refills, which can be found for $19 for a pack of 90. Customers can floss or Flaus in beneath a minute, 5x sooner than conventional flossing. The corporate stories that 80% of shoppers are flossing extra frequently since switching to Flaus.
AlleyWatch caught up with Flaus CEO and Founder Samantha Coxe to be taught extra concerning the enterprise, the corporate’s strategic plans, newest spherical of funding, and far, far more…
Who have been your buyers and the way a lot did you elevate?
Flaus lately closed a $2M Seed Spherical led by YETI Capital, together with funding from Greenlight Ventures, USC Enterprise Fund, and Doug Bouton, Cofounder of Halo Prime Ice Cream, bringing whole funding to $4M.
Inform us concerning the services or products that Flaus affords.
Flaus is a DTC oral magnificence model making it simpler for individuals to take care of their tooth and the planet. We’re reimagining oral care routines by creating the world’s first electrical flosser that makes use of sonic vibrations and high-performing dental floss to make flossing as fast, simple, and cozy as utilizing your favourite electrical toothbrush!
What impressed the beginning of Flaus?
I didn’t develop up as a flosser, and actually, hated it till lately. I used to be a number of years into my regulation profession and noticed I had a dentist appointment every week away. In true guilt flosser kind, I frantically began flossing in order that I might reply “Sure” to the inevitable query from my dentist, “Have you ever been flossing?” I ended up leaving that appointment with 10 cavities and a large dental invoice. I liked my electrical toothbrush and was a accountable twice-a-day brusher, however I knew I wanted to floss extra if I wished to maintain my tooth for all times. Flossing was painful, time-consuming, tough, and gross. I wished an answer that made flossing as fast and simple as brushing my tooth, however was unable to search out something on the web so sought to create my very own. I began spending all of my free time designing and ideating this dream product, and after getting further validation from colleagues and market surveys — left my profession as a BigLaw M&A legal professional, to create the world’s first electrical flosser, Flaus.
How is Flaus completely different?
Flaus is a brand new oral magnificence model disrupting the oral care market by providing the absolute best flossing expertise by way of the first-ever electrical flosser. We’re on a mission to create a really good-for-the-world firm, specializing in product improvement, accessibility, innovation, and sustainability. Whereas seizing the chance within the oral well being care market, Flaus is poised to additionally make noise as a sustainable chief within the business, addressing the truth that the 42M rolls of floss which can be bought within the U.S. yearly make their manner into our oceans and landfills, and don’t decompose. Even with “recyclable” floss, the floss strands and floss picks are too skinny to be correctly processed by native waste administration amenities and find yourself in our oceans and sea animals. Flaus has a recycling program whereby clients ship used floss heads (in addition to some other oral care gadgets) through a pay as you go label to a devoted oral care waste administration facility that may particularly deal with tiny supplies reminiscent of floss string and floss picks. Moreover, with a purposeful design that reduces single-use floss use by 95% per session, makes use of 30% much less plastic than conventional floss picks, and a dedication to driving sustainable innovation within the floss supplies themselves, this consciousness is strictly what at this time’s customers are searching for as they discerningly spend money on their merchandise. Flaus is redefining oral magnificence requirements by embracing the imperfections of our smiles – from crooked tooth, tiny gaps, and discoloration – to redefine wholesome tooth. As a class pirate for Oral Magnificence, Flaus has the chance to utterly rebrand flossing as we all know it by giving it the wonder remedy — lastly granting our tooth and mouths the self-care rituals they deserve.
What market does Flaus goal and the way large is it?
Whereas the electrical flosser is our go-to-market product, our imaginative and prescient is to create the oral magnificence house – a white house that exists between conventional oral care and sweetness merchandise, the place clients spend money on, decorate, and pamper their mouths as a lot as their pores and skin, nails and hair (e.g., tooth gems, tooth stickers, probiotic tooth masks, and many others). We are going to transcend clients from the standard oral care aisle into the Oral Magnificence aisle — a completely new class that we envision. Our present product is concentrating on the 70% of Individuals who don’t floss every day (and even those who do!) to assist change these shopper habits by rebranding flossing as a ritual we truly stay up for. Cavities are the primary non-communicable illness worldwide – and Flaus is on a mission to assist individuals maintain their tooth for all times by remodeling flossing from a dreaded chore into a pleasant ritual.
