When thinking of potential entrepreneurs, actors and actresses rarely are the first people who come to mind. In the past I have written about how Hollywood requires an entrepreneurial mind to make it. However, some take it even further than just Hollywood. Jessica Alba is not only one of the top grossing actresses of all time, but has used her business oriented spirit to create a $1 billion company.
Alba started The Honest Company in 2011, not long after the birth of her second child. It doesn’t take much research to see how her experiences as a mother shaped the company. When caring for her first child she was surrounded by people telling her which products to use. Everyone had a different product to recommend for everything from skin care to baby food. However, she found herself becoming more aggravated every day as the products not only rarely worked, but were causing her child to have terrible allergic reactions. She began to seek out more natural and organic remedies to help her sensitive baby. While she was having some success, she was nowhere near content. She recalls the aggravation to Forbes magazine saying “I want beautiful design like everybody else. But it shouldn’t be premium-priced, and it should, of course, be safe.”
It wasn’t until she met child health expert Christopher Gavigan that a business idea even entered her mind. During one of their many conversations about the health of their children and their aggravation with the baby product market, something clicked. They had a need, and wanted to fill it. Jessica immediately reached out to her husband Cash Warren (a popular entrepreneur himself) and started the wheels turning on what would later become The Honest Company.
There is no doubt in my mind that the massive success of her company comes from her very relatable angle on the matter. She was just a mom who wanted to help her kids have the healthiest childhood they could. Her drive then led her to creating an empire of organic and vegan products for sensitive children, or simply parents wanting premium products for their children.
Jessica Alba is a perfect picture of how we should not simply ignore our personal problems with markets and industries, but should expand upon them for inspiration. Chances are someone else is experiencing the same thing! Where there’s a problem, there’s a market.
One of the things that I think is super cool when reading this blog post is the fact that, prior to the creation of her business, there was a 1 billion dollar market that was not being catered to. It makes me wonder what product or service are we lacking today that is just waiting to be tapped into by a driven entrepreneur. Great post!
It’s really interesting how she made a company based on what she was looking for and how that’s such a huge need now. There are more and more people who look for this kind of values in a company and are in need of this kind of product.
I like how this company wasn’t started by some major innovator or inventor. This was just a mom trying to come up with a better safer way for her kids to be healthy. This really shows how almost anyone can become an entrepreneur if they really try.
Not only did she find a need, she also reached out to someone in her personal network and found a solution all within her own circles. This really exhibits how immersing yourself in a good environment can really foster innovation.