My biggest mistake: Jeff Raider, co-founder of Harry’s
The grooming entrepreneur tells us why it pays, at all times, to put the customer first
Words: Joseph Bullmore
How do you disrupt something as fundamental and mundane as the morning shave? A blade or two, a handle, some foam — this isn’t rocket science, despite what the six-sabered, Bluetooth-enabled, Roger Federer-grinning-in-a-futuristic-mirror market leaders will tell you. But when Jeff Raider and Andy Katz-Mayfield set up Harry’s in 2013, they weren’t hoping to re-invent the wheel — they were just trying to make a slightly better one. One that loved its customers and really cared about their faces. One that put results, value and convenience above gaudy endorsements and trifling gizmos. One that just did what it said it would do: nothing more, nothing less.
Turns out, most men rather liked the new tack — and the company has glided from a small but punchy start up to a serious industry player in just over five years. In May this year, Harry’s was acquired by Edgewell Personal Care (the owners of Wilkinson Sword and others) for $1.3 billion. Here, co-founder Jeff Raider tells us why it pays, at all times, to put the customer first.
“As an entrepreneur I’ve learned that things are never as good or as bad as they seem”
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