What’s your corporation mannequin?
Flaus is presently accessible direct-to-consumer on our web site. We observe the razor and blade mannequin, with clients buying the Flaus Starter Equipment upfront and receiving recyclable Flaus Head refills each 3 months delivered to their door.
How are you getting ready for a possible financial slowdown?
We’re staying as lean as attainable from an OpEx and G&A perspective, persevering with to strengthen our already sturdy enterprise fundamentals and obsessing over creating essential product impressed by the actual individuals who use it.
What was the funding course of like?
I first invested over $80,000 of my very own financial savings to get Flaus off the bottom. After seeing validating shopper curiosity, I raised an extra $2M from family and friends, together with colleagues from the BigLaw agency I had been working at, who intimately knew my work ethic, resiliency, and keenness. We most lately closed our Seed Spherical, bringing whole funding to $4M. We leveraged crowdfunding as nicely, and have been one of many prime 1% of Indiegogo campaigns ever, having been totally funded in beneath 3 hours.
What are the most important challenges that you just confronted whereas elevating capital?
The most important problem I presently face as a feminine founder is being underestimated, particularly in relation to fundraising. I’ve to work 2x as laborious and reply 2x as many questions as my male counterparts as a way to safe funding. At occasions, it may be irritating and disheartening. I’m grateful for the entire trailblazing girls who’ve come earlier than. We nonetheless have a protracted option to go (with funding for feminine founders reaching all-time lows), however I’m excited to be an agent of change for feminine founders to return.
What components about your corporation led your buyers to write down the verify?
The oral-care market is predicted to succeed in $70.64B by 2032, and the oral magnificence class is already trending. For customers, there’s a clear want out there to unravel the ache factors of dental hygiene: 1. Cavities stay the number-one non-communicable illness worldwide; 2. Practically 50% of US adults over the age of 30 already present indicators of gum illness; and three. Over 32% of Individuals say they by no means floss. Furthermore, gum illness has been linked to Alzehimer’s, Dementia, coronary heart illness, and oral most cancers. Flaus is answering that want with revolutionary know-how that’s not presently accessible out there, whereas additionally incorporating enjoyable, edgy branding and a aware mission that’s cognizant of each social and environmental influence.
Most of our early buyers have been former colleagues who I had labored with and believed in me to speculate. Moreover, everybody understands the want for one of these product – both as a never-flosser or an avid flosser who needs a greater, simpler option to do it. After testing the product firsthand, securing the funding was simple as they liked the product and believed in me, and my model’s mission.
What are the milestones you propose to attain within the subsequent six months?
Past launch, we’re trying to develop our Dental Ambassador Program that motivates dental professionals to talk to their sufferers about Flaus, launch on Amazon, and bear medical trials.
What recommendation are you able to supply corporations in New York that should not have a contemporary injection of capital within the financial institution?
First, concentrate on your corporation fundamentals with the aim of being worthwhile on first order. That may assist relieve the strain of elevating capital as you’ll be able to develop the enterprise off of income. Second, take into account pursuing a crowdfunding marketing campaign (on both Kickstarter or Indiegogo). Not solely will you have got the chance to obtain capital by way of pre-orders, however additionally, you will achieve a base of unimaginable clients who will function model advocates. We owe a lot of our success to our superb Indiegogo backers — who we name our “Founding Flausers.”
The place do you see the corporate going now over the close to time period?
We plan to scale distribution to make each house throughout the U.S. a “Flaus Haus.” Whereas we’re wildly centered on creating one of the best electrical flosser in the marketplace, we plan to proceed pioneering the oral magnificence house, each by way of thrilling collaborations and extra product innovation/drops.
What’s your favourite fall vacation spot in and across the metropolis?
Among the best elements of dwelling on the East Coast is attending to expertise the seasons. Nothing is extra magical than taking a fast day journey as much as the Catskills to see the autumn foliage.
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