In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• How Andrea grew up in Barcelona in a family of entrepreneurs, which made her comfortable with the lifestyle and why she always knew she wanted to start a business 
• Why she wanted to create a product that would change the world and always knew that one day she would
• Why observing how Americans used hand sanitizer even though they didn’t like anything about the experience led her to an idea while she was in college in the US
• How the Swine Flu in 2010 created an urgency for her to take her hand sanitizer idea and build on that instead of continuing fashion school
• Why she took five whole years of researching and gathering information about hand sanitizer and getting feedback from industries and people who use hand sanitizer in order to understand what would improve the experience and what was needed to create the perfect formula
• What it was like to launch in the US in 2018, why she is passionate about offering the world a hand sanitizer that is effective and also enjoyable to use, and how they’ve grown over 1000% even before the COVID pandemic
• Why the design and branding was very important in the development of the product and why people love the look, feel, and smell of the product so much
• Why their move to the US was a huge step that has payed off dramatically, how she has grown her team to twelve now and advice she offers when it comes to hiring
• How fundraising before COVID went, what it was like being ahead of the trend that happened with the hand sanitizer category, and what lessons she learned from the process that will assist her in future fundraising opportunities
• How the difficult circumstances over the course of building a company can be exhausting but also make you stronger and more resilient long term
• Why Andrea continues to listen to other people’s stories of success to encourage her in the day to day life of an entrepreneur

To Find Out More:‍

touchland.com‍

Quotes:‍

“When you are thinking about coming up with that revolutionary solution, it's always good to not take anything for granted and not have any false reality, but really understand the industry from the inside.”

“We truly believe that 10 years from now, five years from now, everyone will have a hand sanitizer and nothing to do with a pandemic. It has nothing to do with fear. It just makes your life easier.”

“We did not want to only disrupt the category, but also the way this product was sold and marketed. So we said instead of going the easy way, which is we're going to go to pharmacies and supermarkets, we said this is a lifestyle product and we're going to be the first hand sanitizer to be sold in all fashion and beauty retailers in the US.”

“I think we live in a society, especially millennials and Gen Z, that we like good vibes, and selling through fear is not a long term strategy.” 

“We're going to create a product that is going to help you stay healthy on the go and that it's going to make you live to the fullest.”

“We wanted to create a bottle that's like an icon, something that you are really proud to use. And many people said it like "I never thought I would be excited about hand sanitizer or thought I would get more compliments for my hand sanitizer than for my bag.’"

“We've been able to create a product that people buy in bundles either for themselves as a collection or they buy it as a birthday gift or like for parties or as a wedding gift. So our current AOV is about $60. So that's six times the unit price. So people on average buy, in our eCommerce, six units.”

“I think the best part of Touchland is seeing the share-ability component that the brand has been able to create.”

“That's the moment that it changed. We moved here to the US. We launched a Kickstarter campaign that was fully funded in twenty four hours. Then we launched eCommerce, and it exploded.”

“I'm a very stubborn person and I never give up. Never. Especially as I truly believed that this was going to be like the way Apple changed the phone industry or the music industry. I really believed that this was going to be something that would change people's lives.”

“When I listen to my team talk about Touchland, I get so proud because this was my vision initially. And to see people that are sharing with the same passion my vision, I feel like that's something to be very proud of for any Founder.”

“I hire not on resumes, I hire on values.”

“I think many people can learn. I prefer to invest in some people that I really like as humans rather than someone that has an amazing resume, but I feel like that maybe the character or the personality is not there.”

“Again, no great growth comes without obstacles.” 

“Operationally it was a very challenging year, especially growing so fast. But again, that's why I think it's really good that you select investors that you're not going to have to be fighting because you already have a lot of things going on in your business.”

“I always say, CEO is not first Chief Executive Officer, it is Chief Energy Officer. You are the booster of energy for your team.”

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