11. Olivia Landau & Kyle Simon | The Clear Cut (engagement rings & fine jewelry)

06/30/20 • 59 min

Olivia Landau and Kyle Simon are the Co-Founders and CEO/COO of The Clear Cut.
Olivia and Kyle are a dynamic duo power couple who met during their time studying at GIA, the Gemological Institute of America. A few years after graduating from gem school, they started noticing a lot of their friends were looking to get engaged and would often ask them for help, tips and even to design their custom rings. What initially started as an educational blog to help people better understand the do’s and don'ts of ring buying, quickly turned into a frenzy on the internet, with people from all over the world wanting custom rings and jewelry.
At The Clear Cut, Olivia, Kyle and their team have built a direct to consumer diamond engagement ring and fine jewelry powerhouse. They’ve taken what has traditionally been known as a mysterious, pay to play to industry and completely disrupted it, adding a layer of amazing customer service and transparency with their customers. Their goal is to be the end-to-end jewelry brand for the digital age.
This was an inspiring interview that taught me a ton about the diamond industry and shed light on one of the best new brands in the space.
Tune in to hear Olivia and Kyle's story!
EPISODE TOPICS:

(2:02) What does The Clear Cut look like today (mission, vision, products, size)?
(2:39) What is your background and what were you both working on before starting The Clear Cut?
(6:40) What's the difference between buying a ring from The Clear Cut vs another jewelry store?
(11:00) What type of information does a prospective customer typically share when they come to you?
(13:49) What was your Techstars experience like?
(17:33) What marketing strategies have worked for you?
(21:44) What are some business challenges/struggles you've had?
(23:12) How do you think about hiring?
(26:16) How do you think about competition?
(29:24) What type of engagement rings are popular today?
(31:00) Where do you want The Clear Cut to be in 5-10 years?
(32:22) What's it like co-founding a company with your significant other?
(37:35) What is your approach to fundraising?
(32:04) What's the biggest investor lesson you've learned?
(40:21) What out of the box marketing strategies did you try that didn't work?
(43:09) If you could teleport back to when you started, what would tell yourself?
(52:50) What resources would you recommend to others?
(54:00) Olivia and Kyle's startup manifesto
(56:08) Olivia and Kyle's founder nomination

The Clear Cut - www.theclearcut.co

Follow The Clear Cut (@theclearcut) on Instagram // TikTok
Follow Olivia (@olivialandau) on Instagram // LinkedIn // Podcast
Follow Kyle on LinkedIn
Olivia and Kyle's learning and resource recommendations

The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com

Follow The Founder (@founderpodcast) on Instagram // Twitter // LinkedIn // Facebook

(2:02) What does The Clear Cut look like today (mission, vision, products, size)?
(2:39) What is your background and what were you both working on before starting The Clear Cut?
(6:40) What's the difference between buying a ring from The Clear Cut vs another jewelry store?
(11:00) What type of information does a prospective customer typically share when they come to you?
(13:49) What was your Techstars experience like?
(17:33) What marketing strategies have worked for you?
(21:44) What are some business challenges/struggles you've had?
(23:12) How do you think about hiring?
(26:16) How do you think about competition?
(29:24) What type of engagement rings are popular today?
(31:00) Where do you want The Clear Cut to be in 5-10 years?
(32:22) What's it like co-founding a company with your significant other?
(37:35) What is your approach to fundraising?
(32:04) What's the biggest investor lesson you've learned?
(40:21) What out of the box marketing strategies did you try that didn't work?
(43:09) If you could teleport back to when you started, what would tell yourself?
(52:50) What resources would you recommend to others?
(54:00) Olivia and Kyle's startup manifesto
(56:08) Olivia and Kyle's founder nomination

The Clear Cut - www.theclearcut.co

Follow The Clear Cut (@theclearcut) on Instagram // TikTok
Follow Olivia (@olivialandau) on Instagram // LinkedIn // Podcast
Follow Kyle on LinkedIn
Olivia and Kyle's learning and resource recommendations

The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com

Follow The Founder (@founderpodcast) on Instagram // Twitter // LinkedIn // Facebook

