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Episode 231

From Nail Polish to $100M Exit: Tracy Holland’s Beauty Journey

This week on The Exit: Tracy Holland, founder of Inner Fifth and Goodwill Brands, shares insights from building and selling Hatch Beauty, a company that co-created beauty brands with retailers. 

Starting with scented nail polish in her 20s, Tracy developed deep retail relationships that led to founding Hatch Beauty in 2009. 

She discusses the challenging journey of taking the company to market twice – first pulling it off at $50 million revenue when realizing rapid growth would soon hit $80 million, then successfully selling at nearly $100 million with 18% EBITDA margins. 

Tracy emphasizes crucial lessons about exit planning, including having upfront discussions with partners about exit strategy, carefully managing information exposure during the sales process, and understanding the differences between strategic and private equity buyers. 

She also stresses the importance of letting the market determine valuation rather than setting price expectations prematurely. 

For more details and insights from her entrepreneurial journey, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.

Personal Bio: 

Tracy Holland is a founder, investor, board member, and entrepreneur who is an authority on beauty and wellness with a global track record of incubating and launching brands.

Tracy has dedicated her career to creating new brands and success stories by spotlighting innovation, amplifying authentic and celebrity voices in beauty and personal care, and nurturing promising talent, especially other women entrepreneurs.

Websites Mentioned In The Episode: https://innerfifth.com/

– https://goodwillbrands.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyholland/

Check Out Flippa’s Data Insights Tool: https://flippa.com/data-insights

The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

YOUR HOST

Steve McGarry

An entrepreneur, content creator, and investor based in sunny Tampa, Florida. In 2015, while living in San Francisco, Steve sold his first fintech startup LendLayer to Max Levchin’s (founder of PayPal) consumer finance company Affirm.

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