406: Her Plant-Based Soaps Landed Her On Shark Tank And On The Path To $1.2M In Sales

Side Hustle Pro

This week in the guest chair we have Kristen Dunning, founder and CEO of Gently Soap - a bathing brand built on her self-developed herbal infusions. A recent MBA grad, Kristen hails from a rare five generations of Black Alabama farmers, and she’s continuing the legacy by bringing joy back to bathing experiences for people with sensitive skin, using the medicinal properties of plants.

In this episode she shares:

• Her vigorous passion and research that landed her on Shark Tank
• Her secret sauce to having a rate of 78% repeat customers
• How she won over 300K in investment capital and has a trajectory of $1.2M in sales

Highlights Include:

00:00 Intro

03:24 Generations of Black farmers

06:38 Struggle with eczema

08:45 Studying horticulture and agriculture

14:10 Staring Gently Soaps

18:03 Transitioning to selling at markets

21:31 Importance of formulating for sensitive skin

28:56 Sales growth and Shark Tank impact

32:55 High margins and sales

39:49 Marketing strategies

44:03 Tips for entrepreneurs

Check out episode 406 of Side Hustle Pro podcast out now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube

Links mentioned in this episode

• Gently Soap Website: https://gentlysoap.com/
• Gently Soap Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gentlysoap/
• Kristen’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/professionalplantgirl/
• Kristen’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristendunning/
• Shark Tank episode: https://gentlysoap.com/pages/shark-tank
• Aveeno start-up pitch competition: https://www.aveeno.com/startup-collective
• Thirteen Lune: https://thirteenlune.com/
• Tech Stars: https://www.techstars.com/

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