Previous Episode

10. Michael Markesbery | Oros (performance apparel)

Michael Markesbery is the Co-Founder and CEO of Oros.
Michael has always been a self-proclaimed science geek. During his sophomore year at Miami University, he took a backpacking trip to the Swiss Alps. After triumphantly making it to the top of the tallest mountain, he was disappointed to realize he looked like the Michelin Man, wearing layers upon layers of puffy goose down coats to keep him warm. He didn’t get it. With all this incredible innovation happening in other industries, why was outerwear the same old, same old? When he got back to school, he learned about aerogel, the best insulation in the universe. It’s the thing that NASA puts in space shuttles to keep the astronauts warm in space. He thought immediately that this stuff needed to be in every jacket on the planet. After some experimentation and trial and error to get the aerogel into a form that worked for apparel, Lukla was born. Today, Lukla goes by a new name...Oros.
At Oros, Michael and his team make next generation consumer apparel. Their tagline “Find Your Beyond” couldn’t be more true as their clothes are designed to withstand the coldest elements. You can literally wear a T-shirt and their jacket at the top of a mountain and stay completely warm. Today, they sell jackets, midlayers and pants as well as a few accessories for both men and women, but it’s easy to see where they could go from here.
This was an inspiring interview that opened my mind up to what’s possible in the apparel space.
Tune in to hear Michael's story!
Use code “Founder” at checkout to get 15% off all Oros products through the end of August.
EPISODE TOPICS:

(2:28) What does Oros look like today (mission, vision, products, size)?
(3:18) What is your background and what were you working on before starting Oros?
(14:20) How have you tackled fashion vs function when designing your products?
(17:30) Who are your core customers and how much education does it take to get them to purchase Oros products?
(20:02) How do you think about competition?
(22:15) What marketing strategies have worked for Oros?
(25:20) What will Oros look like in 5-10 years?
(26:13) What do you look for in people you hire?
(32:04) What's the biggest investor lesson you've learned?
(34:01) What has been your most frustrating/validating moment as a founder?
(39:54) If you could teleport back to when you started, what would tell yourself?
(44:48) What resources would you recommend to others?
(45:38) Michael's startup manifesto
(46:43) Michael's founder nomination

Oros - www.orosapparel.com

Follow Oros (@orosapparel) on Instagram // Twitter
Follow Michael (@michaelmarkesbery) on Instagram // Twitter // LinkedIn
Michael's learning and resource recommendations

The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com

Follow The Founder (@founderpodcast) on Instagram // Twitter // LinkedIn // Facebook

Next Episode

12. Lisa Curtis | Kuli Kuli (moringa -> the new superfood)

Lisa Curtis is the Founder and CEO of Kuli Kuli.
While working for The Peace Corps in 2011, Lisa was stationed in Niger, West Africa. As a vegetarian in Africa, she found herself eating mostly rice and millet, a diet that left her feeling tired and weak for the majority of the day. When she mentioned it to a couple of women in her local village, they literally grabbed leaves off a nearby tree and mixed them with a West African peanut snack called Kuli Kuli. Turns out, that tree was a Moringa tree and those leaves were more nutritious than Kale. As she ate that mixture each morning for the next several weeks, she found her strength start to come back and knew that Moringa had to be shared with the world.
At Kuli Kuli, Lisa and her team are building and scaling the world’s leading Moringa brand. In addition to being more nutritious than Kale with respect to protein, iron, calcium and fiber, Moringa offers some incredible health benefits including supporting cardiovascular health, gut health and anti-inflammation. Kuli Kuli sells Moringa in a variety of different forms including energy shots, powders for smoothies as well as superfood bars. In addition to all of the health benefits, Kuli Kuli is a certified B corp, meaning that their social mission in embedded in their legal DNA. Their international supply chain is designed to empower small family farmers and women’s cooperatives all over the world, unlocking the US market for thousands of low income families.
This was an inspiring interview that taught me a ton about growing and scaling an international supply chain and shed light on one of the best new healthy alternatives to kale & spinach on the market.
Tune in to hear Lisa's story!
Use code “Founder” at checkout to get 10% off all Kuli Kuli products.
EPISODE TOPICS: