Gregg Renfrew Is Making Counter Moves in Clean Beauty
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
This episode features Gregg Renfrew, founder of Counter (formerly Beautycounter), returning for her second appearance with Rich Roll five years after their initial conversation. Renfrew shares the extraordinary story of how she lost her billion-dollar beauty company to private equity, bought it back out of foreclosure in 48 hours, and then made the difficult decision to shut it down completely before relaunching it as Counter. (12:00)
The conversation explores the brutal realities of selling to private equity, the importance of maintaining company culture during growth, and the ongoing fight for clean beauty standards in an industry plagued by greenwashing. (35:50) Renfrew discusses identity collapse, decoupling self-worth from business success, and the courage required to begin again after losing everything you've built.
• Main themes: Entrepreneurial resilience, private equity pitfalls, clean beauty advocacy, women's empowerment, and the personal cost of business leadership
Speakers
Gregg Renfrew
Gregg Renfrew is the founder and CEO of Counter and former founder of Beautycounter, a pioneer in the clean beauty movement. She built Beautycounter from startup to a $400 million revenue company valued at $1 billion before selling to Carlyle Group in 2021. After losing the company due to management conflicts, she bought it back out of foreclosure and relaunched it as Counter, maintaining her mission to remove toxic chemicals from personal care products and empower women through community-based commerce.
Key Takeaways
Don't Sell Control If You Want to Keep Running Your Business
Renfrew learned the hard way that selling a controlling interest while expecting to maintain operational control is a fundamental misalignment. When Carlyle Group purchased Beautycounter for $1 billion, they quickly brought in a new CEO who had no interest in collaborating with the founder. (16:57) This illustrates that private equity firms, despite their promises, will ultimately run the business their way to protect their investment. Entrepreneurs must decide if they want cash or control - they can't have both when selling majority stakes.
Build Profitable Businesses, Not Just High-Revenue Unicorns
The pressure to achieve billion-dollar valuations led to unsustainable growth patterns at Beautycounter. Renfrew now prioritizes building a smaller, profitable business that provides optionality rather than chasing massive valuations that require unrealistic returns. (92:00) She emphasizes that investors expecting 3-7x returns on billion-dollar investments create impossible pressure. The lesson is to focus on sustainable profitability over vanity metrics and status symbol valuations.
Trust Your Gut Over "Experienced" Advisors
As a female founder, Renfrew often deferred to older, more "experienced" male executives who confidently dismissed her instincts. (97:32) She now realizes many of their "proven" strategies were outdated and irrelevant to her business model. The key lesson is that founders, especially women, must maintain confidence in their vision while being open to input. External validation shouldn't override internal wisdom about your own business and customers.
Community-Based Business Models Create Competitive Moats
Rather than competing solely through traditional retail channels, Renfrew rebuilt her business around community-powered commerce with women as brand partners. (74:23) This approach provides direct customer feedback, authentic brand advocacy, and protection from retail channel dependency. The strategy demonstrates how founders can create sustainable competitive advantages by building genuine communities rather than just transactional customer relationships.
Sometimes You Must Let Something Die to Save It
After buying Beautycounter out of foreclosure, Renfrew made the painful decision to shut down the entire business to give it a chance at rebirth. (37:37) This counterintuitive move, inspired by advice from a college therapist about relationships, allowed her to rebuild without the baggage of past mistakes. The principle applies broadly - sometimes preservation requires destruction, and leaders must have the courage to make difficult decisions that serve long-term success over short-term comfort.
Statistics & Facts
- Beautycounter achieved $400 million in annual revenue before being sold for a $1 billion valuation to Carlyle Group in May 2021. (11:57)
- Approximately 40% of male sperm is defective, which Renfrew attributes partly to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in personal care products. (62:37)
- Less than 10% of the tens of thousands of chemicals introduced into commerce have ever been tested for safety and human health impacts. (64:15)
