There’s a fine line between success and failure. Umar ElBably, HBA ’19 calls them next door neighbours.
During the past five months, ElBably had travelled across Canada and the United States, pitching his new line of cosmetics for men, Huemen (currently operating as Faculty).
“I was digging myself into a hole, but I kept trucking forward saying ‘as long as I can keep going, someone is going to believe in me,’” said ElBably.
He shrugged off every valley as the worst part of his entrepreneurship journey, only for it to get worst.
“That’s when you really need to pull through and give it that 110 percent, and things may happen, not always,” said ElBably.
With his credit card maxed and $5 in his checking account, ElBably was invited to pitch once more to Bolt, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm.
Months of pitches, meetings, and phone calls, all led up to this moment for ElBably and his idea.
A few handshakes later, ElBably had broken through, and Huemen, had received a new lease on life.
“It was a crazy moment and in hindsight, it's almost beautiful to think of it,” he reminisced.
Make-up for Men
The world over, the cosmetic industry is estimated to be worth more than $500 billion. Walk past a make-up aisle, and one will glimpse recognizable faces, bold branding, and a variety of products.
Still, the industry is primarily, if not entirely, targeted towards women.
That is a trend ElBably is hoping to change with Huemen, by making a product, and a brand that is approachable for men.
“The data supports that there is a market, and that market is actually waiting for these products. But they have to be communicated in a certain way.”
Part of the process is changing the language around the product category. ElBably and Huemen have settled on the term, aesthetics.
During his initial research, men frequently confessed to using make-up products, but clarified that they were not make-up products.
“They were looking for the functions, and some of them have gone out and paid for the functions of a make-up product. But as long as it's not called a ‘make-up’ product, they are okay with it,” said ElBably.
But is there really a sizeable market for men’s cosmetics? ElBably is convinced that the data points in one direction.
“It's super compelling to walk into a pitch and say, ‘look, maybe only a couple of percent of the world's male population has ever worn these products, but the data says that fifty percent may eventually (use make-up) in their lifetime.”
Furthermore, larger brands such as Chanel, and Tom Ford, are also making strides into the men’s market.
Men and make-up aren’t a new phenomenon. Some of the most popular cultural icons of the last 40-years, have made make-up a stand-out feature of their image; think Prince or David Bowie. But while established brands are targeting men with glamour and gloss, ElBably sees a humbler need to fill in this developing market.
For most men, it’s about looking polished. Whether that means covering dark circles, acne or scars. That’s what ElBably discovered early on, with many men even confessing to stealing their mother’s, sister’s or girlfriend’s make-up to cover up some imperfections.
ElBably sees the grooming revolution in waves or phases. From hair products in the 80s, and high-end fashion in the 90s, to grooming products of the 2000s, and skincare a decade later.
“This is the next wave of men taking care of their appearance. It’s not a niche,” said ElBably.
Another factor playing for Huemen is the current discussion on gender. With the blurring of lines between gender norms, there’s every opportunity for make-up to breakout of its traditional gender constraints.
“It’s compelling enough data that someone has to go out there and do this, and I wanted that to be me.”
Finding direction, and finding idea
Coming to Ivey, ElBably's original intention was to do something entrepreneurial, building something that people loved. With his background in psychology, he had a good foundation in understanding consumer insights but wanted the structure that business school provides.
“Once I got in, I got caught up in the whole ‘everyone at Ivey wants to be an investment banker or consultant,” said ElBably. “It is really difficult to stay true to who you are, when most of your friends are taking different routes; routes that most people would say are the correct routes.”
While entrepreneurship was on the back burner, ElBably felt lost. At the end of HBA 1, he came to the realization that corporate opportunities were not for him, and began re-engaging with his creative side.
One weekend, Elbably booked a breakout room at Ivey, and like a mad scientist, furiously wrote down every idea he could come up with. He messaged his girlfriend for feedback, pivoted ideas but nothing really clicked.
Still, it was a pivotal moment that brought him back to his roots. Now, all he had to do was find an interesting idea.
During ElBably’s strategy course in HBA 1, the class had engaged in a spirited discussion on a case study on SK-II, the Japanese skincare brand. The conversation turned into a debate on men using make-up.
A few weeks later, the idea subconsciously reared its head once more, during a regular visit to a local Shopper’s Drug Mart.
“I was thinking to myself, there's thousands of products here, and not one of them is positioned towards men,” said ElBably.
“Once in a while, it would be great if I could cover up my under-eye bags, but I have no idea where to start and I didn’t feel that any brands resonated with my needs… For example, a significant amount of academic and scientific research supports the claim that men have highly porous facial skin. Most products on the market today include ingredients that clog these pores.”
In early 2018, he took the idea to his newly formed New Venture Project (NVP) team, who were still in the midst of finalizing their proposal idea for the program. The team bought into the idea but they still had to convince Associate Professor, and Director of the New Venture Project, Larry Plummer.
“One of the best ways to get an entrepreneurship professor to take notice is to show the data,” said Plummer, who was impressed by the team’s ability to build a compelling case. For example, the team's research showed that millennial men were having cosmetic surgery to fix blemishes at a record rate.
Plummer worked with the team through New Venture Creation, where they were able to clearly identify the market problem the idea was addressing, as well as the New Venture Project, where ElBably was able to create some structure and strategy for Huemen.
“I think the process that Ivey teaches entrepreneurs is great. It encourages iteration and creativity. Although its structured, there's flexibility in the model,” said ElBably.
At the end of NVP, ElBably and the team received strong feedback and interest from their final presentation.
“Having everyone in room interested was not validity of the concept, but it was validity that it was something I should be pursuing,” said ElBably.
Finding a home for Huemen
As his peers were interviewing and sealing job opportunities post-graduation, ElBably started sending a flurry of cold emails to investors across Canada.
He secured a number of meetings and pitches throughout December, January and February, including one with Joe Mimran, Founder of Joe Fresh and a Dragon on CBC Dragon’s Den.
When he couldn’t find the investor or the terms he was looking for, ElBably expanded his search to entrepreneurship hubs in the United States.
One of his mentors and investors, Alexa Binns at Maven Ventures, connected him with Bolt, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm investing at the intersection of software and physical goods.
After a couple of meetings, ElBably had found the perfect partner to bring Huemen to life.
But the journey is only beginning.
The next few months will be another discovery process for ElBably, as he launches Huemen’s branding and first go-to-market product.
It is an expensive process, particularly due to the integral role branding plays in marketing cosmetics.
“It’s a lot easier to bootstrap a beauty start-up if you are marketing towards women. Those consumers are already buying the products, and they are very likely to continue doing so. But when you are selling to men, a segment that has never used these products before, that means they don’t know where to start, or what products to use. They've never been approached by a brand before. The goal is that you have to make it approachable for them, and one of the ways we can do that is through phenomenal branding and design.”
As they collect a swathe of new data from the product launch, ElBably will continue to iterate on the concept.
“If we find product-market fit, that is we start running out of inventory, we can take those data points and go to an investor for the next round of funding,” said ElBably.
With that next capital raise, ElBably is hoping to expand the Huemen team and product portfolio.
“This is more than just a product. This is a brand. This is a vision. I don’t know where this is going to go in the future, but Huemen’s commitment is to make the best products that help men look and feel their best.”