Building Balmee Beauty From Concept to Rapid Growth & Lessons Learned with Co-Founder Phoebe Perring

What does it really take to launch a beauty brand, sell out within 12 weeks and keep growing when everything behind the scenes is far from polished?

In this episode of In Real Time, Millie sits down with Phoebe, co-founder of Balmee Beauty, to unpack the founder journey behind one of Australia’s most exciting emerging lip care brands. Phoebe shares how she & co-founder Ali Beck spent two years developing a completely custom, microbiome-focused lip balm, why they chose to enter an already saturated beauty market & how their combined experience in social media, branding & beauty helped Balmy launch with serious momentum.

They get honest about the realities of product development, family investment, angel investment, high manufacturing costs, selling out, delayed pre-orders & the packaging fault that forced the founders to inspect thousands of tubes by hand. Phoebe also opens up about building a business while navigating new motherhood, managing a long-distance co-founder relationship & learning when to switch off.

From direct-to-consumer marketing & influencer strategy to retail expansion, customer feedback, future product launches & the possibility of a Balmee Beauty subscription, this conversation is packed with honest lessons for founders, beauty entrepreneurs & anyone building a product-based business.

In this episode we cover:

💋 Creating a strong point of difference in a saturated beauty industry💋 Developing a custom microbiome-friendly lip balm in Australia💋 Funding a product-based startup through personal and family investment💋 Selling out within 12 weeks and using pre-orders to maintain cash flow💋 Building trust through founder-led content, customer reviews and social proof💋 Managing manufacturing faults, inventory delays and customer expectations💋 Preparing for retail expansion, wholesale partnerships and global growth💋 Bringing an angel investor into the business for more than just capital💋 Balancing motherhood, relationships and the demands of entrepreneurship💋 Building a healthy, honest and sustainable co-founder relationship

This is a refreshingly real conversation about rapid business growth, beauty brand development and what happens after the exciting launch moment, when the pressure, decisions & unexpected challenges begin.

✨ Connect with Balmee Beauty ✨

Shop Balmee Beauty: https://balmeebeauty.com

Balmee Beauty on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balmeebeauty

Balmee Beauty on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@balmeebeauty

Balmee Beauty on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/balmee-beauty